The time is now

Writing about Spielberg’s “Munich“, Bernstein believes that Israel is “under an existential threat greater than at any time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.” His examples of the Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories and Iran’s nuclear threat are both politically convenient ways for Jews and Israelis to ignore the gravest threat to the Jewish state: moral corruption. The ongoing occupation, nearly 40 years old, has left Israel – economically, spiritually and politically – in a parlous state.

There is never a “good time” to discuss the West’s actions in the “war on terror”, according to Bernstein. But then, he would always find an excuse to avoid the issue. Now, in fact, is the perfect time to condemn current thinking as counterproductive and find positive ways to engage with the wider world. Playing the victim, while accelerating a brutal occupation, is a sure way to engender hatred.

Hamas is no military threat to Israel and Bernstein knows it. Iran’s leadership – while sprouting threatening and anti-Semitic statements – expresses a desire to wipe Israel off the map, but it is proper to regard such comments with scepticism, not least because, unlike Israel and the US, Iran is not occupying or invading other nations. Who is the real threat?