I'm not sure I agree with that. Israel is in an incredibly difficult situation, Hamas places their military assets in civilian areas, and civilian casualties have always been a feature of war. The number of Palestinians who have died in the present 3 week conflict with Israel is about the same number of people that have died every single week for the last 3 years in the Syrian Civil War. But I don't hear quite the same amount of outrage about that. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it is Je... I mean, Israelis, doing the killing.
You're absolutely right, so I find it really hard to fathom how you understand the geopolitical and diplomatic presures Israel and the IDF is under, and yet can call them the things you have. By the way, in the Pacific War, the Allies killed 100,000 Japanese civilians in a single night, in the firebombing of Tokyo (not the nuclear bombs, just the dropping of incendiaries on Tokyo on 8/9 March 1945. And General Sherman, after being begged not to by the citizens of Atlanta, burned the city to the ground in the American Civil War, after telling the citizens "War is cruel. War is cruelty". And that's what it is, he was right. There's no getting around it, and there's no way to fight a clean war)
Well, if I was in Shujaiya and i received one of these leaflets saying the IDF was coming in force, and to leave, I'd go anywhere but where I already was. Whether that means escaping to the rural fields of Gaza (of which there are many, it's not just one big city), or moving to another town and sleeping on the street.
Can it really be said to be a moral failing of Israel that they have managed their country and their situation better, and more wisely, than their opponents?
I question the assessment "through no fault of their own". In 1948, the UN partitioned the Levant into a Jewish State and an Arab State. Instead of accepting that, the Arabs chose to try to destroy the Jewish state (with significant support from the British). They failed. They tried again in 1967 and failed. You can't be the first resort to violence, and then complain about the outcome when you lose.]
Furthermore, in 1967 Israel begged King Hussein of Jordan (Jordan controlled the West Bank at that time) not to intervene in the war and fight with Syria and Egypt. Israel said that if Jordan stayed their hand, so would Israel. Jordan chose to attack, and as a result the West Bank came under Israeli control. Israel did not seek, nor did they want that territory.
Fair enough
I take your point about discussing it at length and productively, I was just a bit taken aback about your comment about "the Jews will never forget the holocaust" and them being baby killers and so on. Those are very harsh and emotive words, and I don't think they take into account the complexities and the history (like, for example, the point I mentioned above htat ISrael didn't even want the West Bank, and tried to prevent the war in which they conquered it). Anyway, point taken.