I must say, I do like the way the Israelis don't fvck about.

[Peter]

Of course. Trump gets it. People don't actually want much from their governments other than to protect them regardless of the 'optics' or other sensitivities.

Chamberlain was to some extent a victim of previous governments' failure to anticipate and prepare for the need for war (I'm looking at you, Stanley Baldwin) and did some good things post-Munich when he finally realised that war was unavoidable, but yes, some of his actions were shamefully craven.

See, to me that is incredibly unfair. His crime (if there was one) was being taken in by Hitler's true ambitions. THe policy he followed was dictated not by previous governments but overwhelmingly by popular opinion, which was genuinely terrified of a war and particularly a war that could be avoided.

There is a responsibility that comes with being a major power where the prospect of action, and occasionally the threat of it, carries moral as well as military might. It comes with maturity. It is perhaps slightly unfair to demand this maturity from ISrael at this point in their history, given the fairly recent past and the stormy present. But it needs to develop.