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The story goes like this: ­before 1948, the Zionists/Israelis were saintly; in more recent times, they have grown brutal (or inefficient). This version of history, as implied by Max Hastings in his essay in the Guardian last Saturday, might accurately reflect the radical mood swings of a disenchanted admirer. Whether it serves up historical truth is another matter.

The simple truth is that since before its inception, the Arab world has laid siege to the Zionist enterprise and tried to destroy or badly weaken it, in war after war and terrorist campaign after terrorist campaign, by continuous political delegitimisation, assault and boycott. And that much that is bad about Israel today "“ insensitivity toward Palestinian suffering, declining school standards, even...