Israel

Why let the facts get in the way of a false narrative...

Iron Dome is an interesting one. There has been a suggestion that the hospital explosion may have been an Isreali interceptor missile hitting an Hamas rocket.

It would explain why there is a minimal crater in the car park with cars burnt out rather than caught in an explosion, the fireball being unspent rocket fuel and not High Explosive.

Would give both sides of the argument enough to blame the other, although I suspect many have already decided.

That election was nearly two decades ago (2006), the 2014 and 2021 attempts were postponed/abandoned so it's not really clear whether they still represent the Palestinian people...

You tell me Yatton. Do you believe Israel should take no action and just sit back and watch 1000s of rockets descended on their country? Don't throw it back on me I've asked those who have said Israels response is disproportionate what in their eyes is proportionate and as yet have not received a response.

Sorry but as has been quoted on the politics thread you get what you voted for. So the Palestinians have had 18 years to oust Hamas and have decided not to have an uprising and keep a terrorist organisation in power.

I didn’t say all Muslims supported Hamas. It would help if you responded to the comment I made and not the one you hoped I made.

I said the left are supporting hamas, and they are. I said Islam was mostly chauvinistic, and at odds with progressive ideas, and it is.

I said “with notable exceptions”.

How are women’s rights in Iran?

So quick summary, Hamas *did* win the most seats at the 2006 election, 74/132 - a bit of a surprise since all the opinion polls had Fatah 8+ points ahead of Hamas and the exit polls had Fatah 7 points ahead. The exit poll also asked voters if they supported a Peace Agreement with Israel (79.5% in support) and should Hamas change its policies regarding Israel (Yes 75.2%).

A government was formed but quickly dissolved as (massive simplification) no-one wanted to work with Hamas, which led to the 2007 'Battle of Gaza' where Hamas seized power and Fatah officials were either taken as prisoners, expelled or executed...

...since the next two sets of elections didn't happen (for obvious reasons) we have to conclude no one knows what the Palestinian people want and they are unlikely to be polled anytime soon....

I will try to answer the question posed in your last sentence constructively.
First,you are conflating two issues,directly questioning the proportionately of Israel's response does not mean by default you support Hamas.
Personally,I like most people abhor any form of terrorism,it is counter productive and in the main targets innocent people.
What concerns me greatly is the scale and proportionality of Israel's response,they have made a conscious decision that women and children will be killed as a direct result of the type of military action they are undertaking,of course there will be civilians killed but surely the targeting of residential areas cannot sit well with anyone?.
I fully understand their motivation and desire to keep their losses to a minimum, unfortunately they will as in all wars need boots on the ground to achieve their stated objectives, destroyed buildings make excellent defensive cover.
In the final analysis Israel will not achieve its stated aim of being able to live in peace,you can kill as many terrorists as you like,you cannot kill an idea.
All wars are ended by dialogue , compromise and military victors being magnanimous as the allies were after WW2,that is the model that has by and large worked in Europe and Japan,I would like to see much more effort going that way post this conflict,giving the population hope for a better future marginalises support for terrorists.