God, finally some honesty! I can finally believe, just for this split second, that I'm talking to a real human being!
Yes, I do understand that you're scared. Anybody, definitely including me, would be scared in your situation (I'm assuming that you live in Israel). If I were living there, and people came and killed my fellow countrymen, I'd be furious and terrified and there is undeniably a degree of violence and innocent suffering I would sign off on to assuage that fury and fear.
This is all totally human.
The thing that infuriates me so much is the resistance to any degree of self-reflection. Not on yourself personally, but on the things Israel has done that have led to this horrible state of affairs. Some degree of analysis beyond, the Palestinians are all crazy, psychopaths who hate us for no reason.
This unwillingness to look in the mirror as Israelis and ask how your country has contributed to this situation is not the reason why this war exists. But it is the reason why it's gone on so long. It is the reason HAamas exists. It's the reason people like Netanyahu and Smotrich were arrogant enough to publicly call Hamas allies because they believed they could take advantage of the instability Hamas brought to continue to subjugate the Palestinian people instead of treating them fairly.
That's why I keep calling for empathy. For you to put yourselves in the position of the millions of Palestinian people, both in Gaza and the West Bank, who have never lifted a finger against Israel. But who have nonetheless had their homes and the land stolen. Who watch their children grow up in land that is not their homeland, robbed of meaningful opportunity. Who die, generation after generation whenever Israel feels like "mowing the grass."
I understand your fear. I truly do. Do you understand their anger? Do you understand that this has been their state of affairs not for a year, but in many cases for their entire lives? Do you think, maybe, that the best way to prevent the next 7.10 is not to make these innocent people hate you more, but to fix the conditions they face? Because that's what I think.
You can blame Hamas for the suffering of the Palestinians. You'd be right to a degree. But I tink every single one of the people having meltdown in my comments understands that the far bigger issue here is Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. If you refuse to fix that, I'm afraid you'll have to continue living with that fear. Or guilt over the atrocities your leaders will commit.
