Now that they are in war mode, absolutely Israel is fighting in a humanitarian fashion while Hamas is fighting atrociously, but lets looks at the run up to the war.
Here is a timeline: 1st. It begins when the PA and Hamas formed a unity govt. Even though the PA was declared the head of the unity gov't, having hamas in the govt was unacceptable - even though we can see that when hezbollah joined the govt in lebanon they began the work of governing and we have had near total quiet on the northern border. But Israel made it clear that no way Hamas could be in a unity govt - why not? because it would destroy the non existent peace process.
2nd - shortly after that, at the end of may, 2 Palestinian youths were shot dead by the IDF - because they were near where a protest had recently ended.
3rd - The 3 Israeli youths were kidnapped. If Israel didn't know they were dead, they absolutely should have. Israel publicly called out Hamas because anytime a Palestinian does anything they can't be acting alone, even though Hamas said it wasn't them and that sometimes people do stuff on their own. Imagine if Bibi was a leader and fired the police who screwed up the emergency call - and leveled with the public about their deaths - swore to find the killers, and reminded his citizens of their humanity. Maybe it was ordered by Hamas, but if he knew that, how did he not know the kidnapped youths were already dead?
4th - Israel retaliated with total collective punishment - the iron fist - shut down the Palestinian ghetto cities, killed over a dozen, including youths, massive arrests, over 500 people, destruction of homes - breaking in at all hours yada yada yada. Imagine if Bibi had been a leader and responded without the iron hand - especially if he knew they were dead. Or did he have to cover up the incompetence of the protective services by immediately showing force?
5th, Israel finds out youths are dead -- whole nation and worldwide jewry calls for revenge - soldiers, civilians, politicians howled for blood - How quickly a nation can become a bloodthirsty mob. Imagine if Bibi had been a leader and the first response was not a call for revenge, blood, and settlement building, but a call for peace.
6th - politicians announce settlements will be built out of revenge! cant have a state if you take all their land - thats good revenge, not actually killing anyone outright, just subjugating them. Everyone remembers the worldwide howls for revenge, it became the trending selfie, even soldiers and rabbis, calling for blood.
7th - israelis burn a palestinian youth alive, though they are members of shas/likud/utj etc, no one blames those parties despite their public howls for blood, because when jews do bad they are acting alone. No houses demolished. No collective punishment. But it shocked a world of Jews to stop posting pics calling for blood.
8th - Hamas begins firing rockets and acting despicably and Israel begins fighting humanly. And your argument is that Israel didn't want war? They did everything in their power, every choice they made was a direct line to a conflict. Maybe on purpose, maybe because of a right wing constituency, maybe as a knee jerk response to take the nations eye away from the police who screwed up the emergency call, maybe just because they suck and can't walk and chew gum at the same time, but every choice was a choice to ratchet up the violence.
Hamas are terrorists. Make no mistake. Their mode of warfare is atrocious and despicable. Their civilians are in immediate danger because of many of their actions. But does Israel bear any responsibility? Can anyone dispute these facts?
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