Voices of Virtue

Eighteen countries, including the world's moral leader and its favourite ally, have given Hamas a bit of a nudge about freeing the remaining hostages in the Gaza ghetto. The families of those kidnapped on 7 October have long accused the Netanyahoo of making too little effort to secure their release; and after only half a year of cheering him on the international paragons seem to be coming around to the families' point of view. There is even a chance that some of the less intellectually British governments may eventually tumble to the possibility that a happy ending to a hostage situation is rarely made more likely by dropping American quantities of high explosive on the area where the hostages are held. Meanwhile, the statement by the ethical eighteen may have allowed honesty to trump diplomacy by a slightly excessive degree in noting that the fate of the hostages is causing about as much genuine international concern as that of the civilian terrorist population.