“ That’s an act of war.”
—————-
You and your neighbor don’t get along very well at all. There have been several incidents where your neighbor tried to burn down your house, so far unsuccessfully. One day you wake up, and your house is on fire again, courtesy of your unfriendly neighbor. The guy on the other side of your neighbor is seen bringing gasoline cans to your neighbor. How do you view the guy bringing gasoline to your neighbor, that your neighbor is turning around and dumping on your house, so as to increase the probability that your house will burn down to the ground?
The act of war also includes arming your enemy, even if you don’t have a direct grievance against the guy who is doing that arming. I am not in favor of endless, expanding, war - but your view is incredibly simplistic.
There is a very good reason why the Lusitania was sunk. The Germans knew about it in advance. They had even warned us in advertisements taken out in major newspapers not to do this, and simultaneously warned innocents not to board the ship on that trip. Despite that, we sent a cruise liner, loaded with innocent civilians and full of arms and ammunition to England, so they decided to take off the gloves. The blame for those civilian deaths was on the United States, because we purposely put civilians at risk in committing an active war against Germany, while it was fighting a world war against England. Similarly, Israel has warned Syria - repeatedly and publicly - not to transfer Iranian weapons to Israel’s direct enemies. Syria apparently doesn’t care about damages to either its infrastructure or its people (because this is very far from the first time that Israel has bombed these airport for the exact same reason), and Iran certainly doesn’t care. What result would any rational person expect in the circumstances?
That’s a good and clear explanation.