Next to North Korea, Israel is reported to be the country viewed least favorably in Britain. Alexander Joffe identifies four primary factors behind British hatred of Israel and of Jews more generally: the pro-Palestinian stance of the Labor party, anti-Zionist currents within the Church of England, the growing population of Muslims, who are “at the forefront of anti-Semitic agitation in Britain,” and (perhaps most importantly) lingering and contradictory feelings about the collapse of the British empire:

Losing the empire was bad enough, but losing Palestine to the Jews was a unique humiliation. . . . [Furthermore,] a wave of politically-correct guilt has swept over the British establishment. In [the resulting] revisionist view, the British empire, unlike any other empire over the preceding 5,000 years, was a singular source of evil in the world, and the impact in Palestine was uniquely so.

In this view, Britain’s contradictory promises to Arabs and Jews, alleged favoritism toward Zionism and repression of local Arabs, and the British role in maintaining an international system that has permitted Israel to exist, are deep wrongs yet to be righted. Little wonder that the BBC and British media focus relentlessly on Israeli wrongdoings, real and imagined, while glossing over those of its neighbors. In contrast, the British attitude toward Palestinians is marked by expressions of guilt and patronizing behavior.

Concluded in 1979, the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty ended nearly 30 years of intermittent warfare, and proved one of the most enduring and beneficial products of Middle East diplomacy. But Egypt may not have been upholding its end of the bargain, write Jonathan Schanzer and Mariam Wahba:

Article III, subsection two of the peace agreement’s preamble explicitly requires both parties “to ensure that that acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not committed from within its territory.” This clause also mandates both parties to hold accountable any perpetrators of such acts.

Recent Israeli operations along the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip of land bordering Egypt and Gaza, have uncovered multiple tunnels and access points used by Hamas—some in plain sight of Egyptian guard towers. While it could be argued that Egypt has lacked the capacity to tackle this problem, it is equally plausible that it lacks the will. Either way, it’s a serious problem.

Was Egypt motivated by money, amidst a steep and protracted economic decline in recent years? Did Cairo get paid off by Hamas, or its wealthy patron, Qatar? Did the Iranians play a role? Was Egypt threatened with violence and unrest by the Sinai’s Bedouin Union of Tribes, who are the primary profiteers of smuggling, if it did not allow the tunnels to operate? Or did the Sisi regime take part in this operation because of an ideological hatred of Israel?