When we talk about Palestinian violence we (rightly) put it in context of the oppression they suffered. You can’t expect an oppressed people to react kindly and patiently to their oppressors. But this guy apparently does not deserve this circumspect approach. We know nothing about him other than he is claimed to be an Israeli soldier but he might have any number of mental illnesses, PTSD, what have you. But we’re perfectly happy to label him a monster, no questions asked.
I’m not trying to justify any violent behavior obviously, but we sure do love putting the excesses of “our” side in broader context, and highlighting perceived injustices of “theirs” without context.
Twitter normalized of extremely simplistic expression of complicated issues which leads to all kinds of kneejerk reactions. Some men misinterpret whatever complaint as being about them and turn defensive, and of course the most aggressive of those voices are amplified by social media. The inflammatory comments beget more inflammatory comments, reasonable people quickly exit the space and this is what you end up with.
I firmly believe it’s social media that’s to blame.