"there seems to be a widely held view that Israel must follow rules that are expected of no other country, held to standards of no other country and subjected to provocation like no other country."
I've made similar comments previously.
Imagine if there was an area of land bordering the USA that was Governed by a certain political/military force.
Now imagine that certain political/military force invaded the USA and killed 34,000 US citizens, took 8,500 US citizens hostage, as well as raped/injured etc.
What reaction do we all think the USA would give if that certain political/military force did not unconditionally surrender and return the hostages?
How would Russia act?
How would China act?
How would any country with much stronger military capability than that neighbor act?
A ceasefire? Lol, no. Total defeat & unconditional surrender would be the course of action / demand.
I've scaled up the numbers in the above scenario to reflect the fact the US has a population approx 34x that of Israel.
