Well, first there’s the question of how many of those fathers and sons joined Hamas precisely because their families were killed in bombing by Israel. I’ve seen several videos in the last month of fathers swearing vengeance as they wept over the bodies of their dead families.

But second, these extremists have a very different view of death. I could rephrase your comment as, “they would be unusual human beings if they did not care about their own lives and were willing to blow themselves up just to kill a few strangers,” and yet, over and over again, they do.

If you sincerely believe that when you die all that happens is that the righteous believers go to paradise and the infidels go to hell where they belong, what does it matter if your family dies? Especially if your family is suffering in appalling conditions in Gaza. Isn’t it better that they get to go to paradise?

As Nidal Hasan put it, “we love death more than you love life.”

It’s often said that the liberal mind struggles to comprehend the illiberal mind. And similarly, the sane mind cannot comprehend the fundamentalist mind. Religious fundamentalists are playing by a different set of rules. And while, yes, there is great injustice in Gaza, and while that absolutely needs to be addressed--peace is impossible without addressing it--I don’t think that's what motivates people to shout “Allahu Akbar” as they slaughter innocent people.