For far too many of our friends who take an interest in the Middle East conflict, Netanyahu and his crimes are blatantly a mere pretext to unleash hatred towards Israel and the Jews, who have committed the unforgivable sin of having their own free and independent country to live in peace, as any of us do.

It is a hatred that long predates Bibi and all his mistakes (most recently a drone attack in Maltese waters against a civilian ship bringing supplies to Gaza) and exploits Bibi and all his mistakes to give itself a veneer of moral nobility.

Moreover, if this were not the case, those friends of ours who are so sensitive to the misfortunes of the Palestinian Arabs would also release important news such as the uprisings against Hamas by the inhabitants of Gaza themselves, the continuous and systematic theft of humanitarian aid by terrorists that are denounced by the Palestinians themselves, the first-hand accounts of Palestinian exiles who are persecuted by Hamas even here in Europe, or the absurd appeal ‘Burn everything!’ launched by Hamas while fires smother Jerusalem.

The torturers who rule Gaza – even the stones know it by now – are people who would rather see their children die en masse in order to make trouble for Israel (and in order to continue to profit from UNRWA and other international donors). Hamas leaders have declared it with candour, over and over again, whenever they have placed arsenals and command centres under schools and hospitals: ‘We need the blood of women and children to awaken our revolutionary spirit‘.

If sensitivity towards Palestinian Arabs were inspired by genuine compassion, and not just a fig leaf to cover contempt for Jews, why would so many people feel entitled to turn away and not react in the face of the anti-Semitic violence that is now rampant here in our country with total impunity, to such an extent that one can launch daily attacks againstLiliana Segre(Liliana Segre!) without fearing any damage to one’s reputation?
Sensitivity compassion, shouldn’t they move in both directions?

There is a democratic and civilised opposition in Israel against Netanyahu’s government, and also against the war, or at least against the wrong objectives Netanyahu has imposed on the war.
The rule of law protects this opposition. On the other hand, timidly and despite the violent repression carried out by terrorists, and despite a suffocating anti-Jewish culture that permeates every level of Palestinian society, an opposition is also emerging in Gaza.

It would therefore be the perfect time for those who really want to support compromise solutions that benefit civilians on both sides, after the gradual marginalisation of the extremist governments on both sides.

What do our friends do instead?
On 1 May, they go to the concert and dance to the notes of a Jewish song to the cry of ‘Free Palestine’. ‘Free’, of course, from the Jews: this is the historical meaning that terrorists have always attributed to that cry, ‘from the river to the sea’.

Instead, let us read, let us study history, let us examine the facts. Let us find within ourselves that tiny spark of courage that allows us to be at least intellectually honest, if not actually committed to a solution that may not be sexy, but is more necessary than ever.