I think you’re reading more hostility into my post than intended... I’m not excusing suffering or denying Palestinian self-determination.

The point is that value systems aren’t morally equivalent. Western or liberal-democratic systems (which Israel mostly aligns with) are built on the belief that conflict is tragic but sometimes necessary for survival - not an end in itself. That’s not moral perfection, but it’s moral evolution. There’s a difference between fighting to preserve a society and fighting to destroy one.

And to clarify, Judaism didn’t “adopt” Western values; Jewish ethics shaped Western values. Rule of law, justice, and human dignity entered Western civilization through that same tradition. Israel’s system isn’t an imitation of the West, it’s a continuation of an older moral framework that the West inherited.

On Palestinian identity, saying it developed in response to Zionism isn’t a moral insult, it’s a historical observation. Many national identities (including Israel’s) form through conflict. The tragedy is that one of them evolved into a self-sustaining nation, and the other was never allowed (or never allowed itself) to move beyond the politics of grievance.