Hamas openly targets civilians. Israel makes an effort not to. That's supposed to be part of the moral distinction between their military operations that gives Israel the moral high ground. But then Shimon Peres goes and says stuff like this:
Israel's aim, he said, was to provide a strong blow to the people of Gaza so that they would lose their appetite for shooting at Israel.
This pretty much puts the lie to the idea that Israel doesn't believe inflicting civilian casualties are central to their military aims in Gaza, even if they take measures to prevent them. They are aware nothing they can do will actually prevent them from happening, and it's hard to believe, given the above, that if it was within their power, they would. As other bloggers have pointed out time and time again, there's no reason to believe that this operation will weaken Hamas politically in Gaza, which forces one to question what the Israelis are doing there in the first place.
-- A. Serwer
