Some will immediately invoke the occupation, settlements, the Netanyahu government’s hardline positions, all partly true, but a separate matter. Terrorism, the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, is indefensible no matter what the reason.  Furthermore, Hamas, which denies Israel’s right to exist and calls for its destruction, tries to have it both ways, targeting Israeli civilians, while intentionally embedding rockets and other military forces among its own civilian population. In so doing, it seeks both to make it harder for Israel to respond effectively and then to claim a PR victory when some civilians are killed in Israeli responses, despite the extreme measures Israel takes to avoid this.

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/death-above-israel%E2%80%99s-hamas-nightmare-continues-10858 7/12/2014.