Like they agree with me in terms of being “team Palestine”, and understands my analogies of the initial Hamas attack being like if slaves in the 1800s had tried to stage an uprising etc but still “you can’t tell me terrorism is good because it’s never good”, even when I explain to them how non-violent protest actually working (like when schools taught us about MLK JR/civil rights etc) is propaganda…fun times.
Don’t justify the violence. That’s a losing strategy. Actually agree with them, that violence is bad.
But…
What happened with all the “good” decisions? Like the nonviolent year-long protest where IDF snipers shot out Paletinian knees. Where did that “just, reasonable” non-violence get them? Where were we (the west) when this was all going down? How can we condemn violence from Hamas when we allowed Israel to commit violence? Who are we to judge these people? What moral high-ground could we possibly occupy? Palestinians would be justified in telling all of us to shut the fuck up and turn off the TV, just like before and before and before.
What is the point of appeasing our morality if nothing changes? We gave up being moral when we allowed so much violence to go unanswered. Why should Hamas or Palestinians care about our morality?
MLK told all of us who value a “negative” peace to Justice to shut the fuck up too.
EDIT: To use a Marxist turn of phrase: If we wish to abolish Terrorism, we must abolish the conditions that require Terrorism.