> Because that's what just happened in what you describe as "the only place it's safe to be a Jew." To say nothing, of course, of the many other attacks that have taken place in Israel over the past couple of decades.
Tell me something: do you have experience with having to hide your ethnicity in order to be "safe"? Or do you know what it's like to look like an "other" amongst people who see you as a threat, or as less than you? I don't know you or anything about you, but a quick glance at your profile picture tells me you do. Jews in the diaspora tend to blend in wherever they've settled, so we have that privilege - on condition we keep our mouths shut, our religious symbols hidden, and smile to hide our fear when people say antisemitic things around us. Here, in Israel, we are allowed to be our authentic selves, unapologetically.
Let's do that math again, shall we? Only this time, count Jews all over the world. Count how many of them have been killed in recent decades, count how many of them live in fear. What took place on October 7th is indeed our darkest day since the holocaust, but we've never been safe anywhere. Things have been getting worse for us over the past couple of decades. Nobody has cared but us.
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I find it almost comical that you seem to think any of us is disagreeing on your last points, you're absolutely right. The only reason there's a blockade is because Hamas took charge, because they posed a clear and present danger to us.
Your statement of "not through the crosshairs of a rifle" is misdirected - we have sat down at the negotiating table over and over since the establishment of our state, each time making huge concessions, each time rejected by the Palestinians because they (as proxies for nations like Iran) could accept nothing less than Israel in its entirety, an Israel with no Jews (this whole thing about accepting us is "washing", for the same reason that Jews have been almost completely ethnically cleansed from the rest of the middle east). There is no solution for peace with Hamas, which is why we have to go in and clear them out, but with the Palestinian people? That's a different story altogether.
We will sit down at that table again. If there's a silver lining to all this horror, it's that we feel (and have some evidence) that the Palestinian people might actually be ready to talk to us for the very first time. And we welcome them to do so.
I invite you to read the article I put out today, for an explanation of why I think they're ready for peace. We've been ready for peace for over 75 years.
