Same goes with Russia. I don't have any sympathy for them if Putin is popular and make decisions like Ukraine invasion.
[1]: https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-science-32095d8...
E.G:
In the link you cite, the numbers come from "the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research". Researching how reliable this source is is a huge and hard work I'm assuming most HN users have neither the resources nor the skill to do. Medias outlet and politicians from all sides have demonstrated little benevolence or competence so trusting them to do that is also a stretch.
Even in France, I'm distrusting statistics from INSEE (!) now because it's so hard to verify neutrality. Condemning people to death based on those information is unwise.
Even if the data is true, where does that lead you? American have elected Bush which lied about WMD and went to war with Irak against the vote of the UN, killing thousands of civilians.
Do Americans deserve to die?
In which case which people from which country would be absolved from that judgement?
To them Jewish lives aren't important. And the fact that Jews are allowed to tell them what to do generates explosive righteous indignation.
Imagine yourself being ruled by chimpanzees. It wouldn't matter to you how benevolent they are, whether you have food or roof above your head. You'd feel like it's absurd, and whoever drove you into the situation where an ape tells you what to do must be brought to justice. This is how the average Gazan feels.
Let's say 51% of the U.S. voted for a crazy President from party "X" who became a dictator (illegally), and did terrible horrible unspeakable things.
And, let's say the 49% of the U.S. that didn't support said nutjob President, vehemently protested and did everything they could to oppose him[0].
Now, let's the say the rest of the world unites to defeat the U.S. that had gone crazy.
Would you still advocate that "Americans should pay the price for X's crimes against humanity"?
Would you advocate for the collective punishment of Americans, including those who abhor and hate X's actions (and who even attempted to resist X)?
This is the problem with collective punishments. QED
[0] Keep in mind the extreme difficulty of revolting against a government that has the most technologically-advanced military in the world.
There is basically no other option if you think about it. Either we should be fine palestianians choosing Hamas or we can force Palestians to not have a choice in leadership. Second is more violent but that is what is done now.
> Head pollster Khalil Shikaki, who has been surveying Palestinian public opinion for more than two decades, called it a “dramatic” shift, but said it also resembles previous swings toward Hamas during times of confrontation. Those all dissipated within three to six months as Hamas failed to deliver on promises of change.
It's like when George W. Bush had 90% approval in the US after 9/11; it doesn't really fairly reflect normal opinion.
The concept of 'total war' follow from the above. It is a foregone conclusion from democratic premises and the incentives of officials.
I would still say it's not wrong to blame American's from Bush's action.
And American's absolutely do suffer from their President's actions(although not that much).
If you offered to blow up the city in order to take out Republican leadership, more than a few would at least be willing to consider that tradeoff.
Dead civilians are always a tragedy, if they are Israeli or Palestinian. Only if and when peope are tired of killing, will this come to a stop.
It is as simple (and as difficult) as that. You're going to have to sell that to at least one side, probably both.
So the other 47% are culpable? The vast majority of people are victims of their own governments. Indiscriminate war is unconscionable- the biggest losers are always the little people.