Israel faces an agonising decision

In those awful first weeks after 7 October, someone came up with a slogan that was taken as a rallying cry for those of us on the right side of the argument. As editor of the Jewish Chronicle at the time, I bought a job lot of stickers emblazoned with the slogan and handed them out to staff. It was this: ‘F**k Hamas’.

On Saturday, when the jihadi group released Ohad Ben-Ami, 56, Or Levy, 34, and Eli Sharabi, 52, in an appallingly emaciated state, that slogan was an adequate description for how the nation of Israel felt. When waif-like Sharabi was paraded on the propaganda stage, he was ‘interviewed’ by his captors and asked what aspect of freedom he was most looking forward to. Naturally, he replied that he was eager to be reunited with his wife, Lianne – who grew up near Bristol – and two teenage daughters. This was greeted with deep mirth by his tormentors, who unlike their victim knew that their comrades had killed his family long ago.

F**k Hamas.