some muslims believe it is acceptable to kill children. These are individuals.

The israeli democratically elected government feels it is acceptable to children, and has, for the past two years employed a campaign of systematic destruction against the palestinian children.

The majority of citizens agree with this. That’s… I don’t know how to describe it.

I think a significantly more parsimonious explanation is that Israel is an extremely flawed democracy, and that its political leadership (namely Netanyahu) are not directly accountable to the public will.

Polling in Israel appears to reflect this[1].

This is a recurring theme in MENA politics: even the most democratically "colored" countries in the region consistently put political preservation over long team regional interests. Israel's recent version of this is arguably the most despicable in terms of outcomes, but it's not particularly unique.

[1]: https://www.timesofisrael.com/breaking-with-pm-74-of-israeli...