All wars are brutal, ugly and inhumane. And it seems to me that that ugliness has impacted DU.

[PatrickforB]

79. Well, they seem to be fanatics who think to benefit by starting a sort of Mansonesque

'Helter Skelter' that ends up in a war that gets rid of Israel completely.

All sorts of motivations.

I'm an older guy, so I'm mindful of the gang issues we were all fearful of in the early 90s, where so many drive-by shootings were happening. The gang members called innocent people they killed 'mushrooms' after the mushrooms on Super Mario Bros.

Seems like the issue with the Palestinians in Gaza is that same sort of collateral damage. It it such an innocuous term 'collateral damage' until you are in the group that is damaged. That's all.

Hamas sucks and needs to be eradicated. Israel does have the right to exist. But the Israeli corporations and political structure have no business oppressing 2 million people forced into close quarters in Gaza by withholding their basic material needs. Food, shelter, jobs, decent schools, healthcare, childcare, safety, access to transportation. These people have lived rather precariously for some time now.

So please don't do the 'very telling' thing with me because I am neither ignorant, nor am I some kind of fanatic. Hamas obviously wants to eradicate Israel. That is their payoff. They benefit from the oppressed Palestinians for purposes of recruitment of future soldiers in their jihad. But this was obvious and so I did not mention it. Again, Hamas needs to be smashed and Israel needs to continue existing. But there are two million people who are being used by Hamas as pawns, and in turn Hamas is being used as a pawn by larger groups, such as the theocratic regime in Iran and so on...

But again, these people now do not have electricity or water, and they have long languished in these enclosures. That is what needs to stop and that is what I have been saying all along.