A superb column from Melanie Phillips today in The Spectator -- The Moral Battleground. A sample:

The worst thing is the moral inversion, in which the murderous victimisation of innocent Israelis is ignored while their murderers are described as ‘civilians' when they are finally killed by the Israelis -- who are demonstrably taking care to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible. ...

Particularly striking in its malice is the way in which the treatment of wounded Palestinians in Israeli hospitals is ignored - while news of the barbaric behaviour of Hamas in Gaza's hospitals is airbrushed out of the picture. ...

The moral inversion in the west is so egregious, so monstrous, that the better Israel is shown to behave the worse the vilification that rains down upon it. What other country in the world would show such restraint in the face of more than 6000 rocket attacks upon its citizens - 6000! - that it took seven years before going to war to put a stop to it? What other country would treat individuals - including proven terrorists - from that enemy territory in its own hospitals? What other country would continue to provide essential foodstuffs and other supplies to those enemies who continued to fire rockets at it? What other country, when finally forced to go to war to stop the attacks, would show such concern to avoid the loss of civilian life that it contacts the population in enemy territory -- even households containing identified terrorists - to warn them to flee from the imminent bombardment? And what other country would, for showing such unparalleled moral scrupulousness, be vilified and libelled as Israel is?