DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Shame on those who will not stand with Israel
The sheer savagery of the unprovoked attack on Israel demonstrates beyond any doubt that Hamas does not belong in the civilized world.
Whatever Britain’s pro-Palestinian liberal elites may tell themselves, this was not a legitimate act of resistance by freedom fighters. It was mindless, merciless slaughter by ruthless terrorists.
Armed persons massacre innocent families in cold blood. The hostages, including women, children and the elderly, were captured and sent to Gaza. Bodies were mutilated and paraded before cheering crowds.
It was an abomination that should be condemned by anyone with an iota of decency or compassion.
Horrific as it was in scale, this is the latest in a long litany of cowardly attacks on the weak and vulnerable.
Israel has no choice but to meet with force. The only democratic country in the Middle East has every right to defend itself (Image: Gaza Sunday)
Hamas’s founding charter expressly commits it to the destruction not only of Israel, but also of the Jews.
Given that the UK has officially designated the group as a terrorist organisation, it makes it all the more reprehensible for the BBC to claim that mass murderers are simply “militants”.
Meanwhile, Labor also has questions to answer. Jeremy Corbyn, who was enthusiastically backed by Sir Keir Starmer to become prime minister at a time when Labor was cracking down on anti-Semitism, once called Hamas “friends”.
Sir Keir may today condemn Hamas and boast that he has rid the party of such abhorrent bigotry, but the job is clearly far from over.
Yesterday, far-left MP Apsana Begum posed with a pro-Palestinian group at the Labor conference centre, hours after defending the butchers of Gaza. Does Sir Keir have a moral compass to complete the purge?
Israel has no choice but to meet with force. The only democratic country in the Middle East has every right to defend itself.
It may be bloody, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s forces will target trained warlords, not the killing of civilians.
Israeli civilians were allegedly taken off the streets and returned to Gaza
This is a dangerous moment for the world. Was Hamas, Iran’s proxy, trying to derail Israeli-Arab peace talks by pushing Middle Eastern opinion to polarized extremes? And has US President Joe Biden emboldened the attackers by so pitifully appeasing Iran on oil and cash transfers?
The answers will become clear over time. It is important that the UK and the West stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel as it restores order after these darkest days.
Keir’s piercing logic
Figuring out what Sir Kier really thinks about a policy is usually like getting blood from a stone.
But as his party’s convention began, he at least gave a definitive answer to the vexing problem of illegal immigration.
In an emergency intervention, he vowed to scrap the Rwandan scheme even if the Supreme Court found it legal, and even if it reduced illegal tolls.
How does that make sense? For someone who never ceases to remind us that he was an eminent lawyer, Sir Keir’s arguments are astonishingly weak.
He claims sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for assessment has “failed”. How would he know? Whether this plan will succeed or not, we will know only when flights are finally allowed.
Figuring out what Sir Kier really thinks about a policy is usually like getting blood from a stone.
He also says the flagship policy is “too expensive”. Yes, the short-term costs can be high. But if it works, billions will be saved by not having to house and feed those arriving on small boats.
Despite outrage from the Left, the public is behind the Rwandan scheme as a way to prevent illegal cross-channel migration.
The truth is that Sir Keir and the left are fanatically opposed to border controls.
By vowing to cancel Rwandan flights even if they work, he is putting ideology firmly ahead of the national interest.