Again -- the two examples are not really comparable -- Israel is not the Palestinian homeland -- they are not fighting a war, they are terrorists who want to destroy Israel in blind hatred
We have proudly sent our men and women into wars that had a higher purpose (at least to most people), freeing oppressed people, stopping a fanatical madman, evn halting the spread of communism was seen as a legitimate reason for sacrificing some of our youth -- maybe we can argue about the "worth" of Vietnam, and some of the recent Eastern European conflicts -- but that's a whole 'nother can of worms