There are times when anger and disgust is the only normal human response, and this is one of them. Because Israel is effective at protecting its own citizens while bending over backwards to avoid injuring enemy citizens (of which more later), venomous anti-Semitism born of envy and a sense of utter failure has emerged loud and clear in our public discourse.

From Rene Smit and others openly praising Hitler, to the crude lies and exaggerations of South African Islamist zealots, to an ignorant and brainwashed media unable to distinguish between nonsense and reality to an amoral ANC ready to jump onto any bandwagon which may advance its faltering fortunes, the anti-Semites have come crawling out of the woodwork

The fact that over 200 000 civilians have died in Syria alone and that about 13 million Arab Muslim refugees have been generated in a couple of years of what is laughably called the "Arab Spring", causes barely a ripple in our public space. Not a peep about Hamas terrorising its population into serving as human shields or about the hundreds of rockets specifically aimed at Israeli civilians. And that is just the last chapter of a blood-splattered book

In 2001 "Chemical Ali" was busy informing anyone who would listen to him that America was on the ropes as American tanks were entering Baghdad. It is the same syndrome of psychotic denial which informs the anti-Israel rhetoric in our media and electronic communication channels. It is a symptom of despair and futility, but it is not comical.

Chemical Ali was a war criminal and, in its frenzied death throes, Hamas and other even more extreme Jihadists and criminal movements are destroying large tracts of the Middle East and Northern Africa, while threatening the stability of the rest of the globe. The success of totalitarian, nihilist movements does not always depend on the direct use of force, but on the wilful ignorance and shameful cowardice of its victims. South Africa is no exception.

Israel is the current prime target: it is small, it is Jewish mainly, it is democratic and, above all, it has defeated its enemies over and over again. But Israel will have to drop the velvet glove at some point. Its benevolence only attracts more vitriol, and survival is the most basic human imperative. If Hamas insists that its own population is expendable in its genocidal war against Jews (yes, Jews - not Zionists) then Israel must take it at its word.

I have confidence that Israel will not bend to the machinations of a vile band of fanatics and their Western supporters but will defend the only homeland of the Jewish people with any means necessary. Then, at least, the howls of anguish will be real.

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