You can't expect people to feel for something they know little to nothing about. And, in America at least, media keeps up sufficiently ignorant enough to what is happening in the world, unless it serves some purpose for the US > Government > those who benefit from government manipulation.
Even if you want to use the argument of new's, "most all" news outlets are incredibly bias and decisive. Easily obscuring the view of the audience by telling them what to think through picking out bits that serve their desire.
Israel in particular... has a lot of landmines when it comes to discussion. For the most part, as an American, I am suppose to support anything and everything Israel does with no question. Of course I don't agree with this, and this alone can get me a lot of flak. Speaking ill of Israel will easily make you out into an anti-Semite in the US, which is causing that much more controversy over the conflicts between Gaza and Israel for people in the US. No one can properly talk about it due to all the bias that refuses any meaningful discussion.
Most people, not living in those kind of environments, do not know, first hand, what's it like to live in those kinds of hostile and dangerous situations. Our understanding is limited by our imagination and feelings. Imagination can never cover all bases. And while you can read about first hand experiences of people in such locations, they are always from the perspective of a single side when you do so (the quality of which is based off how well spoken the individual is at describing their environment, events, causes/beliefs, ect). So people tend to pick the side that fulfill their desired bias. And this is where most conversation breaks down into dribble over who's just and who's not.
Even outside of that, people desire to be happy more often than sad, with how much of the world is ignored, people have to put in their own effort to find out and attempt to understand how bad it is for others in other locations. Which means, people only investing in things that they personally care for (which includes their bias). I mean, even the things you've brought up are some of the "fresher" head lines. There's plenty more than that happening in the world....
To name a few...
-Rampant kidnapping and selling into sex slavery in India, Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Mexico, even America.
-The human caused, 6th mass extinction event being kicked into motion.
-The extreme insurgent and guerrilla organizations in Africa. I haven't found out what happened to those kidnapped school girls who were going to be sold into sex slavery, news stopped talking about it.
-The drug trafficking and extreme violence all throughout South America.
There's the US too...
-The extreme violence of the US police force, resulting in racially fueled violence and murder.
-The CIA tapping everyone through the mass surveillance network treating every citizen as a potential criminal... The equivalent to pointing a gun at every citizen's head in case they move funny.
-The black listing, speaking out against America, or it's actions, on a social network, something like "I don't like America actions in the middle east" is vague enough to put you and your family on the terrorist watch list.
-Oil spills, fracking, and other man caused things, killing wildlife and poisoning drinking water for thousands of people, who can, in turn, be sued for touching said water.
-Corporations gaining more power and immunity, supreme court ruling that American corporations can not be sued in American court for strictly foreign conduct. Protecting Banks and corporations that, directly or indirectly, fund/support violence in foreign countries from repercussions originating from those countries.
-To add to the last, venture funds attempt to bankrupt Argentina, and the US court taking sides with the venture funds.
-Obama signing a check for 225mil to Israel as "aid" while stressing a desire for "peace" between the two...
I can go on...
People choose to live in blissful ignorance, because it allows them to enjoy what they have, as opposed, to realize what they don't, and what their loosing. I would also take a guess at, many people don't want to take up "noble cause" of "improving the world" at their own inconvenience. Why a lot of people are content with simply reading something (linked to them) on Facebook, feeling bad for a few seconds, liking it, passing it on, and moving on...
Human's are a very cold hearted and self centered species (in relation to humanity as a whole), most of which never even attempt to legitimately invest themselves into the suffering of another. Though I don't entirely blame personality and/or society. The brain itself is built with a limit on how many people we can care for at a given time. It's hard to imagine every victim as an individual from a statistic for a reason. Were not capable of feeling compassion for so many individually. It's why "single victims" incidents strike us so much harder than "mass victims" incidents, it's easier to identify with fewer.
