Israel is justified in their invasion of Gaza

"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? " Let's look at the picture you're portraying. You are trying to suggest that all the Palestinian people are as guilty as each other (which I'll come to in a moment). You're also suggesting that diplomacy is useless, and conflict and "victory" is the only solution. You've also said that because the Palestinian people are allied with Hamas, it's fine by you that they get killed. I ask you then, if this is the case, where does your solution end apart from the entire destruction of the Palestinian people? That's when you are talking genocide. "Now you asked me for evidence that Hamas was hiding within the civilian population, and evidence that those people are not acting against it. " No, I asked you for evidence that the people are allied with Hamas, and actively supporting it. Proximity to the militants isn't being allied with them. If a man runs into your house with a gun, it doesn't mean you support him because you didn't run away out of fear of being shot, and let's face it, it's ridiculous to say you do. "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. " I said in my opening statement Israel absolutely do have the right to defend themselves, I am not, and never have argued this fact. What I do argue is that Israel in responding have the onus of defending with reasonable response, which if it was reasonable, would justify the invasion of Gaza. In no way has Israel responded with a balanced measure, and you are yet to provide any evidence that they have. "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 agree completely, and this is actually one of the centre points of my argument. Palestinian lives are worth no more than Israelis by any stretch, but on the opposite side they aren't worth any less either. One of the main criticism's is the massive loss of life within the Palestinian population in retaliation for the amount of Israelis killed. It's very hard to balance and trade lives with lives, however I can't see how 14 vs 1200 in response is justifiable in any way. "ELECTED A CRIMINAL TERRORIST ORGANIZATION to power in their country. That makes them ALL allied to Hamas. That's not up for discussion. " Firstly, unfortunately it is up for discussion, this is a debate after all. That's very similar to me saying that a republican is guilty of supporting Barrack Obama in the recent election, and he should die because of what Obama believes. Silly isn't it? Because some of the population supports Hamas doesn't mean that they are all guilty and should be tarred with the same brush. This also doesn't mean that even if they did vote for Hamas in an election that it excuses their death in any way. A civilian population should not be slaughtered because of their political voting, and it's quite horrible to see someone say otherwise. Every Palestinian is not a militant, and you cannot justify their death simply because of where they were born. Are you really going to suggest children that perished in the conflict were actively supporting militants? "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. " Please, let's keep accusation of lying to a minimum. You seem to believe that a civilian population not supporting the "enemy" or opposing force makes them responsible for whatever happens to them. In other words, if a village got bombed in Vietnam for not supporting American troops, that would be ok? It would in reality be called a war crime. The civilian population in a conflict is, and should be treated as a neutral force. By all means if you catch someone actively aiding the enemy then deal with them, however that's not what has happened in Gaza. There have been women and children killed, and you have yet to provide any evidence they were aiding Hamas at the time. "Yes I am disputing the casualties in this conflict because Hamas has a historical tradition of inflating some numbers and deflating others. " Yet you don't provide any figures of your own? What's your alternative figure then? Even the Israeli defence force claims between 1100-1200 people were killed. "You want to hold this debate to JUST THIS conflict. " Yes, because that was the premise of the debate, and I'm challenging you to justify this action of Israel, which at the moment my opponent has been unable to do. There have been several key issues that my opponent has failed to adequately address. - He has failed to explain how the deaths of 1200 (figure disputed, with what I'm not sure) people is a reasonable response to the 14 Israelis killed in the conflict. - He has failed to explain why hundreds of thousands of people in a civilian population (not militants) should be put in a humanitarian crisis for the actions of militants within the population. - He has tried to blame the Palestinian population for their own suffering, claiming that as a civilian population it's their own fault for not driving out a militant base in their population. Unfortunately as in any war, he doesn't realise that the mass killing of civilians for this reason is not justifiable, and often constitutes a war crime. - He has failed to show that the onus isn't on Israel to ensure that civilians are not killed in the conflict, simply saying it's their own fault if they do. - He has in no way "justified" the invasion into Gaza as defined in the opening argument of the debate, relying on claims such as the majority were actively supporting Hamas at the time (including women and children) and as such deserved to die, without providing any proof of this fact.