People pleaser I think you’ve gone but I want to add my most sincere condolences. I read your posts with tears.
After this terrible week, I have lost faith completely in the commitment of this current Israeli government to peace. To those in Israel who might have voted this current government in or support it (and to be honest, I can’t think of anyone on this thread who is relishing the deaths) I would like to say the following, with respect.
You might believe because you are Jewish that this government is your friend and protector. I believe you are wrong. As a child I was brought up to believe that the apartheid government was there to protect me, a white girl. In fact I was told that it was their very raison d’etre.
Let me tell you: I believe the moment you present any serious opposition (as opposed to writing the odd letter or a heated dinner party discussion) to their current policies you will feel their wrath. I can remember my shock the first time a riot policemen went for me with teargas and a sjambok (whip). You see, I’m afraid to say I genuinely thought that as a young white woman they wouldn’t hurt me– those years of propaganda had worked. I thought if I was at a nice peaceful protest, as a young white woman, I would be fine. I was wrong.
Please watch that Home front video (all 4 videos please!) and see how this current right wing Israeli state will treat anyone who seriously challenges them. They are not your friend. They do not want to lead you to peace. They will arrest you if necessary. They will physically hurt you ‘if they have to’. As many others have said, this is not a Jewish thing.
About the Hamas rockets which seem such a sticking point (and a propaganda tool for the IDF) I would like to say the following:
When we were approaching peace in SA, many people on both sides wanted to derail it. During the run up to the first democratic elections, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla) went into full swing, with many attacks aimed at white people. (Such is the nature of our society, like conjoined twins, they usually managed to hurt black people too which they saw as collateral damage.) Their slogan was “one settler, one bullet” (and by settler, they meant people who had been in SA for 400 years) and they then made a policy decision to focus in particular on killing white children to “hurt the whites where it would most hurt”.
But during this time Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk didn’t waver from the peace process, under immense pressure, especially FW de Klerk who was vilified by many of his people as well as the rest of the world – poor guy.
What I’m saying is that many people will tell you: we cannot start peace talks until Hamas stops firing rockets. I’m saying this is not true. However painful, you can and should start talks now but the IDF has to stop its military campaign. I can hear you say how unfair this is - why am I saying the IDF should stop when Hamas needn’t? All I can say is I know the peace process would not have succeeded if white SA had been systematically bombing the townships like this and still calling for ‘peace’. To stop the cycle someone has to stop killing and really it needs to be the more powerful party. For sure the IDF should do all it can to prevent the attacks and thank God for the iron dome, but it needs to stop its large scale killing.
The Apla attacks did kill whites but they were isolated, clustered incidents (which to be clear I certainly did not support – I am not any self-loathing hater of whites). I truly believe a massive retaliation like we’re seeing now, sponsored by a powerful nuclear armed state like SA would have killed our peace process – unfair? Yes probably but that was how it worked.
This is an essay but one more thing: worst of all, remember – the IDF might, right now, be killing your own future Nelson Mandela – the one who could truly lead you to peace.
If anyone gets to this point, 
for indulging my opinion!