Hi Lea,

So my UPS story. We start unloading boxes. We realize we're not going to do it in 1:15 so we start throwing boxes.

Similarly, the IDF soldiers are told the rules of engagement. Only shoot at what's shooting at you. But they experience getting shot by everything that moves so they shoot everything that moves no matter what. They see movement. They shoot. They get closer. It's a child.

Did they mean to shoot the child? No. But there's no way anyone in their situation would NOT shoot everything that moves. Human have a survival instinct and unless they have tons of training and discipline they will go to those instincts. Most Israeli soldiers are reservists. They are only trained in the basics. That's why they shot hostages.

Netanyahu and the men surrounding him know this will happen. But they also know their PR people will make people believe it doesn't happen because it isn't their policy (which it isn't).

So the question you have to ask yourself, should Israel be accountable for the reality of what's going on or for what they say should be going on?

If you look at combat footage coming out of Gaza and compare it with what you think is going on intellectually you will not be able to reconcile the two.

Also, many of the Israeli soldiers who see combat will be traumatized for life. Unlike Netanyahu, they won't be able to rationalize their killing some other young person, woman or old man.

Think about this? If you drop a 1,000 pound bomb on an apt building and your life depended on it, what would you bet, that you'd find a Hamas fighter in the rubble of children?

So would you bomb those buildings?

In WWII Germany unleashed the mother of all artillery attacks on Verdun. They leveled everything. They expected to march in after and clean up the stragglers. Guess what. 714,000 deaths on both combined and the line hadn't moved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun

That's one reason people argue Israelis bombardment of Gaza will do nothing of military value. It will only kill non-combatants trapped in the buildings.

Again, Netanyahu knows this history. But he also knows most people don't and won't make an effort to find out until it's too later to change anything.

Let me know if I haven't answered your questions.