Because not doing so would be anti-semitism.

Hamas is the one that put civilians in harm's way, encouraging/forcing civilians to ignore evacuation warnings from IDF while they store weapons in and launch them from civilian sites, fire indiscriminately at civilian/military targets, kill their own country's people with misfires, etc. Is Israel really expected to put up with endless rockets fired at it and having insurgents build and use tunnels to stock supplies and mount attacks against it?

I really can't see how people think that criticism of Israel is the same thing as an endorsement of Hamas. Hamas is a bunch of monsters. But that doesn't give Israel the right to be monsters, or exemption from criticism when they behave like monsters.

Israel is supposed to be the "good guy." Right? We'll, they're using children as human shields too.

If the United States of America used children as human-shields, we'd be in extremely big trouble. If we found some of our soldiers doing it, it would be an international outrage and those soldiers would spend their lives in prison. But when Israel does it, it's okay, because they're the victims, right?

If Canada, Finland, Germany, or any other civilized country blocked humanitarian aid to civilians, they'd be called monsters right? But hey, it's Israel, and they're the victims in all this, so it's okay.

So let me be clear. My problem is not "Israel." My problem has no allegiance to any country or any label. My problem is that innocent men, women, and children who have never held a gun in their life are being killed... and then worse, the world is treating their deaths as reasonable. And that disgusts me.

If a single one of those deaths was an American citizen, the world would be at arms. But because those people are not aligned with a powerful country, they're worthless collateral. Meaningless dirt people.

Thank you Raynebc... it's good to see someone pays attention and has a brain in here. Yup, that is Hamas policy. Launch their rockets at Israel from homes close to women and children, schools and what not, then when Israel defends itself and inevitably kills some of them, the Hamas can yell "see?! Look at them purposely aiming for out women and children! Won't somebody think of the children?!?!?!" It's sickening, and you see the liberal, braindead reporters falling for it lock, stock and barrel.

When you lock a few million people into a tiny space, everyone is close to everything.

That depends on one's interpretation of the situation. Does anybody have right to land that they have conquered? Israel's military operation here was to strengthen its security after continually escalating attacks from Hamas, not to attack Palestinians in the way Hamas exists to attack Israelis.

In a civilized world: no. But this has been Israel's mode of operation for decades.

Occupying someone's land is a pretty aggressive move in the first place, don't you think?

I'm so glad you brought up the UN. Because the UN has said that Israel is now accused of war crimes.

So if the UN is the sovereign authority for that validness of Israel, then the authority just condemned their actions as monsters.

Meanwhile, I wonder why Palestinians are so angry...

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The Native Americans were glad to give up their land for our God-demanded mission! They didn't fight back or anything once we told them we were the most legitimate owner of the land.

My points aside, I must restate that I'm not against Israeli people at all, or pro-Hamas. I'm anti-killing civilians.

Nobody is pro-Hamas killing children. Nobody should be pro-Israel killing children.

You sound a little too certain about your leaders.

As is obvious, Hamas does not want peace, it wants to annihilate its enemy and it openly states this. You can't really consider an ideal outcome with that type of extremist. After a more reasonable government is established in Palestine, the possibility of peace can be revisited.

You sound a little too misinformed of the situation.

• Again, the UN gives Hamas rockets that it knows will be used to try and kill Israeli citizens (children included), so "The UN says that..." is very weak evidence.

• That article is from 5 years ago and happened a short while after another war. Do you know the exact situation? I don't, and the article does not even try to reveal it. Why did Israel deny aid? Is it possible it is because it was still too dangerous to enter Gaza? Is it possible it is because it was still too dangerous to allow free movement around Gaza? Is it possible that Israel was yet unable to inspect all goods for smuggled contraband? Maybe it is because Israelis need muslim blood to soak their matzas in? That article is full of nothing.

• You should also remember that many goods that are provided for aid purposes end up being hijacked by Hamas and used for their own nefarious purposes. For example, concrete that is meant to rebuild damaged homes ends up supporting the same tunnels used in this war to infiltrate Israel and attack Israeli citizens. The only reason Israel ever sent soldiers into Gaza in this war is specifically to destroy these tunnels, and many casualties on both sides could have been avoided if only someone could make sure that concrete was used for positive purposes.

• Where in that article does it mention that Israel itself provides aid to Gazans? Did you know Israel supplies most of the electricity to Gaza for essentially free (technically they owe us hundreds of millions of dollars for it, but they haven't paid for years and no one intends on cutting it off)? Israel also supplies water. Does it say that?

• Did you know Egypt currently also prevents any supplies from entering Gaza via its border (even though it used to be open)? Egypt which is a muslim, arab, country stopped supplies from entering Gaza because Hamas were such colossal dicks that they decided opening that border was more trouble than it is worth; Perhaps there's a good reason the transfer of goods is heavily restricted?

If I sound certain that Israel does its best to avoid civilian casualties it is because I know it does. As you may recall, Israel has mandatory conscription, so you know I used to be a soldier. As a soldier I saw many things to support my claims, from commands on how to deal with certain situations, the attitudes and words of the men in charge, to the efforts put into technology to make it less lethal and more precise specifically to avoid unintended fatalities. There is no doubt that Israel is working extremely hard to prevent any civilian deaths.

That I can get behind with, as I'm an atheist. However you need to realize that the problem is not strictly religious, even as an atheist I'd be afraid to live in another country as I may be prosecuted for my "jewish ethnicity". If another madman tries to kill my entire ethnicity I'd much rather have a country that will take me in and protect me and not be surrounded by countries that refuse to take in jews while the holocaust is taking place to avoid importing any racial problems.

I take it then that if I fired a rocket into your house you'd take the time to bake me cookies and try to talk me into being your friend? If you are still alive that is.
Israel is dropping bombs on motherfucking terrorists that want to see every Israeli men, woman and child dead and are currently trying to do just that. Unavoidably, some civilians die as a result of those bombs since Hamas works extremely hard to make sure that they do. It seems like you choose to ignore all the efforts that Israel does to minimize those deaths (calling bombings ahead of time, dropping bombs that alert citizens to escape before the building explodes, using much less lethal munitions to prevent as much collateral damage as possible etc.), which makes your post seem inflammatory, so I'll be honest and say that if you are trying to troll me then you succeeded, I am indeed upset, and I request that you stop (if not, then I hope you realize why I mistook your post for trolling and accept my apology for accusing you of such, since I have no personal grudge against you and my general impression of your other posts in this forum is positive).