That the Lancet would publish this, citing hard numbers to underscore just how far their argument is from any sort of purely ideological hand-waving, is telling of how seriously the Gaza campaign has turned into a crime against humanity. I've spent years arguing in favor of Israel's right to defend itself as a country and also pointing out just how hypocritically nasty the very same political organizations that lay claim to representing the Palestinian people can be, but the current situation has become completely indefensible by any normal moral standard.

What I don't understand is how Israel manages to maintain a base of such staunch political defenders in the world's major governments. Can sheer stupidity and indifference be so deeply rooted through ideological posturing? The answer is that obviously, yes they can. It wouldn't be the first time a monstrous political game has been blindly justified by those too biased to see better. However, if you were a conspiracy type, you'd be very tempted to think the Israeli government has some sort of enormous hidden leverage over a great number of powerful people for them to turn such a blind eye.