the refrain from the left has long been proportionate responses, and my position is that a proportionate response to this attack is necessarily pretty vicious and angry.
i'm a responsible secularist and i know better than this, but i also see the justice in it. it really would serve them right to get wiped right out of the region.
israel used to be a very secular, left-wing society but it was forced to change by the rise of islamic extremism and is now one of the most conservative societies in the world. the palestinians brought this on themselves; gaza may get what it deserves.
a better idea would be a very serious discussion about having gaza annexed by egypt, with an ultimatum that israel is going to move in if egypt doesn't take control.