as I implied, I understand that the perceived threat is very frightening, however I think its vital to apprecate the real threat (stats supplied by the Israeli govt btw).
when many westerners hear about rockets "raining down" on Israel they might picture ss-20s, scuds or some foreign versions of the formidable NATO tomatonal, whereas the reality is very different in terms of capability.
I also appreciate that non-fatal casualties of any conflict are far greater in number and broader in political effect than the fatalities. I'm pretty sure you dont want me to look into those numbers in any detail.
Out of respect for a former squaddie and a someone I suspect to be a standup guy I'm sorry if you dont like what I've posted, but as an impartial observer I feel obliged to add a little balance to opinions about the conflict on this board.
That does not make what Hamas is doing and has done all along anything other than terrorism. If some clown keeps throwing bricks at my house and in my yard, and the police do not respond, I'm going to respond, not in kind, but rather I will rapidly escalate things to a quick end. The fact that he's not killed any of my family yet is not going to change it either. My intentions will be to deal with him as quickly and harshly as is necessary to prevent him from ever doing it again.
It also does not change the fact that not only does Hamas commit terrorist acts on a constant and regular basis, but they also do so while hiding among civilians, and further, operating from or next to schools, hospitals, and mosques, doing so in a deliberate manner intended to cause maximum collateral damage in a retaliatory strike. Hamas intentionally gets their own people killed or maimed in an at least partially successful public relations campaign.
And finally, the inhabitants of Gaza evidently freely elected Hamas, a terrorist organization, as their government and their representative to the world. As such, all of those who voted, evidently overwhelmingly, to elect Hamas, must bear a large part of the responsibility, almost as large as Hamas itself, and certainly far larger than Israel.
Only the children get any real sympathy from me. And possibly some of the women.