Yoav, my heart goes out to you and all Jews who seek peace in an impossible situation. But let's be clear. I don't hate Jews and I don't hate Muslims. I am indifferent to a person's ethnicity or religion. I do hate anyone who wields excessive power to the detriment of others.

That certainly includes some who call themselves Jews. It also includes some of my own countrymen (I am an English man living in Ireland and include both in that statement). It includes some Indians and Chinese, some Americans and many more of all backgrounds and origins. Never all of any of the above categories.

When I observe the Israel-Palestine conflict over the last 75 years, I ask myself who has the overwhelming power? Who are the people most hurt?

The Israeli government has the power and the ordinary people of Israel and Palestine are the victims.

Hamas and the other terrorist organisations operating in the region also wield power, though arguably to a lesser extent than the Israeli government.

Again it is the ordinary people of Israel and Palestine who suffer as a consequence.

And then there are the other actors, the powerful nations of the West, the wider Middle East, Russia and China. All wield power there, as elsewhere, to the detriment of ordinary people everywhere.

But there is another question I ask myself in relation to the Jewish people. It's this: they claim to be 'God's chosen people' which means they regard themselves as superior to the rest of the world. Why then are they surprised if the rest of the world is conflicted in how it regards them? And, seriously, when a certain Austrian argued that what he called 'the Aryan race' was surpereior and everyone else could be disposed of or enslaved, how was that different in principle from a claim that a particular group are 'God's Chosen'? I accept that the actions taken in support of the Austrian's claim were different in scale, but is the principle not the same?