On Sunday I went to my friend’s 75th birthday tea party. Born in the USA, she moved here, married a Brit and became a Londoner. As did I. She is Jewish; I’m Muslim. For over 40 years we have campaigned for equality and human rights for all.

Afterwards, as I got to a Tube station, a 40-something suited stranger came up and said: “I want you to know that many of us Jews feel ashamed of Israel today.” Before I could reply, he had hopped in the lift taking him to the platforms.

Serendipitously, on Saturday evening, at a vigil in London’s Marble Arch organised by Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP), a young Egyptian woman expressed shame too, but about Arab leaders who “care nothing about Palestinians. Our kings and presidents are without heart and without sense. They give us fake words. Everyday we hear about [Benjamin] Netanyahu. Nothing about these traitors. You should write about them.”

So here I am doing just that. A caveat first: there is no moral equivalence between Israel’s war against Palestinians, widely described as genocidal, and the policies of appeasement pursued by most Arab leaders. Some in Israel’s ruling parties are........

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