I've only read the first of those two articles so far, and thought it was trite beyond words. For instance Burchill noted that 60 per cent of Europeans thought Israel the greatest threat to world peace, and claimed it was an easy jump from there to thinking the slaughter of six million jews was A Good Thing.

For my own part, I regard the behaviour of some Israeli givernments as outrageous, and regard those who voted for those governments and those (not least, succeeding US administrations) who have supported tnem as guilty by association. But I don't paint all Israeli governments with the same brush, and I certainly don't demonise all Jews for the excesses of Israel's worst leaders. (The demominising has been ably led by the Christian churches down the ages, most notably the Roman church.)

Do Burchill and her admirers really believe it's impossible to draw distinctions? That's as ridiculous as McGrath villifying Burchill for regretting that Stalin lost the plot. Lenin had Stalin summed up, but he had an exceptional vantage point. Many decent people outside the country took many years to realise the horrific truth, but they were not wrong for cherishing the dream.