It is difficult to keep track of the number of non-combatants the Israelis have killed in Gaza and the West Bank. The news highlights their success in killing one or another leader of the forces opposed to them, but it is hard to keep track of the number of Palestinians they kill in the process.

If I had the real figures, perhaps I could figure out how many civilians they kill while pursuing and killing one enemy. Maybe I could work out a ratio, e.g., 20:1, i.e., twenty civilian Palestinians for one Hamas leader. Really, I think that 20 is too low a number, but I’ve no idea how high the number would be in reality, 30, 50, 100, 200, etc.

The Israelis are trying to delude themselves and the world into thinking that the Israeli forces are only trying to destroy Israel’s sworn enemies and all the rest who are destroyed are regrettable collateral damage. I can’t believe this. Israel’s policy is to displace Palestinians, whatever it takes, even if it means killing them. Well, God gave the land to the Israelis.

It makes me think of the American West and the erasure of the Indians. The whites confined them in ever shrinking reservations, to make way for “settlers” and in the hope that the Indians would simply die off on the reservations and become extinct. Sometimes a few Indians went off the reservation on a raid and white people were killed, and in response came mass murders and mass deportations. What is our excuse for this barbaric behavior? Manifest Destiny! God has taken the land away from the Indians and given it to US.