Actually Israel has, for example, early on a rocket killed 8 children in Gaza. Israel was blamed but Israel said they did not fire in the area, that it was a Gazan rocket that fell short.

You try to explain why so many children died in the conflict, but you fall into the trap of taking the word of terrorists at face value. Israel, a responsible democratic country insists that their surgical strikes at military targets killed far fewer than Hamas claims, and that the majority were terrorists. Why do you believe Hamas over Israel?

Hamas has been known to radically inflate the death toll and to pass off militant deaths as civilian deaths. They have also been known to "fake" children's' funerals - where after the TV cameras turn, bystanders' smart phones are still recording when the "dead" get up and walk away. And you fail to point out that about 1/4 of the 4,000 rockets Gaza fired, fell short and landed in Gaza itself - killing far more innocents than Israel's precision guided missiles. Yet Hamas blames these deaths on Israel as well. Apparently you do too.

@[Craig Newman](user:7650) Bibi may be committed to staying in power. But he would never form an alliance with Hamas to do so. And they would never with him either. He also wouldn't put Israeli lives at risk. It's kind of a crazy suggestion. And as Mr. Cox said, there was no guarantee it would have worked in his favor.

It's a nice thought to try to win the hearts and minds of the Gazan people. But they've been indoctrinated to hate since infancy. It would be an uphill battle. Plus, even if you succeeded, Hamas is a bloodthirsty, ruthless regime that has no qualms about killing their own people. They would not hesitate to torture and murder any Gazan whom you managed to turn against them. In fact they would probably murder anyone who agreed to even enter Israel, as an Israeli collaborator. How would you get around this problems?

Israel does not bomb mosques. Even when they know they are used to store weapons. Also, Israeli doesn't carpet bomb blocks of apartments. They use precision guided missiles to hit precise military targets. Hamas purposely embeds these military targets among civilians so create collateral damage which unfortunately is unavoidable.

At the end of the day, Israel only targets the military, Hamas only targets civilians. That's why the world classifies them as a terrorist organization.

Definitely not the same amount. I saw countless synagogues and Jewish stores burned to the ground in Israel. How many mosques or Arab stores were burned? Not a one that I saw. You have to be careful of falling into the trap that this is all a "cycle of violence" where both sides are equally to blame, and equally violent. That's simply not the case.

When you say there were anti-Jewish pogroms, and as are a result, there are now Arab pogroms, what are you referring to? I saw pictures of Lod and Haifa in flames, synagogues and Jewish owned stores burned to the ground. I saw pictures and videos of Jews being dragged from their cars and beaten to unconsciousness. I saw only one incident, in Bat Yam, of the same being done to an Arab.

Horrible yes, but one incident vs. hundreds is not the equivalency you imply.

And from what I understand, we don't even know the full details of what happened in Bat Yam - he was ramming cars before he was attacked, and they haven't even confirmed he was an Arab, last I saw.

Hamas is simply using Sheikh Jarrah as an excuse to attack Israel. That place has been in litigation for over 40 years and is still in court - their fate has yet to be determined.

Here is my theory on what is really happening:

1. Hamas likes to flex their muscles once in a while, to show they are still relevant. In fact, if you look at the last several years, every May and November, they have launched similar attacks. It's probably something to do with how often their missile stockpile is resupplied by Iran.

2. They are probably testing Biden to see how supportive he is of Israel. Trump was very anti-Palestinians and pro-Israel, but Biden has expressed a greater willingness to support the Palestinians.

3. Most importantly, for the first time in history, an Arab Israeli party was going to join the Israeli government - they've always stayed in the opposition. This would have really changed Israel for the better. Real unity, and in exchange for this, Israel was going to spend millions in making sure Arab cities were modernized, with better infrastructure, etc. Creating thousands of jobs there, and making them all very prosperous. But just as it looked like they would sign the agreement, the rockets started falling. They can't possibly join a Jewish government while the Jewish state is at war with it's fellow Arabs.

Hamas just eliminated a real chance for peace and reconciliation within Israel.

I'm not sure how "fair" any of those elections are. Nor how often they are. It's difficult to stand up to a government that can shoot you on the spot, or toss you in jail without a trial and then throw away the key.

I saw a study in Israel that showed no increase in suicides at all over the past year. Which directly contradicts your statement. Perhaps it is different in the US, but it's odd that every single link that you use to backup your claims are from your own site.