Some were troubled by pictures of children and women among the casualties, others voiced trepidation about a ground invasion, but the overwhelming view among Israelis on the streets of Jerusalem yesterday was that their government was right to attack Gaza and the offensive should go on for as long as it takes.
Israel's relentless air strikes on the Palestinian enclave may be drawing strong criticism and calls for a ceasefire in much of the rest of the world, but a common reaction of Israelis is that outsiders simply don't understand what they have been going through.
Domestic opposition has been much more muted than in some past wars, and even in those areas deemed to be Jerusalem's most liberal, the mood was generally uncompromising.
Read the rest from The Independent here.
Miri Scheinfeld, a photographer, was in favour of accepting a proposal put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy for a brief "humanitarian" ceasefire. "My mother said the other day that we'll always have war in this country, and that is a very depressing thought. I know that most of the people in the outside world don't like what Israel is doing, but what is happening here is complicated. I am a secular person and I have always hoped the differences between us and the Arabs can be solved. I have gone and worked in Arab villages and will do so again in the future.
"But we had no choice over Gaza, they had been firing rockets at us for over eight years and I am glad we are hitting back at last. I think Hamas wants to destroy Israel. But we have nowhere else to go, so we must fight, although sometimes we use our strength in a wrong way."
Is there ever a right way to use force? And you do have a choice: occupy and suffer the consequences or lift the siege and bring in humanitarian aid. Hamas does not want to destroy Israel, you have just been fed government propaganda. And what is happening in your part of the world Mr. Scheinfeld is not complicated at all.
