A bright sunny start to the day, even if it did cloud over later in the day. I slept far longer than I intended to given that I had to leave the house in time to get to St Peter's Fairwater by ten, but I made it in good time without undue haste. There were twenty of us for the Eucharist. Although the set readings were somewhat difficult to work with I managed to extract enough to encourage me to speak about the current conflict in Israel/Palestine. I found this hard to do, and was relieved to receive a comment from one worshipper afterwards saying he was impressed at how balanced my observations were.
It was gone midday when I returned from church, to go out again and collect the weekly veggie bag from Chapter Arts. Clare was already cooking lunch and left me to prepare my meat dish with half the portion of chicken and canellini beans I cooked for myself yesterday. After she fetched her weekly order from Beanfreaks, I went to the Co-op to shop for the rest of the week's supply of groceries, and then went for a walk in the park. Clare had left for her Plygain singing session by the time I returned.
Despite such continued uncompromising extremist rhetoric from Israeli political leaders, it was good to hear from Benzi Saunders, a former Israeli Defence Force soldier on active service during 2014 incursions into Gaza, interviewed on the lunchtime news about his change of heart. He recognises just how counter-productive it is to refuse to pursue a two-state solution, how much both sides need security and freedom to determine their lives. No matter how many Hamas supporters are killed, its ideology persists and feeds off the sufferings of an oppressed people. It's a reasoned position to take, supported by some Israeli strategists but can or will an enraged political leadership see reason? No matter who blames whom for such insane cruelty and wickedness by either side, innocent people have been killed and are still being killed.
António Guterres, General Secretary of the UN has spoken out against the refusal to allow emergency aid into Gaza, referring to it as 'collective punishment'. So far 6,500 people have been killed by the air raids, the majority of them women and children. Aid convoys have stopped again. Netanyahu's government has reacted angrily, calling for Guterres to resign, and denying an entry visa to the UN's senior humanitarian aid coordinator. Righteous indignation tainted by rage and lust for vengeance is blinding politicians to the cruelty and injustice of their actions in the face of reasonable criticism. They undermine their credibility and risk losing international sympathy for their position. Where are the truly wise counsellors of state?
After a snack supper, I relaxed in front of the telly with a couple of cooking programmes and this week's episode of 'Payback' and finally the news, then bed.
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