Israel's Current Actions in Gaza are Justified

Just to confirm, I will be arguing that Israel is 'right' in its current conflict against Gaza and that its current actions are justifiable. First of all, let's lay down the facts. On June 12, three Israeli teens were kidnapped and later found dead in the West Bank, a fellow part of Palestine and ally to Gaza. The chief politician of Hamas (which governs Palestine), Khaled Mashal, congratulated the abductor of the teens, though he did not confirm or deny that members of his organization was responsible for the killings. However, the day after the burial of the teens, a Palestinian boy was found dead in a supposed revenge killing. Israel quickly tracked down and arrested the suspects in the revenge killing, obviously not supportive of their actions. Gaza, being angry at Israel because of the revenge killing, decided to start firing rockets and mortar shells across the Israel-Gaza border. These attacks were quickly put down using Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. However, Gaza continued firing at Israel, forcing Israel to fire back in defense and begin regular bombings. This conflict quickly escalated into the violence happening today. Gaza and Israel both keep firing at each other, despite regular offers for cease-fires by the Israeli Defense Forces. Eventually, extremists from Hamas (which the US defines as a terrorist organization), began traveling through tunnels on the border in order to reach and attack Israeli citizens. the IDF decided to, in retaliation, begin a land invasion and block the tunnels used by the terrorists. As of today (August 5), the 32 tunnels have been closed, and Israel has retreated from its ground invasion. However, many accuse Israel, not Gaza, of using unnecessary force against Gaza's citizens. I will be explaining that this force is necessary in order to establish lasting peace between the two entities. Before I begin my argument, I would like to state that I in no way support the death of innocent civilians and do wish, in every way, that the casualties of this conflict were much fewer, if existent. If you have any disputes about whether any of the events mentioned above are true or not, please tell me. Otherwise, the above text will serve as a basis for fact on the events of the conflict. Thanks! Now in opinion's realm, let us start out with who began this conflict. Obviously, Palestinians took the lives of three innocent Israelis, while Israel later took the live of one innocent Palestinian. While Israel shamed the Israeli who was responsible for the death of the Palestinian boy, Hamas encouraged the Palestinian abductor of the three Israelis. Hamas stated on July 8th that "all Israelis" had become "legitimate targets" for its missile strikes, hinting an already obvious desire that Hamas wants Israel and all of its Israeli occupants destroyed. This desire is further made obvious by a Hamas statement saying, word for word: "The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realization of Allah"s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The day of judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jews will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say "O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. " This Hamas statement (acquired from theatlantic. com) shows Hamas's bloodthirst to kill all Jews. This is an obvious call for genocide, a call that can be further determined by the Hamas Charter, a 1998 document with a preamble stating, R43;Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before itR43;. Any disagreements about the content of the charter may be solved using . http://avalon.law.yale.edu.... Obviously, as long as you do not agree with its terms yourself, Hamas is a terror organization aiming for genocide of the Jews and obliteration of all of Israel. Meanwhile, Israel's happily just goal is to restore peace among its citizens, with Prime Minister Netanyahu stating August 5th that Israel will be done with the conflict when "a prolonged period of quiet and security is returned to Israel's citizens". Obviously, Israel's goal is only for peace and coexistence with Palestine. Even the US Senate has backed Israel's goal, stating in a unanimous opinion (everyone in the senate agrees) that Israel has the right to defend itself against "Hamas" unrelenting and indiscriminate rocket assault into Israel and Israel"s right to destroy Hamas" elaborate tunnel system into Israel"s territory. " This quote was taken from . http://www.jta.org.... Please visit that website for more information! Back to the point - obviously, while Hamas' goal is to obliterate the nation of Israel and all of its citizens, Israel simply wants peace. We have covered whose cause is more justifiable. Now, to if Israel's actions are justifiable. I hate to say so, but in the current situation, they are. Notice that Hamas has fired over 2,500 rockets indiscriminately into Israel. Hamas does not care who it hits, as long as it kills. Israel has fired far less rockets into Gaza, though these rockets have specific targets, meaning that Israel wants to hit terrorists, specifically, and not other civilians. Statistically, considering Gaza has fired many more rockets into Israel, a more populated nation, Israeli casualties would be much heavier. However, Israel, which cares about the lives of its inhabitants, has initiated the Iron Dome missile defense system to protect the lives of Israelis. Hamas, on the other hand, has done nothing whatsoever to protect its citizens. This is why so many Palestinians, and so few Israelis, are dying. Notice that Gaza gives no forewarning of its attacks. It does not want Israelis to know when to go to bomb shelters and protect themselves. However, Israel has delivered pamphlets to citizens in Gaza telling them when not to be in certain places because of missile fire, and where to go for safety. As stated above, Israel does not want the innocent citizens of Gaza to die. Gaza wants the innocent citizens of Israel to die. It is simple. Gaza also wants its own citizens to die. This is obvious, as Hamas makes no attempt whatsoever, unlike Israel and its Iron Dome, to save its citizens. Gaza wants the world to think that it is a victim and Israel is the perpetrator. It wants the nations of the world to love Gaza and hate Israel. It believes it can do so by showing statistics that say that more people of Gaza have died than people of Israel, meaning that Gaza is just and Israel is not. Hamas is letting its own citizens die so it can have sympathy from other nations. Israel does not want sympathy, rather, it wants alive people, so it protects its citizens. This is simple. Israel is right, Gaza is wrong. Are Israel's rocket attacks justifiable? Unfortunately, yes. If Israel did not destroy Hamas, Hamas would repeatedly try to destroy Israel, killing millions of Israeli citizens in its path. The situation is much similar to that of World War II, when Harry Truman dropped a bomb on Hiroshima. Sadly, this killed people. However, it sent a message to the enemy government to stop fighting and end the war. Harry Truman always said, correctly, that millions more lives would be lost in other ways if the bomb had not been dropped. Harry Truman saved millions of lives (indirectly) by doing this. Truman is Netanyahu. America is Israel. Bombing Hiroshima is bombing Gaza. It all lines up. By bombing Gaza, Israel indirectly saves many more of its own citizens from a similar fate. Furthermore, Israel does not mean to kill the citizens of Gaza, it merely does because Hamas has placed its rocket launch zones in highly populated areas, in order to get Israel to kill its citizens. As stated before, it wants these citizens to die for international sympathy. All in all, I, along Israel, am heartbroken that so many had to die for others to live. I wish it never happened, just as I wish the bombing of Hiroshima never happened. However, these could be necessary to save millions more lives in the future. Please consider this. Thanks! P. S. More about this conflict can be found on cnn. com, a source that I used while writing my argument. Thanks!