APRIL 7 MARKED SIXTH MONTHS SINCE Hamas’s blood-curdling attack on Israel and its people, a shocking act of violence which served as a sobering reminder of how brutal life can still be in the twenty-first century. Since then, six months of intense fighting in Gaza has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, with thousands more unaccounted for. Despite some early cooperation on hostage releases, signs of a realistic diplomatic conclusion have been few and far between.
Such a grave situation deserves a reasoned, mature response from policymakers here in Britain. Unfortunately, our national debate on the situation in the Middle East has been characterised by petulant moralising on both sides. Too many pundits have abandoned realpolitik altogether, preferring to retreat into sweeping narratives about the ethical righteousness of their respective positions.
Much ink has already been spilled about the swivel-eyed mobs which take to the streets of the capital every Saturday to decry the Jewish state, variously calling for a ceasefire, sanctions or the destruction of the Zionist project. For many comfortable, middle-class liberals, these demonstrations have been the first tangible sign of Britain’s failure to integrate millions of people into the fabric of polite society. Rightly so — these marches have too often played host to Islamists and their sympathisers.
THE PRO-ISRAEL CAMP, INCLUDING RIGHT-OF-centre commentators such as Douglas
