Thank you to those of you who wrote me emails about the Belgian encouragement of Palestinian hatred of Israel.  Unfortunately, the Belgians are not alone.  Last weekend, German Bishops came on a solidarity mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories.  Israel's Yad Vashem holocaust museum was a fitting place for them to visit,  and so they did.  And straight after, they were swept off to visit the Palestinian territories, where they promptly drew comparisons with what they had just seen - labelling it "Ghetto Ramallah", and comparing the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to German treatment of Jews.

It is hard to tell if this odious comparison was to whitewash what the Germans did in WWII, or a malicious attempt to demonise the Jewish state - or both.  Certainly it shows they didn't learn much at Yad Vashem.  Maybe someone should remind them.  The Germans rounded up peaceful citizens and herded them into ghettos.  Then they   systematically annihilated them.  Shot them on the spot or herded them into cattle cars to be gassed and cremated in concentration camps.

By comparison, peaceful Arab citizens of Israel (and some less than peaceful ones) benefit from every democratic right and are part of every element of society - as far as members of parliament and a minister of state. Arabs who are part of a neighbouring declared enemy territory can live anywhere in that territory that they chose.  But suicide bombers, drive-by shooters,  Kassam rockets and other threats must be kept out at all costs.  Military action is essential to arrest or kill everyone involved in the vile Palestinian war crimes they so love to label "resistance".  And I won't apologise to anyone for actions my government takes to protect me, my wife and my children.  Israel has made it clear time and time again.  Stretch out your hand in peace and we will grasp it.  But we will not sit idly by while terrorists plot another holocaust.