Yes, what Hamas did was horrific and stupid. The ISIS-like tactics seem designed to create a vigorous Israeli response (which the West is trying to soften, for fear of tipping international dominoes). But I'm going to try and paint a larger picture here (note, just got back from 2nd visit to Israel in July):
1) Makes one wonder if this was at least partly engineered by Iran and Putin to create another front to weaken the West. Iran may be using Israel's retaliation in Gaza as pretext for their own assault on Israel.
2) The UN should have enforced resolution 242 long ago, to create a two-state solution, now probably too late. Our Dem presidents try to mediate this solution, and Repubs ally w Christian Evangelicals, who side w Zionists.
3) From Armenian third-party perspective (this event aside), Zionists are bullies who are trying to harass their people out of Jerusalem, where they've been for 2000 years. Zionists are dismissive of 1915 Genocide (that killed close to 2 million Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians) and support Azerbaijan (who are about to invade Armenia). Zionists have justifications for their rather self-centered tactics, and in truth they depend quite heavily on US and Europe (but note here many liberal Western Jews are very critical of Zionists). We defend Jews on many levels against silly anti-Semitic tropes, but the measured Zionist critique (often mislabeled as "anti-Semitism" ) has valid points.
4) This all brings up questions of Nationhood, genocide, and how the UN, NATO, etc should play their hands. I suppose if all were fair, we'd also create a safe "Assyrian-Kurdish-Armenian-Georgian" zone, a "Tibetan-Uyghur zone" and possibly even a "Sikh-Tamil zone" etc, and defend it from the likes of bullying Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey.
5) After "nations" are created, do they in turn need to allow all kinds of pluralism? (Not really, since pluralism can create dangerous divisions). I kind of cringe when I hear "America is a Christian Nation" or learn that France is banning hijabs, but I suppose Nations need strong cultural identities (and safety filters?)
6) If all the oppressed get protected Nationhood, would the bullied then turn around and become the bullies?
