Since Jeremy Corbyn—a man who has expressed his admiration for Hamas, Hizballah, and Bashar al-Assad—became leader of the Labor party, anti-Semitic comments from the party’s politicians have become a dime a dozen. Douglas Murray comments:

There are, it is true, routine pro-forma denunciations of anti-Semitism from Jeremy Corbyn and his circle. But even these betray a belligerent refusal to face the problem. When invited to condemn anti-Semitism, the Corbynistas indignantly state (as Corbyn did himself last December), “We mustn’t tolerate anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or any form of racism.” Often it is also responded to (as it is every time by Corbyn) with the blanket assertion that the individual in question has spent “all his life” fighting racism.

Several things are striking about these phrases and their emphases. The first is that it remains well-nigh impossible to get Corbyn or any of his intimates to condemn anti-Semitism without equivocation. They are comfortable condemning it only if they can include it alongside a number of what are for them more popular maladies. For decades “anti-racism” has become one of the only fuels left with which to propel indignant leftists and provide them with a sense of purpose in an age of increasing consensus. They present British society, against most evidence, as an outrageously racist place where minorities are routinely oppressed and attacked and in which anti-racism must therefore be a central component.

Even more striking is that insertion of “Islamophobia.” Corbyn-supporting journalists like the Guardian’s Owen Jones spent the early part of this year insisting that if the party were to set up an inquiry into anti-Semitism, it must also set one up into Islamophobia. Their aim is to distract from the serious charges against themselves by setting off firecrackers elsewhere. Indeed, it has become a staple of Corbynista politics that British Muslims are the new Jews. But the Jews remain the Jews and increasingly sense they are being isolated and fixed upon as an ideological scapegoat. . . .

At the 2015 election, a majority of British Jews for the first time voted Conservative. It seems unlikely that this political migration will be reversed under the leadership of a man whose career has been spent baiting Jews in all ways available to him, and who is making Britain safe for open anti-Semitism for the first time since the Victorian era.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.