Originally Posted by
Polyxo
I don't think it's really accurate to say Israel's crimes against Palestinians are comparable to Germany's crimes against Jewish people in WW2. I'd say it's more comparable to something like Serbian ethnic cleansing in the 90s.
If we're talking about standards Israel should be held to in limiting civilian casualties, let's consider the very low bar the US has set for itself in the region. For those familiar with contractors doing intelligence work leading up to things like drone strikes and other targeted killings, there's something called a 'plus one'. You have to have a known bad guy (like you know his name and you know he's there), and you're allowed to kill him, 'plus one' more person, without significant greater authorization for each individual strike. Even operating this way, the US has a pretty bad reputation, and Israel's nowhere near this discriminating.
Part of the problem of the conflict in general are the populations of Israel and Palestine themselves, and I blame Israel more for those changes. On the Palestinian side, especially in Gaza, the general narrative that people believe in, for better or worse, is that there's no way to just let bygones be bygones and live any semblance of a normal life. Even if you keep your head down, play nice, and be a model citizen, it's just a matter of time before the IDF bombs your home and business and kills you and your family, or Shabak arrests and tortures and indefinitely imprisons you or your family, so why bother with the peace process. On the other side of things, Israel's increasingly dominated politically by just plain hicks who want to live off the success of the Tel Aviv crowd, read the Torah all day, and then celebrate their prejudices through military action.