It's nice to see anti-Semitism alive and well at the Guardian. Then again, at least it's nice to see a major media source wear its bias on its sleeve, rather than pretend it's purely neutral. Will Hutton decides to rebuke Israel for its recent incursions into Gaza, which netted eight cabinet members, thirty members of parliament, and thirty other officials of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, calling these acts, as well as the bombings of infrastructure targets in Gaza, a declaration of war by the Israeli state. Memo to Mr. Hutton: Well, duh. Hutton notes "Missiles from Gaza are regularly fired at Israel." Yet in Hutton's world, this apparently does not constitute an act of war against Israel by the Palestinian state, despite his earlier statement, "The Hamas government has not yet renounced its commitment to the elimination of Israel or to the use of terrorism." The "elimination of Israel" as a tenant of what Hutton claims is a legitimate and sovereign government is not a "declaration of war"? I'm not sure how much clearer Hamas, and thus, the Palestinian people, who put Hamas in power, have to be in their declaration of war against Israel to satisfy Mr. Hutton. Far from being, as Hutton claims, an inexcusable act of war, Israel's bombings of and raids in to Gaza are more of what Israel needs to be doing to stand strong in the face of an enemy which seeks its utter annihilation. There may be a sliver of hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, if Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas were not being undermined by the Hamas majority in the government. But when a majority of a nation seeks not only the defeat of its neighbor, but the elimination of that nation's people, there is little reasoning that can be done with such persons to secure peace. Israel must project strength to protect itself, to assure the Palestinians and any other group or nation that it is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure "Never again." Writers such as Mr. Hutton would do well to pack away their double standards for the Israeli state and, well, "remain silent" would be the polite term.