@CountValentine There's no such thing as a proportionate response to terror. Terror is not about the death toll, it's about instilling fear into the population - terrorizing - so they don't feel safe anywhere or at any time. By its very nature, it is indiscriminate, unpredictable, and completely unmeasured. A proportionate response would be randomly firing missiles at Gaza at any time, not just during times like these as a direct response to a specific attack, which Israel has never done.
So when the politicians call on Israel to act proportionately, it's not a practical request based on the interests of peace, it's a disingenuous attempt to lambast Israel while paying lip service to the fact that Israel is being attacked.
The truth of the matter is that while tragic, the number of civilian deaths has consistently been proven to be inflated by Palestinians, and the ones that are real are because the terror infrastructure is housed in schools, mosques, hospitals, and densely populated areas. This is not a matter of opinion, it is incontrovertible fact. Yet, no matter that Israel has, according to numerous foreign military experts, exercised better precision in attacking military targets even under those circumstances than the US or other armies, there are always calls for "restraint", "proportion" and "measure". this reveals not a second side to the story, but a biased, dishonest approach. Whether that is due to anti-Semitism, falling for Palestinian propaganda, or both is up for discussion.
P.S. I have not read the entire thread, and likely won't be able to keep up with it. apologies for the drop and run.