Hi Neena, I once considered myself part of the “pro-Palestine” movement when I was a student. Then I went there. What changed my mind wasn’t propaganda from Israel. It was seeing a reality that much Western activism simply edits out. Hamas and other militias are not an imaginary enemy and Gaza was not defenceless. Hamas and other armed groups built an enormous military infrastructure, embedded much of it within a densely populated civilian environment, and fired thousands of rockets at Israeli communities. None of that makes Palestinian civilian suffering less real. It makes the story more complicated than “powerful Israel attacks helpless Gaza.” And words matter. War does not mean “two armies fighting.” International humanitarian law expressly recognises armed conflicts between states and organised non state armed groups. Hamas does not cease to be a belligerent because it doesn’t wear the uniform of a sovereign state. I’ve worked alongside foreign militaries. One thing consistently missing from this conversation is the extraordinary operational difficulty of fighting an enemy embedded within a civilian population. The IDF is not beyond criticism, no military is, but measures such as warnings, evacuation orders and other precautions to reduce civilian harm are real. So too is Hamas’s documented use of civilian areas and infrastructure for military purposes. Then came 07/10. Hamas and other armed groups, including civilians deliberately crossed into Israel, massacred civilians, committed sexual violence and other atrocities, and abducted people. Hamas knew perfectly well that Israel would respond militarily. That does not mean every subsequent Israeli action is automatically justified. It means you cannot honestly analyse this war while deleting the event that precipitated it, the armed organisation Israel is fighting, or the way that organisation fights. Palestinian children deserve infinitely more than being raised inside another generation of this conflict. They deserve education rather than indoctrination, leaders who value their future more than martyrdom, and a political culture capable of accepting that Israel is not going to disappear. Israel isn’t perfect. Neither is our country. Criticise its government, its policies and its military decisions where criticism is warranted. But Israel is not the cartoon villain this movement needs it to be, and Palestinians are not helped by pretending Hamas has no agency. Peace requires two peoples accepting that the other is staying. Anything else is just preparing the next generation for another war. Rhianna