Very well taken point. My views on this is are very unpopular though, seems like they are only shared by western diplomatic and foreign services people and heads of state, and the patience is wearing thin.

I think those who agree with me just find preserving democracy in the Middle East to be the greater moral imperative than is tip-toeing around Gaza asking Hamas to come out nicely and leaving the tunnels intact.

Hamas is very popular in Gaza. Houthis are very popular in Yemen. Their popularity might be considered democratic, but it is fouled by its authoritariansm: the lack of minoritarian rights; no freedom of speech or religion, no due process, no equal protection, no prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. These are rights that, to your point, protect the unpopular from unchecked populism. Hamas and all other Islamist movements do not recognize these rights. They are unchecked populism, comparable to Nazi populism.

As revulsive as is 30,000 people killed, much more revulsive is 3,000,000, or 30,000,000, which is what we will see if these terrorist groups manage to put Israel on its heals enough to make Iran take its shot, or if Trump gets elected and forces Iran to take a shot.

Anyone on the fence about Biden may recall that this already happened once, when Trump ordered an airstrike on an Iranian general while he was visiting Iraq. I’m glad the dude is dead but it was reckless as fuck to the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The only reason Israel avoided hot war with Iran in that moment was because Iran missed its shot and hit a civilian airliner instead.

I hope that of all these belligerents, the ones with democracy are going to use it to excise their authoritarian tumors, and that we will see Trump and Netanyahu firmly rejected, popularly.