Israel is justified in their invasion of Gaza

I understand your point and your motivation - you want peace, you just don't like the color of the coin that will pay for it. Diplomacy is not the solution here, victory is. Nowhere in my argument did I even hint at the word "genocide", and the activity in Gaza is nowhere near that level. Let's just get that out of the way, shall we? Now you asked me for evidence that Hamas was hiding within the civilian population, and evidence that those people are not acting against it. Here it is:http://www.pbs.org... Since obviously trying to sound TOO intelligent has led to me leaving several large holes in my argument, I'm going to go back to my normal vernacular. Hamas is DARING Israel to bomb civilians to cause the exact outcry you are raising. They have left the IDF no choice. The Israeli military can't control or know instantly when Hamas operatives are leaving their hideouts, and therefore have no choice but to go after the terrorists WHERE THEY ARE. Israel is in the business of protecting Israelis, and Palestinians' lives are NO MORE VALUABLE than the lives of the Israeli civilians that have died in hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide attacks. "I have provided evidence that shows your statement to be false. Many of the people who have died are in no way allied to Hamas, simply bystanders caught in the conflict." How can you prove this? You take them at their word? You are building the basis of your argument on the statements of a group of people who ELECTED A CRIMINAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATION to power in their country. That makes them ALL allied to Hamas. That's not up for discussion. This country feeds Hamas, shelters Hamas, clothes Hamas, and JOINS Hamas. Please give me a better definition for allied. You also mis-state my idea that the civilians of Gaza are in no way responsible for the things that have happened to them. Sorry, that's an out and out lie. Israel is DEFENDING ITSELF. Operatives of Hamas walk out of bunkers, launch rockets into Israel and go back into the bunkers. The civilians know where they are, and could rid themselves of this menace simply by running over to the nearest Israeli patrol and pointing to where the bunker is. That's not surrendering, that's helping stop the people WHO ARE ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE. "Are you disputing the casualties involved in the conflict?" Yes. Yes I am disputing the casualties in this conflict because Hamas has a historical tradition of inflating some numbers and deflating others. (http://www.haaretz.com...) Now I need to make one last point, because you obviously don't understand the scale of this issue. You want to hold this debate to JUST THIS conflict. I'm sorry, but that is impossible. Conflicts like this one cannot be evaluated and debated on a case by case basis because every conflict just builds the hatred. Israel is attacked, goes into Gaza or another area of Palestine, tries to clean it up, and leaves. Hamas allows them to leave, and starts shooting once they're gone. This happens over and over and over again, and there is NO END IN SIGHT unless the people of Palestine decide to do something about it. It is the duty of the Palestinians to get their country under control, and to elect INTELLIGENT, DIPLOMATIC leaders not terrorists with an itchy trigger finger.