I fundamentally disagree. This is not the question. The question is how do we make the rapes and the killing stop. Any attempt to equivocate on who killed how many simply feeds the dehumanisation machine available and widely practiced on both sides. This issue is too complex, the history is too nuanced to make an an opressor/oppressed knee jerk judgement and the political left should be wary of doing so.

The liberal response is to condemn killing of everyone and attempt negotiation. The Hamas charter does not give credence to any negotiations whatsoever, they haven't held free elections since 2006 - Their multi-millionaire leader lives in Qatar whilst their population suffers abhorrently and so they cannot be brought to the table to negotiate in good faith. More worryingly, they're convincing everyone that acts of terrorism, if done with enough social media clout are a useful strategy.

They are playing a brand new type of social media warfare, have used their own people as expendable pawns - no military unit would ever base themselves at a hospital. What's more worrying is that the political left are falling for it because it feeds into some sort of terrifying Marxist blindspot. This is a blueprint for every terrorist group in the world to claim 'oppressed' status and launch its own just war.

As for the history... if you haven't read it, then I recommend this: https://medium.com/migration-issues/who-has-claim-3-000-years-of-religion-in-the-land-between-23f220a697f7