So the British government has deigned to condemn Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem as ‘collective punishment’. How very righteous of them. One might almost forget that the same Britain once carpet-bombed Dresden, firebombed Hamburg, and starved millions in Bengal with a policy of deliberate famine. But let us not dwell on the past; the present is so much more comfortable for moralising.
Let us examine the facts. Israel demolishes structures built without permits in an area it considers part of its capital. It is a brutal policy, yes. It destroys homes, displaces families, and stokes resentment. But is it an act of ‘collective punishment’? Only if you assume that the purpose is not enforcement of zoning laws, but punishment of an entire people. Israel’s defenders will point out that permits are rarely granted to Palestinians, and that the demolition orders often follow attacks. They will say that the policy is a tool of war, not a municipal matter. And they are partly right.
Yet the British condemnation is not about the facts. It is about signalling. Britain, whose own record on collective punishment is a litany of horrors, now cleanses its conscience by pointing fingers at a smaller, more vulnerable state. It is a classic imperial impulse: to civilise the natives by lecturing them on their barbarism. The Foreign Office might as well issue a decree on the proper way to oppress a people, with footnotes from the Geneva Conventions.
I do not defend Israel’s actions. They are ugly, counterproductive, and ethically dubious. But I am tired of the selective outrage. Why does Britain not condemn Saudi Arabia’s demolition of entire Shia neighbourhoods in Qatif? Why no statement on China’s destruction of Uyghur homes in Xinjiang? Because those nations are too large, too powerful, or too useful for trade. Israel, on the other hand, is a convenient punching bag: small, Jewish, and needing British arms deals.
The real collective punishment is the one inflicted by the international community on Israel, demanding standards of conduct that no other nation meets. That is the true hypocrite’s game. We in the West love to preach, but we flinch when our own glass houses are mentioned. So let us be honest: British condemnation is not about justice. It is about the joy of feeling superior. And that is a punishment we all richly deserve.
