1 min read
Richard Littlejohn tells it as it is:
This column's support for Israel is well-known. I dug out what I wrote at the time of the war in Lebanon a couple of years ago. Substitute 'Gaza' for Lebanon and 'Hamas' for Hezbollah and nothing has changed.
I'm not going to revisit all the arguments. This has less to do with the Palestinian cause and everything to do with the global jihad and Iranian-sponsored terrorism aimed at wiping Israel off the face of the Earth.
Yet where are the violent demonstrations outside Iranian embassies in London and around the world? Precisely. Israel will do what it has to do to defend itself from the Hamas and Hezbollah death cults. What has always concerned me is the impact on the Jewish community in Britain.
Since Israel invaded Gaza, there has been a marked increase in attacks on Jewish targets in this country, from assaults on Jews wearing traditional clothes, to vandalism and firebombs at synagogues - not that you'd be aware of it from watching the BBC.
Yet again, the hatred is coming from the hard-Left and militant Islamists - the same virulent anti-Semitism, disguised as condemnation of Israel, which I uncovered when making a documentary on the subject for Channel 4.
Much of the violence in London has involved people who couldn't point to Gaza on a map and think the West Bank is a subsidiary of Northern Rock. It's the usual crowd of Trotskyite boot boys, Saddamites and bussed-in wannabe jihadists, spoiling for a fight and an excuse to kick a few coppers.
The situation is inflamed by home-grown rabble-rousers like Galloway and Livingstone, and dopey birds like Tony Blair's sister-in-law claiming that the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza are used for nothing more sinister than transporting food and medicine.
Contrast the mayhem outside the Israeli embassy with the restrained, dignified pro-Israel rally in Trafalgar Square. So far, it has cost the Met £1million to contain the violence. It's bad enough that there's war in the Middle East, without it being fought on the streets of London.