The rush to take sides in this war is building intolerance and division into our society

MY ELDER daughter told me some girls and boys in her school year had drawn Palestinian flags on their hands. My younger daughter told me other nine and 10-year-olds in her class had asked her what “side” she was on.

- George Chesterton

In the UK, as in other Western countries, this picking of sides says more about us than the conflict itself. What makes a progressive choose to walk hand-in-hand with a jihadist? This has been vexing a lot of people over the past two weeks. The former can always pretend the latter is a “victim” of Western imperialism. The latter presumably thinks of the former as a useful idiot. If they are both operating on the principle of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”, who is the enemy? It’s almost as if an actual attack on Israel presented an opportunity to, er, attack Israel. The suffering of civilians in Gaza deserves a concerted effort for peace, not to be used as a vehicle for hatred by a coalition of illiberal absolutists.

There are many people who support the Palestinian cause in good faith. There are others who do so because it fits their view of history and politics. There are those who seek the personal rapture of fighting a perceived injustice. And then there are others who simply hate Jews. For some, one world view bleeds into another.