I’m not on any team here. Hamas is awful. The Israeli military is awful. Civilians caught in the middle are the ones who deserve our support and sympathy.

There can be no peace with an us vs them mentality. All it does is engender the same mentality in your foes, and then everyone thinks any action they take is justified. Perhaps it is, but therein lies the issue. In taking justified action, they go too far and create justification for the other to now act.

They don’t have to like each other. They just need to leave each other alone. Enforce defense right up to where the border against Gaza is, and no further. And, vice versa. Continually push for a two state solution, no matter what happens. The power dynamic isn’t going to shift away from Israel’s favor, and as we’re seeing, taking directionless vengeance makes everything worse and solves nothing.