I have written about why I haven't picked sides on this - and put simply, it's too complicated to make a knee jerk guess. https://medium.com/p/d866f7630b68

I am not afraid of making decisions - I am sceptical about making a decision based on the information I have, because I am not convinced I have all the information - nor am I convinced that most people are accessing information that is impartial. I think most people are making decisions based entirely on algorithms and confirmation bias. That is happening far more on the political left in the pro-Hamas camp, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening to the Israeli diaspora and Jewish population either.

My point about the free elections in Hamas is there to mitigate against much of what has been concluded here. Let us presume for example that you were brought up in Nazi Germany and you were 5 in 1930. You pretty much had your formative years inside a dictatorial regime, in which the information you were given was skewed. By 1943 you are 18 and drafted - do you think you should be shot on sight? Do you think everyone who grew up in Nazi Germany should've been thrown into prison - or do you think rehabilitation is possible? Do you think people can be deprogrammed?

If you think people CAN BE deprogrammed, because it is not their fault they have been indoctrinated into a Taliban style ideological meat grinder, then do you think Israel's actions are currently the best way to ensure this happens? Do you think the arbitrary painting of 'goodies' and 'baddies' by both sides will help end this multi-generational conflict?

In a nutshell, that is why I can't pick sides. You want to be 'the goodies' - but I don't think it works like that. A moral failure by Israel does not get erased because that moral failing was provoked.