Battle of Hastings

Although today's weather in Berlin makes me disinclined to engage in any muscular activity that is not strictly necessary, Max Hastings' Guardian article has done the trick of persuading me to sign up for Comment is Free. Here is my maiden contribution:-

So Amos Oz said 30 years ago that Israel would end up like any other Middle Eastern state, and, behold, it has come to pass! It's one of those Life of Brian moments: OK, APART from free elections, a free press, an independent judiciary, equal rights for women, gay rights, religious tolerance and a vibrant economy, what has Israel got that the rest of the Middle East hasn't?

'The experience ... of learning to live circumspectly among more numerous and powerful neighbours is a surer guarantee of survival than the triumphalist illusions of a mere 50-odd years of statehood.' Oh, I SEE. That was where German Jewry went wrong. Just not circumspect enough.

Please, Mr Hastings, a list of all the other peoples for whom the wish to have and defend their own state is a triumphalist illusion.

Further reactions...

1. No angle is being spared in the campaign to delegitimize Israel. From Mearsheimer and Walt we've had an attempt to put the case in the language of conservative Realpolitik: it's not in America's true interests to support Israel. Now from the Guardian via Hastings we get kindly concern for Jews: you know, you really ought to give up this Israel business for your own sakes.

2. Note the standard 'it's not me saying this, it's a Jew, so how can there be anything anti-Semitic about it?' defence. If Hastings wants to bash Israel, wouldn't it better become the intrepid former war correspondent to take responsibility for his own opinions, rather than hiding behind his friend who used to be a rabbi?

3. Remember how Ken Livingstone thinks the Daily Mail group is so far beyond the pale of human decency that if someone works for the Evening Standard it's OK to indulge in a bit of anti-Semitic abuse at his expense? Can we now expect Mayor Ken to protest against the Guardian's giving a platform to the former editor of the ES?