If they were to do that, Hamas would simply strike again and again. And again, since stopping the campaign would prove that Israel is weak, afraid of to public pressure, frightened of casualties, and, by Hamas's logic, not tough enough to keep killing civilians as they would, have, and are. After all, those Palestinian civilians are martyrs, and what could be better to whip up more support.

Politically, Hamas is 100% responsible for what's happening now. And they're proud of it.

Morally, both sides are murderers, but Israel has the unassailable argument of self defense, which based on past experience requires the eradication of the political domination Hamas over Gaza. Hamas, in contrast, demands the eradication of the State of Israel and the "removal" of Israeli Jews. Hamas even kicked Fatah out of Gaza because Fatah was amenable to the co-existence of Israel and a Palestinian state.

Anyone who thinks Hamas is morally superior (like the Harvard students who are today accusing Barack Obama of genocide) is welcome to that opinion; but superior based on what values? Very few that civilized human beings anywhere would endorse.

I believe that Israel is clearly the lesser of the two evils. Of course, from a purely humanitarian viewpoint, the lesser of two is often still pretty bad. But it remains the lesser.

Take Iran and the U.S. and everyone else out of the equation. What would change? Both sides have the will, the weapons, and the public support to wreak havoc on each other. Hamas has decreed, in its own charter, an absolute zero-sum game, and it wants Israel to play.

We can shout all we like. It doesn't matter. Workable solutions welcome.