AP Photo

Just a few weeks ago I spoke to a senior Israeli official who waxed lyrical and enthusiastic at the prospect of Britain playing the "responsible adult in the room" when it comes to international discussion of the conflict with the Palestinians. I liked the concept, but I can't say I was optimistic.

When all is said and done, British foreign policy over the Israel-Palestine conflict has been designed over years and decades to please peoples and governments that would really rather Israel didn't exist at all. This has produced what is best described as an anti-Zionist subculture inside the Foreign Office (FCO). Subcultures, as opposed to policies, are not easily overturned.

It looked as though I was going to be proved right all too quickly as the...