Ten dead after Israeli action on a convoy to Gaza

It is quite clear for some time that the Old Testament biblical principle of an eye for an eye dominates the responses of Israeli governments to any physical threat. Often this is further refined to “Get your retaliation in first”.

This is a catastrophic state of affairs especially for Israel because like many countries, not all citizens of Israel are murdering maniacs. But Netanyahu and Likud are very nationalist, imperialist and right wing. Because of the siege mentality in Israel, there is little perspective in government to the likely reaction of Arabs people to their depredations. The way the Palestinians are treated is so provocative that Hamas is predictable.

Is it likely that United Nations actions against Israel if real would stick? No, the Israeli lobby in the US is too politically powerful and there is the folk memory of the Holocaust in Europe. It is very strong in me personally. I support the existence of the state of Israel now but its history is a huge injustice to the dispossessed Palestinians.

The practical things that we can do is to tell them that for culture and sport, there artists, players and teams are no longer European. I understand that Israel is a hyper- aggressive state. Serious penalties should flow from their murderous and malignant behaviour.

I read in a British newspaper last week, that there is a possibility of a pre-emptive strike by Israel against Iran’s nuclear industry. I can understand why – President Ahmadinejad wishes to eliminate Israel but that sort of action may in the long run be enormously self-destructive. The Iranian plan to enrich Uranium for bombs has provoked UN sanctions and Iran has tried to wriggle with an offer of a Uranium deal with Turkey which would reduce the Iranian stock of uranium.

Israel will continue to behave like a barbaric rogue state until stopped by the west especially the United States. Meanwhile a steady death rate will continue across the Middle East with murder countered by further murders like a bunch of coked-out drug dealing gangsters.