To the editor:

As Israel was defending itself against thousands of Hamas rockets last month, I was in daily contact with my dearest friends who live there, worried sick over their well-being and that of their children and grandchildren. I won’t speak to the trauma Palestinian and Israeli children have been forced to endure.

I appreciate, nevertheless, Moshe Unger’s May 20 column and the letters it prompted by Messrs. Elozus, Katter, and Schnipper. The cycle of violence gripping the Middle East is no easy topic to tackle. And though I won’t speak to the views of these writers, I’ll mention a few they didn’t.

Many Israeli citizens, Arabs and Jews alike, have grown to believe Mr. Netanyahu’s decisions had become driven more by evading his legal problems than by resolving the conflict. You don’t need to spend time in the region to appreciate this fact; Israeli media makes it quite clear. It’s why within hours of this writing he’ll likely be removed from office.

And it appears more Israelis are coming to terms with a tragic legacy of the region: focusing on who poked who in the eye first accomplishes nothing beyond poking more eyes. Addressing disparities between Jews and Arabs in Israel could help here, and the incoming government in the Knesset gives cause for hope.

But for the opportunity to be fully realized, the international community has a responsibility to address its past and present role in fostering, however unwittingly, the conflict. That means, among others: ensuring aid to Gaza doesn’t end up with Hamas; ensuring investment in the Palestinian Authority’s educational system stops promoting antisemitism in children’s textbooks (revealed again most recently in the comprehensive report commissioned by the EU); and doing what it can to loosen the grip fanatic elements, on both sides, hold on policy.

These elements need the conflict, because addressing it threatens their respective positions. They just don’t care about nightmares in children.