Sometimes it is obligatory and urgent to state the blindingly obvious. 

In this case, it is necessary to scream from the rooftop that multiple wrongs do not a right make.  Condemning the planned, brutal, and evil atrocities of Hamas in Israel is fundamental if we are to retain any shred of integrity or humanity. On that, there can be no equivocation.

What Hamas engaged in is the personification of evil which no political ideology justifies.

Driven by that same logic and necessity, any atrocity carried out in the name of Israel – by either state forces or by illegal settlers – must also be condemned without equivocation.  Otherwise, our abhorrence of the horrendous violence meted out to innocent civilians amounts to nothing more than selective cant.

The much-referenced ‘right to self-defence’ does not in any way dilute this imperative, ethically, morally, or legally.

Our rush to stand beside Israelis in the face of the intense brutality of the past week does not exist in isolation of context. Standing beside Israelis cannot and must not mean condemning the entire population of Gaza to the unmediated onslaught of one of most powerful armed forces in the world, aided and supported uncritically by its allies. 

Just as it must not be subject to the fanaticism of Hamas, so too of the fanatics of the Israeli regime. Nor can it mean allowing the Israeli government to be in flagrant breach of its international legal obligations, as it now is on at least three counts.

As stated by the UN, the order directed at 1 million plus residents of Gaza to leave their homes and communities without any realistic alternative could cause (and has undoubtedly caused) ‘devastating humanitarian consequences’.  It amounts to nothing more than an act of collective punishment – one that is intended to be so.    

In the callous mathematics of mutual hatred and butchery that has afflicted the region since 1948 and before, no ‘side’ is without blood on its hands.  

Contrary to the assertions of many western leaders that there is only one side on which to stand there are self-evidently many ‘sides’ to this latest and potentially devastating conflict.  And, contrary to the utterly careless insistence of Roberta Metsola and other EU leaders that there can be no ‘whataboutisms’ there can and must be many, many such whataboutisms if we are to avoid even greater slaughter.

The EU and US’ uncritical and highly selective support for the regime of Netanyahu (with the odd nod to international law) is indefensible and will haunt us all in times to come. It is anything but ‘leadership’.

The language, threats and behaviour that animate the current political (and military) cul-de-sac on both sides should greatly concern the ‘international community’ and send shivers down any normal spine.  Bellicosity has never delivered anything approaching peace in the region and there is even less reason to expect it to do so now.

Reflecting, as we must, on the underlying causes of the problem, most considered analyses highlight a common brutal contradiction.  For most Israelis, 1948 marks the triumph of the creation of an independent Jewish state in the wake of the Holocaust. For Palestinian Arabs, it represents the Nakba or ‘catastrophe’. 

For one protagonist, it offered a vision and a reality of security, land, self-determination, and the creation of a new society.  For the other, it marked dispossession, expropriation, expulsion, ongoing humiliation and ultimately the destruction of their society.  Even now, in the face of immense suffering, violence, and butchery, it is clear that there cannot be a solution without facing this reality. 

Violent co-existence, peppered with extremely violent outbursts is not a viable option for anyone. Routinely it amounts to dancing on each other’s graves. 

As long as this conflict remains mired in raw hatred, violence and systematic human rights abuses, new disaffected and alienated generations will reproduce each other, with little alternative on offer. 

The horrendous events of the last weeks highlight once again the vicious and uncaring realities of war - the continuing determination of both sides to fight with the consequence that civilians bear the brunt.

However, the situation develops in the coming weeks, it is inevitable and unavoidable that the international community is going to have to engage at some point.  Israel simply cannot be given free rein to inflict collective revenge on the inhabitants of Gaza regardless of levels of support (or otherwise) for Hamas. 

The cavalier behaviour of von der Leyen and Metsola undermines the credibility of the EU in such a scenario.

Talk of solutions is utterly premature, but the immediate priorities are clear. Collectively or individually, governments and leaders must urgently work together to stop the death and destruction in Gaza - the utter destruction of Gaza is unconscionable. Ongoing and extensive bombings and a ground invasion will only deepen the crisis and increase the likelihood of war expanding to the West Bank, to Israel’s northern border and possibly beyond.

Rather than reducing it, the language and behaviour of many US and European leaders is, in effect, facilitating the committing of war crimes. While necessarily standing in solidarity with all those affected, Western leaders must challenge the rituals of retaliation and simply must be mindful of the needs and rights of Gazans as well as those of Israelis.