Prepare for Peace, Hope for War

As custodian of the sole Western-style democracy among the barbarisms of the Middle East, the Righteous State's political establishment is naturally disposed to condemn any breach of etiquette which might bring into disrepute a perfectly good war crime. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has done little to repair the poll ratings for the Netanyahoo government, which is widely blamed for the intelligence failures that enabled the Hamas attack on 7 October; and Bibi has accordingly gone into full campaign mode, since elections are likely to take place soon after the Gaza ghetto has been satisfactorily pacified. In response, the leader of the opposition fretted about "an evil political campaign ... to create hatred" against non-Arabs, while Bibi's own party officials briefed the right-wing Press about the undesirability of sowing division while half a million Israeli troops are dropping bombs on Israeli hostages. Even without the likelihood that the government will be removed by internal divisions or far-right wrecking measures rather than by the official opposition, so fine a combination of reason and humanity would almost be worthy of Westminster.