Quote:
Originally Posted by hiredgun
TheNasty: To be clear, the median rocket causes exactly zero casualties, so the actual number is far lower than what you cite.
Konichiwa: To extend your metaphor of the Palestinians and Israelis each as a single human being, think of it this way: someone shoots a spitball at you, and in return, you bash in his left knee with a sledgehammer. This is more suitable than your original analogy to describe Israel's killing of over 500 palestinians (reportedly 40% women and children, to say nothing of any innocent men) in reaction to rockets that, taken together, have killed and injured handfuls. When speaking of nations, the equivalent of a loaded gun would have to be something on the order of a nuclear weapon - something capable of delivering a death-blow. Hamas rockets are awful, inexcusable, morally reprehensible, and must be stopped - but let's not pretend that they are the equivalent of a loaded gun facing Israel as a society.
And all of this about proportionality is really a side-note, a moral dimension to what is essentially a practical question: what could Israel possibly hope to accomplish here?
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Once force becomes lethal, you can't use things like spitballs as a analogy.
Are people actually justifying lethal force is excusable? All lethal force is lethal as it has one goal...to kill people.
Yeah Israel is using a lot of force here, but 6 years of small bombings is pretty substantial isn't it?
Sorry guys, I can see both sides but the people who are saying "Israel should just suck up these rocket attacks as everyday standard fare" should really analyze what they are saying.
On the reverse side, yeah I wish Israel didn't use as much force...but really what can they do? Just as much as Hamas is using psychology with the palestinians to win their support, Israel has to use the psychology of action to help their side. I would assume there's a bunch of Israeli's who are on the inside happy about this, because their government is finally doing something about the cloud of fear growing because of the constant rocket firing