The odious hypocrisy of … Israel-bashers, by Melanie Phillips:

1) There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The markets are full. There are fancy restaurants. An Olympic-size swimming pool was recently opened there. What hardship there is has resulted from the actions taken by the tyrannical Hamas regime which rules Gaza, which recently burned down an UNRWA summer camp for children, for example, and blew up one of Gaza’s restaurants.

2) It is astonishing to call upon Israel to lift its ‘blockade’ of Gaza, since every week Israel allows into Gaza tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid. Cameron and Clegg should be asked specifically why they have not called upon Egypt to lift its blockade of Gaza, which had been imposed more rigidly than Israel’s restrictions — until yesterday, when Egypt temporarily opened its border to fend off attacks from the Arab world during the current hysteria.

3) The only reason for Israel’s ‘blockade’ is to prevent weapons and missiles from being transported into Gaza. Lifting the ‘blockade’ would therefore allow those weapons through. Cameron and Clegg are therefore recommending that Israel take action which would jeopardise its security and lead directly to the deaths of many more Israelis.

4) It is therefore beyond nauseating to hear Clegg intone piously that this would be in Israel’s interests, which he claimed to have at heart. Let us hear no more from Cameron or Clegg about how of course they support Israel’s right to defend itself. That is precisely what they are attempting to remove. In the last two days, the new British government has shown itself hostile to Israel – and thus giving encouragement and strength to the enemies not just of Israel but of Britain itself and the free world. Cameron and Clegg should now be held publicly to account for this most alarming and despicable betrayal of Britain’s moral duty and the national interest.

This is with thanks to HotAir: