Obviously I would want the terrorists brought to justice, as I want them brought to justice in real life as well.

But the idea that "Hamas started this" is exactly what Americans who only started paying attention yesterday would say. This conflict is over seventy years old.

You say it's ok to kill innocent civilians because they are being used as human shields. What's another word for someone who's being used as a human shield against his will?

A hostage.

Committing genocide against the Palestinians, as you seem to want to do, wouldn't solve anything. All it would do is ensure that every existing peace treaty between Israel and its Arab neighbors would be torn to shreds, and prospective peace agreements would be DOA. The security of the Jewish state would be destroyed forever. And the blowback on us would be 9/11-scale or worse.

What you are advocating isn't justice. It's vengeance. You aren't championing the authority of law and human rights, but the imposition of raw power on those for whom you feel a visceral disgust, even though the vast majority of them are every bit as decent as you imagine yourself and your family to be.

And maybe that's the real tragedy here. This conflict kills people's humanity, as it's clearly killed yours.