One thing I've learned: You cannot apply the same ethical standards to those without power as ...

[cprise]

11. Why should anyone subscribe to that black and white interpretation?

Don't be any more ridiculous than your (quite ironic) avatar. People who suffer oppression sometimes react to senseless violence with more senseless violence. It is a fact of life.

Conversely, it is also a fact that those with the lion's share of power and wealth bear most of the responsibility for perpetuating the conditions of conflict. If power won't accept responsibility for at least halting its own abuses, then it becomes illegitimate.

You grew up in a "war on drugs" (i.e. war on minorities and the poor) America; I didn't. Perhaps you didn't notice the police state that emerged late last century, but plenty of other people have.

You may also think its an accident that NYC (formerly) stop-and-frisk police were trained in Israel. That policy thankfully has been repudiated. But the mentality that seizes upon apartheid-like policies is a shared factor. The same goes for the walls built in Israel and the ones built on the Mexican border.