Does getting massacred justify massacring tenfold? I'm pretty sure the United States emmisaries had this very conversation with the state of Israel.

The thing is, Hamas and Hesbollah see provoking Israel to disproportionate reprisal as a worthwhile gambit. They know Netanyahu is glad to enact genocide justified by retaliation to terror. But now the world will get to watch the horrors of war under Israeli jackboots. And it will be ugly, and the world may have opinions about the Israeli state doing ugly things. The general opinion from the international community is changing. Along with the US' unconditional support of a regional bully.

There are better ways. But Israeli state has rejected all alternatives, and is glad to throw stormtroopers into the mix.

And yes, the people of Israel, by a significant majority don't want an overkill response. They want a path towards peace. But the far right does like us vs. them dynamics to consolidate power. It's the same playbook Trump uses.

I'm not an expert. I don't know how to fix this, but the experts were shown the door, so here we are. 👀