THERE IS NO "CYCLE OF VIOLENCE"

In the (Indiana) Journal and Courier, Purdue professor Louis Rene Beres rejects the 'cycle of violence' narrative:

There is no "cycle of violence" in this conflict, only ritualistic murders of Jewish civilians followed by essential Israeli measures of self-defense. Imitating past practice, Hamas and its sister terror organizations always argue that they are merely "retaliating" for Israel's prior assassinations of lead terrorists, as if to say that: 1. a constituted democratic state and an outlawed terrorist gang are of equivalent legal stature; and, 2. terrorist leaders and defenseless civilians are equally permissible targets. Yet, even in the shadow world of Arab/Islamic terror, there are palpably meaningful differences between criminality and law enforcement.