A voice of decency

Friday, 1st February 2008

Such is the scale and ferocity of the British media propaganda onslaught on Israel that the sane and sensible piece by Robin Shepherd in yesterday’s Times was as unexpected as a rose on a dunghill. Writing about the

obsessive desire to beat the Jewish state with any stick available

he noted:

Apologists for extremism had long argued that occupation rather than ideology was the ‘root cause’ of terrorism. Terrorism would therefore cease once occupation ended. That argument has now been conclusively defeated. Since Israel withdrew, Palestinian militants have fired more than 4,000 rockets from Gaza at Israeli civilian targets. Now, there is not a state in the world that could ignore this kind of barrage. So what were the options? One was reoccupation. Another was to carpet-bomb the areas from which the rockets are being fired. Many states would have done both. Israel has done neither…

The condition of the residents of Gaza is dire. But ultimate blame for this surely rests with Hamas, other militants and the culture of violence in Palestinian society that sustains them. In the absence of all this there would, of course, be no security barrier, no military incursions, no trade restrictions and no sanctions. In the topsy-turvy world of British and European commentary, however, reasoned argument is cast aside. The frenzied, rhetorical onslaught against the Jewish state is at best intellectually lazy. At worst it forms part of a hateful agenda that shames those who indulge in it.

Bravo.

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john doe

February 1st, 2008 1:43pm

Reading some of the comments following this article is a sobering and indeed distressing experience. The 'bravo Hizbullah' and 'israeli war crimes'outbursts send shivers down my spine. Such venom as this amounts to nothing less than virulent anti-semitism.

Scipio

February 1st, 2008 2:08pm

Wow an article in the British press actually defending Israel - a real flying pig moment! Too bad The Daily Telegraph has gone the way of the The Grauniad in Israel bashing thanks to its ideology driven reporter Tim Butcher.

Howard

February 1st, 2008 8:19pm

Have I missed it but I note with little surprise your failure to comment on the Winograd Commission. At least you are consistent then with the rest of the British press in being one sided.

M.Lester

February 2nd, 2008 9:37pm

Howard: About your comment regarding the failure to mention the Winograd commission's final report, this is not such a big deal. The final report is far more lenient towards Olmert than was the interim report. If he didn't walk then, he certainly ain't gonna go now. The situation that's not well understood by outsiders is that wild horses ain't gonna drag Olmert from the PM's post. In most democracies, leaders do or at least did the decent thing when they screwed up. That was assuming they cared. Olmert is a special case: despite the fact that he's been landed with the top job looking after the most beleagured nation on earth, there's only one thing he cares about & that's #1; anything else can go hang & probably will.

Barry Larking

February 3rd, 2008 11:36am

The extraordinary – and depressing – aspect of these views is how sane and straightforward they are yet how apparently impossible it is for the generality of commentators to approach this level of clear headed and truthful thinking. The question then, is this: Why can't they?

M.Lester

February 6th, 2008 5:29pm

I made a comment or poo-hooed a comment regarding the Winograd commission final report. I forgot something: Winograd was not an independent commission of enquiry (as was widely demanded); rather, its members & its TOR were determined by PM Olmert - hardly a disinterested party. I now see that one of the panel has let the cat out of the bag :"Winograd Committee member Prof. Yechezkel Dror to explain his recent comments in an interview for Maariv daily newspaper. Dror was quoted as citing political considerations for going easy on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the committee's report on the Second Lebanon War". In other words, since they knew that Olmert was engaged in the "peace-process", the commission pulled their punches rather than impact Olmert or cause his downfall. I apologise for misleading and am ashamed that such rampant corruption passes as democracy.

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Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'Londonistan', published by Encounter and Gibson Square.

For a complete set of Melanie's articles click here