PERES IS HALF RIGHT

THE USUALLY MILD MANNERED and thoughtful Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has accused the English of being anti-Semitic. The accusation comes not from someone from the Right, but from a man of the Left. Mr Peres also has the dubious honour (considering the quality of some of its recipients) of being a Nobel Peace Laureate, and the holder of a honorary Knighthood. So something must have provoked him into making such an all encompassing attack upon the English without any kind of qualifying statement.

Look no further than our own prime minister’s visit to Turkey last week when David Cameron compared Gaza to a prison camp. I do not suppose for one minute that Cameron meant the comment to be seen as drawing any kind of comparison with the Holocaust and the death camps. But surely bells should have started ringing after he said it. But no, as we have learnt today, he stands by every word he spoke on Gaza in Turkey, and Pakistan in India.

I also think that upon reflection Mr Peres will also consider he went too far in attributing anti-Semitism to the whole of the English people which his comments inferred if the press’s reporting of them are accurate.

This does not mean that he is wrong about anti-Semitism among certain parts of English society. For instance, the historical evidence is impeccable regarding the old English aristocracy, which is why so many appeasers of Hitler in the 1930s were counted amongst their numbers.

Edward I banned the Jews from English soil because he borrowed money from them and had no intention of paying them back. The Jews remained persona no grata until the arrival of Oliver Cromwell who admired them greatly. He knew their entrepreneurial skills were as much needed then, as Mr Cameron now seems to think those of the Indian sub-continent are needed by Britain today.

I am appalled by Mr Cameron’s comments, not because I think him in any way anti-Semitic, but merely ignorant.

WHEN PERES REFERS TO our growing Muslim population his fears are justified; just as are those of many British people. As cities such as Luton, Bradford, Oldham and Londonistan among others harbour ever larger Muslim constituencies then all the political parties will have to follow the Muslim agenda if they wish to be elected; and there is nothing remotely racist about making such an observation. As demography changes, so does the attitudes of democratically elected politicians, and this was the very point Shimon Peres made in the interview he gave with the historian Professor Benny Morris of Ben-Gurion University, published on the Jewish news website Tablet.

In one way Mr Peres is only saying what many an Englishman would like to say openly but are afraid to do so, for fear of the ‘hate police’.

Another aspect of Peres’ comments was that regarding the bias reporting of events between the Israeli’s and Palestinians in the British media; and once again, I think Peres has a legitimate point to make. The conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews has been ongoing since the founding of the state of Israel in 1947. We can of course go further back beyond the Romans renaming Judea as Palestine, but what the hell, it is complicated enough already.

What we have in British society now is an intellectual canton of opinion formers in politics, and all forms of the media, as well as the law who have been educated to the Palestinian perspective. Many of our academics have, for instance, been at the forefront in banning visiting Israeli academics from visiting their universities. Which makes me wonder just what the future social and political milieu will be, regarding the state of Israel.

Simon Peres was wrong regarding the anti-Semitic net he choose to cast among the English so indiscriminately, but I think he was angered by the comments of a Tory Toff, as so many of us are.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL is comparable to ancient Sparta in the modern world. Like ancient Sparta, Israel has been seen as somewhat of a nuisance. Sparta was always seen as the party-pooper by the rest of Greece due to its asceticism. It was greatly respected but not admired. Until that is the arrival of the Persians under Xerxes. Persia was a great empire that like all empires ever since, have always felt the need for total world ownership which they tried to do by conquering Greece. But Sparta held them back at Thermopylae until the whole of Greece could muster enough strength to defeat the Persians.

Modern Israel placed as it is, will prove to be as vital as ancient Sparta when it comes to the medievalism of Islam and the survival of the West. Israel, rather than being treated as a pariah as Mr Cameron seems to wish after his visit to Turkey, we should be grateful for Israel’s existence. For I believe she will play a vital role in the West’s future