Uri Avnery: Israelis for the most part hate Arabs so much that they hardly feel any disgust towards the people among them who kidnaped and burned an Arab teenager.

I suspect that a secondary purpose of the bombing of Gaza is to distract attention from that crime with a bigger crime.

Here's a report from Gaza.

If Palestinians are situating military activities in homes with civilians, that is just as reprehensible as Israel's attacks on those homes. But they can't be launching missiles from homes, and Israel doesn't really need to attack anything except missile launchers.

Indeed, Israel hardly even needs to attack missile launchers. It could slap the missiles away, as it does, and not bother to retaliate, saying, "Are you tired of acting out? Done with your tantrum?" Israel's forbearance would make Hamas look like fools.

But that would not satisfy crowds that shout, "Death to Arabs." And it might create a situation where peace seems reasonable, which is the last thing Netanyahu wants.