So tell me, should the US have stopped attacking Japan once they’d matched the ~2.4k soldiers killed at Pearl Harbor?
Or should the allies have stopped “genociding” Nazi Germany once they’d matched Hitler’s body count?
OF COURSE NOT. This isn’t about tit for tat. Especially when going after an enemy that is openly committee to your annihilation. Israel certainly appears to be doing a shit job of it, but there is no need to muddy the waters with specious arguments.
They relate, directly, because what is happening now is that Israel is attempting to eradicate and eliminate Hamas, once and for all.
The problems people have with “proportionality” collapse under any scrutiny… Should the US have stopped attacking Japan once we reached the total number of servicemen killed at Pearl Harbor? Or the allies stop once a “proportionate” number of Germans had died?
No, obviously, because these were enemies openly dedicated to taking over and/or wiping out whole populations. Were innocent civilians killed in the process? Certainly. Is Hamas deliberately seeing to it that civilians are used as defense and propaganda sacrificial la,bs? Unquestionably.
Finally, Hamas could end hostilities today by returning all hostages and surrendering its leaders to an international court. But the PR game is wildly successful, especially among this crowd, so why would they ever?
Hamas releasing all hostages in exchange for a cease-fire.
But they won’t. The PR bonanza — successful, by the sound of apparently ~99% of this community — at the expense of civilian innocents has been too good to stop anything, yet.