THE TABLET

THE INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY FOUNDED IN 1840

DIVIDED PARTY, DIVIDED NATION

SUNAK FAILS TO RISE TO THE OCCASION

One-Nation Conservatism was about acknowledging the divisions in British society and resolving to heal them. The opposite of that is observing existing rifts in society and trying to widen them. It is what an unrepentant Suella Braverman was guilty of in her resignation letter, which further illustrated why she could no longer continue as Home Secretary. She was actually sacked for insubordination – refusing to accept the Prime Minister’s authority over her regarding an article she had written, which 10 Downing Street wanted her to tone down. And her sacking from Rishi Sunak’s government was accompanied by an even more emphatic reminder of the Tory One-Nation tradition: the appointment of David Cameron – now Lord Cameron – as Foreign Secretary.

The appointment adds to the confusion over what Sunak is trying to achieve. Not long ago, he announced himself as the chief agent of change, indeed as the answer to the nation’s increasing feeling that British politics had reached the point where “time for a change” had drowned out almost everything else. Le changement, c’est moi he might have said. If it meant anything, it was a change from the sort of politics embraced by David Cameron’s “all in it together” Big Society pragmatism, with its orientation to the common good. It increases the perception that Sunak is a man of small ideas, not big ones, and that they do not add up to a coherent picture. He is a manager, not an idealist. In politics, pragmatism needs

principles, and a touch of passion. “One Nation” may not be achievable, but it is a worthy goal to aim for.

Some 300,000 or more people took part in peaceful demonstrations in London last Saturday – with many others doing so across the country – in solidarity with the Palestinians trapped by the siege of Gaza. It was their consciences that took them to the streets, in a humane response to what they had read about and seen on television. They did not deserve to be told by Braverman that they had taken part in a “hate march”. The “haters” were few, and stood out from the rest.

This was a moment that called for outstanding national leadership, and needed someone to recall the moral values that underpin a good society, including the right to air one’s strongly held opinions by marches and demonstrations, while respecting the rights of those with a different view. It was a Churchillian moment, reminiscent of his unifying and inspiring wartime speeches. But Sunak was not able to rise to the occasion, and it is by no means certain that his Labour rival, Sir Keir Starmer, would have done so either, even if he knew how to make the right noises. Leaders can unify, or they can divide. As Tory Prime Minister, Cameron tried to do the former but only achieved the latter, with his unfair and divisive “austerity” policies and his disastrous Brexit referendum. Let it be hoped that there is nothing else he can mess up.

ISRAEL AND GAZA

THE IRRESISTIBLE CASE FOR A CEASEFIRE

The case for a ceasefire in Gaza is overwhelming. The only question is how. The Israeli government is losing the propaganda war, not so much against Hamas as against the nightly images on the world’s television screens which show the rising cost in human life of the military might that Israel is able to deploy. The contrasting narrative the Israeli authorities promote, through images of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas in southern Israel on 7 October, is losing its power to shock. Western political leaders are as moved as the rest of the population by footage of the devastation suffered in Gaza, not least in several hospitals on or near the front line. The same nightmare scenes translate into political pressures of various kinds, either mass demonstrations that have taken place in western capitals or in regular feedback from the grass roots by all means available. This pressure translates into calls for an immediate ceasefire to stop the killing. It is a hard pressure to resist. Its moral truth is undeniable, but militarily it is not so straightforward. A one-sided order to cease firing in the middle of a gun battle hands victory in that fire fight to the other side. On the other hand, Israel could and should immediately cease its aerial bombing campaign. With Israeli troops physically inside Gaza, that will quickly become necessary anyway. What makes the call for a ceasefire even more difficult to resist is the lack of an achievable exit strategy, as no one in the

Israeli government seems to have given much thought to what happens next. That makes it almost certain that Israel’s actions will be construed across the world as the collective punishment of the entire population of Gaza. And Prime Minister Netanyahu’s insistence that there will be no ceasefire until the hostages have been released says to Hamas, in effect, that that is the only way of stopping the suffering of the whole Palestinian population, so you had better comply. Of course it will not: Hamas has no respect for human life, Arab or Jewish. All this suggests to the watching world that Hamas’ brutality is matched by Israeli inhumanity, which is precisely the message Hamas is trying to convey. This is the trap it set on 7 October, and Israel has fallen into it.

If there can be no final victory against Hamas, even when its infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, then the answer to the question of the timing of the inevitable ceasefire can only be, “as soon as possible”. But until Hamas is weakened, it will continue as a threat to Israeli lives. It must be made to cease firing. And a civil administration has to be ready to go into action, to cope with the desperate needs of two million broken people. The greatest mistake the US made in Iraq was to insist on the complete elimination of Ba’ath party members from police and local government. It left vital institutions of state hollowed out. If Israel is not careful, that is what will happen in Gaza. And out of the rubble of a ruined city may spring up an enemy just as dangerous.

2 | THE TABLET | 18 NOVEMBER 2023

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