"Granted, the pro-Mugabe, pro-dictatorship, anti-free speech combination probably appeals to you."
Bingo, bo_sox.
"I'm sure the people in Gaza feel the same way, so you should support peace, not retaliation. If the Palestinians were actually peaceful, or if the Israelis were actually peaceful, there would be a real villain, but as things are, there's just two deranged nations fighting each other with the knowledge that nothing good is going to come out of it."
I think the Israelis and Palestinians as people are on equal moral footing; I maintain Hamas (not the Palestinians, Hamas) is worse than Israel...
Which I mean to be taken more as a sign of just how much I find Hamas to be an absolutely-despicable group than an endorsement of Israel.
Israel's done terrible things in the West Bank, and they're going to feel ashamed of it if a peace deal is ever signed and these parties have time to reflect.
But in a rare moment, I agree with what Netanyahu said today, equating Hamas to ISIS and Hezbollah (who have offered to support Hamas) and Boko Haram and Al Quaeda and so on. Hamas, by the statement of people who I know who lived in the region--heck, we heard from H.H. days ago--is a despicable organization.
And by cutting off travel to Tel Aviv, we ARE giving a "prize to terror."
That gives Hamas all the more incentive to target the airport and areas near the airport again...they said 10 days ago they would target it...and now, after seeing it had an effect, they most certainly will do so again. So--if they hit a plane, and hundreds die who are neither Israeli nor Palestinian and have nothing to do with this conflict...what will be the defense for Hamas "changing" then?
Their rockets can't do what the pro-Russian BUK missile did, but landing or taking off, they can still hit the plane and can still cause a crash or kill hundreds...heck, they could hit it on the landing strip.