Omar Tesdell’s Dec. 7 column about the deaths of two people – one Israeli, one Palestinian – comes straight from the heart. Unfortunately, its only clarity is emotion, not logic.

The young Israeli man, Moshe, was indeed murdered. A madman set out that day to kill people without even trying to discriminate his target. In fact, his target was to kill randomly.

The death of Mohammed Abu Marasa, while no less tragic or painful for his loved ones – was not murder. It was a horrible accident. No IAF pilot set out that day to kill a 15-year-old. The IAF pilots targeted a building – a police office that had been clearly ineffectual at stopping terrorism. They had a very specific target in mind. They missed. Mohammed Abu Marasa died a victim of a terrible, arrogant mistake.

I’m saying that Israel and the Palestinians are different in how they fight this “war.” Hamas and their ilk target non-combatants. Their only goal is spilling blood.

The Israelis, while not totally innocent, target combatants – or at least “non-innocents.” Their goal is to hit the responsible parties, but they never take enough action to reduce/eliminate accidental non-combatant casualties.

Mark Renfeld

ISU Alum

Roseville, Calif.