I felt the need to response to Bobby R.'s well thought out comment.  I didn't mean to merely dismiss the current conflict with a disclaimer.  I was however more interested in putting the conflict in its historical context because I feel it is not often done.  I also chose to omit the facts of Hamas' targeting civilians and always doing so as compared to Isreal's dropping leaflets over targeted areas to warn civilians because those things are well publicized. 

As to Israel's responding to rocket fire with the pummeling of a city; yes, it is a disproportionate response when viewed on its own. However, for Israel, it is the only response.  Hamas will never negotiate.  Think about prisoner exchanges.  Israel wants one soldier kidnapped by Hamas.  Hamas wants hundreds in return.  Not much about the conflict has been proportionate or rational for that matter.  Israel knows when it engages in a full military war in a place like Gaza that civilian deaths will come at a large number, especially with Hamas using places like schools, hospitals, mosques, and apartments as their hiding places and firing zones.  Rocket fire results in the deaths of five or ten, and a full scale war obviously will kill hundreds as we have seen.  The numbers are disproportionate (Hamas and Fatah do have a history of falsifying numbers and moving dead bodies from place to place for the cameras to see, which should be taken into account).  Both sides act in many ways to sway world opinion but, in my opinion, it is Hamas and before it Fatah and the PLO that put their own interests before those of their civilians more often than does Israel, such as with the Camp David Accords.  Israel's ego got in its own way with Hezbollah in 2006.  Today, there is the stark possibility that those in power are letting their political aspirations with an election coming up get in the way of their best judgment.  There are no winners in this.  There never have been, and there will always be plenty of blame to go around.

Israel reminds me of a guy I knew in high school.  He used to get picked on until he developed a new mantra.  Anyone who hit him, he'd respond ten fold.  If you pushed him as a joke one day, he'd slug you over the next week.  Over time, people stopped messing with him because they realized that no matter what they did or how far they took the joke or fight, he'd keep coming back if nothing else to prove that he would so as to prevent future incidents.  Israel reacts much in the same way.  It is surrounded by neighbors who wish them harm and feels that the only way to deal with the groups that wish for their destruction is to respond with brutal and deadly force.  That is Israel's historical pattern in the matter and it is one that Israel feels is necessary to ensure survival.  Of course with a plan that requires violence, there will be plenty of room for debate.  However, remember that it is Israel that does the reacting just as was the case with the ten fold friend of mine in high school.

Finally, my column also did not touch too much on Iran's influence in the matter.  Hamas, and more so Hezbollah to the north are proxies of Iran.  Both rely on weaponry and training from Iran, again more so Hezbollah.  Hamas, in fact, has an inferiority complex when it comes to Hezbollah because of all the aid they get from Iran, and as a result their successes.  But, has anyone noticed that Iran's nuclear ambitions have not been mentioned lately?  This is where Israel's leadership may be letting its citizens down.  Yes, the rocket fire that threatens populations in the south is unacceptable.  But is the current conflict going to put the population of Tel Aviv in danger of being a nuclear target in a year with Iran coming dangerously close to nuclear capabilities?  Iranian-Israeli relations, which are by no means direct, could be another lengthy column on the abridged version but I'm not versed enough in the subject to write it.  There are so many back channels in their dealings that I don't know about so I will refrain from making conjecture.  To conclude, my column was an attempt at putting the conflict today in its historical context because the Palestinian leadership and more so Hamas have shown that they cannot be trusted.  Not the civilians, but the leadership.  Unfortunately, it is the civilian population of both sides that pays the ultimate price.  I am a Jew who has been a target of racist comments in my life and one that recognizes that world opinion has never and believes will never be on the Jewish side.  It is for that reason that I chose to write this column more than anything, and it was my attempt to do so in as objective a manner as possible considering my background.  I hope that does an adequate job of addressing the deficiencies in the full column.