RT by @GinaDowding: I am reluctant to say anything about events in the middle east due to the way that some people immediately use anything you say as a stick to beat you with.

Like every sane person in the UK I am appalled by the ferocity of the Hamas attack on Israel. The images coming out of the tragedy are quite sickening, and self-defeating. If Hamas thinks this makes them heroes then they are mistaken and they will pay a high price for it (and with every justification). However, the Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom oppose Hamas and and live in fear of them (much as thoses in NI lived in fear of the paramilitaries) will pay an even higher price when Israel continues the cycle of violence on both sides that stretches back generations now.

I am no great expert on the history of the struggles between Israel and the Palestinians, but I have travelled widely in the region and almost all of the ordinary Jews, Arabs and Palestinians I have spoken to over the years were very reasonable about wanting to live in peace with their neighbours and pinned the blame on the politicians and radicals on both sides.

There is a dangerous tendency to treat this as a simple matter of picking sides but those who point out it is more complicated than that tend to be the target of shrill attacks from the fanatics on both extremes. Being disgusted by Hamas' massacre of innocent Israeli civilians does not mean condoning Israel shelling of innocent Palestinian civilians. Being critical of Israeli policy is not the same as being anti-semitic, though some do all that they can to conflate the two. Being disgusted by Hamas does not preclude being sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians. The victims of both sides are the victims of those higher up the political food chain.

I am sickened by images of people on the UK's streets demonstrating in favour of Hamas. I am equally sickened by t…

🐦🔗: https://nitter.cz/SimonScarrow/status/1711464980430688681#m

[2023-10-09 19:33 UTC]