What Britain should do about Hamas

London is, at last, beaming Israeli flags onto its most recognisable buildings. This is an improvement on how some of the city’s residents have been marking the mass murder of Jews but beyond that it’s empty symbolism, as these flag projections always are. They’ve become the most visible – and often the most substantive – western response to terrorism in the past decade or so. Perhaps it’s comforting, as you bleed out in a bullet-riddled Paris theatre or under the wheels of a truck in a Berlin Christmas market, to know that your country’s national standard will soon adorn the White House and the Palace of Westminster, but I doubt it. 

Rather than a light show, I would prefer a display of gumption. That should begin with unambiguous resolve on the part of the Prime Minister. Reports say that at least ten Britons have been killed or are missing amid these attacks, which have so far claimed the lives of 900 Israelis.