As a liberal whose sympathies are largely with the Palestinians, I don't recognize my position in your straw men. Here's how I see it:

- Israel has created the largest concentration camp in history, for far longer than any of the concentration camps in Europe or the US were in existence. The reason we should "never forget" is so _no_ nation builds new concentration camps, yet the world (including the ordinary citizens of Israel) sat idle while this happened for over a decade.

- the continuing Israeli settlements in the West Bank prove Israel isn't serious about peace

- Israel casually kills lots of Palestinians, and no one calls it terrorism.

In short, the issue isn't that Israelis are colonizers per se, but that they are perpetrating the very things on the Palestinians--who were not involved in the holocaust--that were done to them by the Nazis. They are treating the Palestinians like dogs, yet they are surprised that after years of kicking and beating the dog it bites.

Yes, October 7 was horrific, but the blockade has gone on since *2007*. If peaceful means were going to work, wouldn't they have worked by now? If nothing else, the attack put the issues front and center on the world stage. Are the victims of 10/7 more innocent than someone who is 15 and has never known the hope they could leave Gaza? Are they more innocent than someone who had their house razed because a settlement was moving in? Many of them were in a position to have at least protested some of that. Did they?

I find your arguments about colonization to be especially abhorrent, because (1) Native Americans are full citizens of two nations. You could argue there are structural issues still keeping them down, but you didn't. (2) The issue isn't the colonization per se, but the horrendous cruelty perpetrated on the Palestinians for decades _and_ the unseriousness of the Israelis about solving the problem.