Sure. One of those defensive slaps I hear about all the time.
I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. Are you trying to say that a swat inherently cannot be defensive?
In your contrived scenario where a coordinated attack targeting civilians is equivalent to breaking an entering and vandalism because it does not offer an existential threat to Israel, wouldn't airstrikes and artillery barrages be likewise merely a defensive push, a punch in the nose, or a swat to the wrist?
Or am I misunderstanding you entirely?
I think what I take your underlying point to be is correct - that wars suck, are messy, and people get killed who shouldn't be killed. Nor do I disagree that people use propaganda and manipulated phrasing to make nasty things more palatable, and phrasing Israel's response as defensive is a means to that end.
Regardless, I'm not buying your analogy (intentional or not) that equates the Hamas attack to vandalism or robbery and the Israeli response to a scenario where the victim of a robbery "
went home and got your guns, then went to the guy's house, killed him, burned down the house, kicked his family out into the street, and did it all while explicitly stating that you were being violent enough his decendents will remember and be scared". Whatever your intent, your analogy goes out of its way to minimize the Hamas attack and makes the Israeli response out to be exponentially more severe by comparison. Analogies are always imperfect, but they should at least have some internal consistency.
