The problem with this line of thinking is that both sides think that the other is the murderer with the machine gun. If the Palestinians think it’s justified to kill Israelis because they think that they have the analogical machine gun, what stops the Israelis from thinking it’s justified to kill Palestinians because they think that they have the machine gun? If killing is deemed a reasonable way to get killing to stop, then it’s just a matter of rhetoric that distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate killing, and that rhetoric can just as easily be turned against the very people who now support it.