Gideon Levy, the noted Israeli journalist, says "Gaza is a cage, the biggest prison in the world." 2.3 million Palestinians are locked in a small area. For years they have been under siege by Israel and now relentless bombing resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and massive destruction. If you're trapped in a cage you'll try to break out. Millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have been under the boot of Israel, enduring decades of occupation, killings, oppression, imprisonment of thousands, evictions, land seizures, roadblocks, checkpoints, walls, and fences. That explains what happened on October 7. It doesn’t excuse it. As the great poet W.H. Auden wrote, “I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return.”