A demonstration of what collateral damage actually means.

The bracker was a terrorist so we killed the candle stick makers family.

I think the existing collateral damage examples were pretty actual already. By burying terrorist headquarters under civilian apartment buildings, Hezbollah guarantees collateral damage.

Does this extend to putting a military base next to a shopping mall?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HaKirya

What’s the permissible distance in a three mile wide strip of land among the most densely populated in the world?

To be fair, the base was there long before any residential development nearby, and the part that is near residential development is simply offices.

The type of logic leads to schools in the US being valid targets so long as a drone pilot drops off their kids to school on the way to work.

No it doesn't. The US does not deliberately hide it's drone pilots among civilians and targeting their place of work or the drone storages would not harm civilians.

I'm sorry that your governments rules of engagement are what you'd consider terrorism.

Maybe you should do something about it?

Hackers can start to learn what kinetic response is then.