As a result of the horrors and evils that characterised the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’, I have a deep aversion to anyone proclaiming their politics from behind a balaclava.  Likewise to those waving or brandishing weapons as symbols of liberation, strength and honour. And also to those who drape threats, hostility and aggression in an avalanche of flags.

It is as if the substance and integrity of their cause is so inherently weak that it must be constantly hyped up and bulked out. 

In recent months, that deep aversion has resurfaced with a vengeance. It has generated a desire to vomit as I watched the pure evil that has stalked the current phase of war in the Middle East. Once again (as so often in the past and elsewhere), I witnessed Palestinians and Israelis sharing a common curse – the curse of having many leaders who promote, celebrate and eulogise misery.

That misery was on full display in the abhorrent events and behaviour during the latest handovers of hostages, most recently when Hamas ‘fighters’ delivered black coffins with the photos of two children and their mother pinned to them while engaged in a macabre and evil piece of ‘resistance’ theatre. 

That spectacle has been grotesquely mirrored a thousand times over in the images and accompanying storytelling as the innocent victims of Israeli aggression mourned their dead children, mothers and wives across Gaza and Palestine.

This latest war is in no way about ‘defence’, resilience, let alone security – it is above all else about absolute pain and misery. It is, in all its dimensions a derangement of human existence.  It is something about which we should all be deeply animated, there should be no circumstances in which we endorse or justify this war. 

The headline data of that pain and misery is apparent, even if the many cheerleaders for violence prefer to selectively ignore it. The war with all its consequences has set Palestinian human development back at least 70 years.

A recent study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Yale University and others concluded that the numbers of dead has probably exceeded 70,000 - some 40% higher than the generally reported figure. The estimate of those wounded by January 2025 was a conservative 109,000 people. 

In terms of death and serious injury, we will not have a reliable estimate for many months (or years) if one is at all possible. 

Alongside the data of death, we have witnessed widespread debilitating hunger, lack of shelter and medication plus the rapid spread of infectious diseases. Gaza’s healthcare personnel, hospitals and infrastructure have been deliberately targeted with all inevitable consequence.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure are now almost entirely defunct, while solid waste management systems are no longer functional and, as a result groundwater has become toxic.  Nine in 10 homes in Gaza have been destroyed (UN figures) while schools, mosques, offices and shops have been systematically targeted. 

Almost two million people (90% of the total) have been forcibly displaced, often many times over. 

An estimated 41 million tonnes of debris have been generated by the conflict while munitions which contain heavy metals, explosives and their associated chemicals are everywhere to be found. 

The United Nations Environment Programme and Yale University have catalogued the many ways in which this war has impacted environmentally with immense future consequences and not simply for Gazans. Over 50% of tree cover is gone, soil and water are contaminated and agricultural land and resources degraded, all of which has long-term impact on ecosystems, biodiversity, food security and, inevitably the health of residents. 

In Israel, 1,200 have been killed (plus 846 soldiers), 5,431 injured and an estimated 75, 500 displaced.

As a result of the war and its broader political context (in the Arab World, in Europe, the US and beyond), international law has been deeply compromised along with key institutions and procedures in and at the UN and elsewhere.  The dimension of the conflict will have consequences well beyond Israel and Palestine.

Antisemitism, Islamophobia are on the rise, as are mutual suspicion, hostility, and even hatred. The actions of today are set to become the repeated actions of tomorrow and instead of a just and peaceful search for a solution, we now have a reinvigorated cauldron of enmity.

And, out of this morass of misery and suffering, has emerged the revolting and sick ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ nightmare proposal of the deranged Donald Trump.  

In addition to being a regional and international humanitarian disaster, the war amounts to a fundamental human rights crisis. 

After all the pain and misery heaped on previous pain and misery, the idea promulgated by many that yet more injustice, brutality and oppression will lead to peace is madness.   

It also encapsulates my own understanding of what evil looks and sounds like.