as the current gaza-israel crisis heats up, i am continually amazed by how american news sources make no mention of the incidents that precipitated the current outbreak of violence. reading the coverage you would think that hamas started shooting missiles at israel for no reason at all, because the palestinians are just crazy or something (and, judging from my facebook feed, that is exactly what a lot of americans seem to think).
another funny pattern i have noticed with my FB feed: pro-israeli american friends all seem to think israel's actions are pure and just and apple pie and stuff, whereas israeli friends mostly seem to think israel's decisions to escalate is about netanyahu's political calculations for the upcoming israeli elections. like the last gaza war, this one comes during the sweet spot between an american and israeli election. it's funny how these conflicts always seem to happen that way.
