You're arguing that Israel the governments most invested in discrediting Hamas' figures, treats them as reliable internally, while cynically discrediting them publicly, do so without making any attempt to verify the number of people they killing themselves? They know, apparently, that they've killed 13,000 Hamas fighters. But they have no idea how many civilians they've killed? Not even enough to be able to contest Hamas' figures? Even Piers Morgan can see through this absolute nonsense.

You're weaving ever more ridiculous fantasies in your head to avoid acknowledging simple facts. It's honestly sad to watch. And it's stuff like this that makes your claim to see the Palestinians as "cousins" sound totally cynical and hollow. We're talking about tens of thousands of dead, innocent "cousins." Nobody denies that. But I bet you weren't applying this degree of skepticism to Israel's reports on Oct 7th. This, despite the fact that they revised their figures downwards twice, haven't properly distinguished between civilians and soldiers either, and that the IDF seems increasingly likely to be responsible for some of the Israeli deaths that day.

And yes, I know that Hamas didn't win a majority, I'm not misinformed. I don't say that there rise to power was out of popularity. Their rise to power doesn't all have to be democratic or legitimate. But they got 44% of the vote. Again, I've written about their oppression of the Palestinian people already. The point is why the Palestinians feel the way they do about Israel. And why they'd be willing to support a government like Hamas as they do today in much greater numbers. The idea that this is just because they're all just crazy fanatics who hate poor, innocent Israel for no reason is exhaustingly stupid.

Anyway man, I think I'm done here. We could quibble forever about greenhouses and polls, but this isn't about any of that, it's about you trying to justify something you know you can't honestly justify. I've spent close to an hour replying to the many comments you've left as you try to rationalise away the crimes you know, deep down, that Israel is committing. You've read enough of my responses to various people to know my answers to most of the questions you're asking already.

So the real question is; are you more interested in standing by your nation or standing by what's right? Because the unavoidable reality is that Israel is guilty of some pretty terrible crimes. And this reality is only gong to become more undeniable as time passes and the war ends and the full extent of what's happened in Gaza comes to light. What we already know for certain is bad enough.

That doesn't mean the people of Israel are evil or that Israel needs to be destroyed. It doesn't mean that Hamas are justified in the atrocities they committed or that the Palestinians are angels. But it means that at this point, your wilful blindness is very close to complicity. And because, frustratingly enough, I can tell that you have sense and morals, I think this fact is going to cause you deep shame in the future.

You can love your country and acknowledge that what it's doing is wrong. As many Israelis have done. As many Jewish people around the world have done. As many Holocaust survivors have done.

What Israel should have done, and what you should do, is acknowledge that too. And seek genuine justice. If Israel had done that earlier, we wouldn't have needed to have this conversation.