Nicholas, virtually every sentence here is bullshit. “Ed Miliband chose to appease Islamists.” Really? In the very same Commons statement, Miliband: - condemned Hamas’s 7 October massacre; - said Hamas must have no role in governing Gaza and must dismantle its terrorist infrastructure; - affirmed Israel’s right to exist and defend itself; - sanctioned Hezbollah’s financing arm; - announced tougher sanctions on Iran; - and said Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. That is a very strange definition of “appeasing Islamists”. “Britain has all but declared war on Israel.” Bollocks. Britain has not attacked Israel, broken diplomatic relations with Israel or imposed a general boycott on Israel. The Government explicitly said it will continue valued trade with Israel inside the Green Line, continue security cooperation, and that the new sanctions regime targets illegal settlements and settlement expansion — not Israel. Miliband also explicitly said he opposes the wider BDS campaign. France and Canada announced comparable action alongside Britain. This is targeted economic pressure on settlements the International Court of Justice has reaffirmed are being maintained in violation of international law. Calling that a “state of war” is hysterical nonsense. “Britain has declared war on Jews everywhere.” This is possibly the most disgraceful claim of the lot. Ed Miliband made the statement as a proud British Jew. He spoke about relatives murdered by the Nazis, affirmed Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish homeland, announced £250 million for Jewish community security and explicitly condemned antisemitism. British Jews are not Benjamin Netanyahu. Jews worldwide are not collectively responsible for Israeli government policy. In fact, conflating Jewish people everywhere with the actions of the Israeli state is precisely the sort of collective attribution that serious definitions of antisemitism warn against. The IHRA itself says legitimate criticism of Israel comparable to criticism of other countries is not antisemitic. “The Holocaust began with a boycott.” This is where your historical analogy becomes especially grotesque. Yes, the Nazis organised a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933. But what made it antisemitic was who it targeted and why: Jewish shops, Jewish doctors, Jewish lawyers and Jewish professionals were targeted specifically because they were Jewish. Nazi stormtroopers stood outside businesses intimidating customers, and the boycott formed part of a broader campaign to drive Jews out of German public and economic life. Britain’s policy does nothing remotely analogous. It does not say: “Do not buy from Jews.” It says: goods originating from settlements considered illegal under international law will be prohibited. Jewish-owned businesses in Tel Aviv? Not targeted. Israeli goods from within Israel’s internationally recognised borders? Trade continues. Jewish people in Britain? Not targeted. Jewish businesses worldwide? Not targeted. The criterion is location and involvement in an unlawful settlement enterprise, not ethnicity or religion. Comparing that with the Nazi persecution of Jews is not merely inaccurate. It strips the 1933 boycott of the very antisemitism that made it historically significant. “History is repeating itself.” No, Nicholas. History would be repeating itself if Britain were identifying Jewish citizens, marking Jewish businesses, stripping Jews of legal rights and excluding them from society because they are Jews. None of that is happening. What is actually happening is a democratic government imposing limited sanctions on settlement activity after the ICJ concluded that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem violate international law. “Never again is now.” Yes. Never again matters. Which is precisely why the Holocaust should not be turned into a rhetorical prop every time a foreign government faces consequences for its policies. Antisemitism is real. Jewish people genuinely face threats and hatred. Cheapening that word by pretending sanctions against illegal settlements amount to a new Holocaust does absolutely nothing to protect them. Israel has the right to exist. Jews have the right to live free from hatred and persecution. Palestinians also have the right to exist, to self-determination and to live free from dispossession and violence. Those propositions are not mutually exclusive. So pull your fucking head out of the propaganda machine and engage with what Britain has actually done, rather than screaming “Holocaust” because Netanyahu’s government has finally encountered some consequences.