An ancient hatred is back in UK, it cannot hide by pretending to be pro Palestinian, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Now there's nothing wrong with supporting Palestinians or indeed with criticising the Israeli government. Many on both sides have suffered greatly in this conflict.

But as the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Jake Wallis Simons, pointed out yesterday, there is something highly suspect about people who watch the horrific scenes of young people being murdered at a festival or read about elderly wheelchair bound Holocaust survivors being dragged into Gaza to be held as hostages, whose instinct is to go straight to the Israeli embassy holding flares and smoke grenades, wearing balaclavas and protesting against Israel.

Israel is a functioning democratic state, subject to the rule of law with free elections. If you look at the events of the recent days and think Israel is the problem, then you ought to question your own instincts. You are probably part of the problem.

Now, I'm not trying to be an advocate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but recent events have indicated the words he once uttered. If Hamas put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.

Well over the weekend, when the Israelis seemingly dropped their guard, we had an insight into what would happen if the Israelis did drop their weapons.

If they did do what these supposed protesters on the streets of London want them to do, the State of Israel, a democratic, law-abiding state, would cease to exist.

Supporting organisations that are prescribed as terrorists is a crime in the United Kingdom. Speaker at a rally in Brighton on Sunday said Hamas terror was inspiring and beautiful. Has this speaker been arrested?

A student Palestine society wrote on social media: “The Palestinian people have the right to resist occupation by any means necessary.” Have the police investigated?

Indeed, Nigel pointed out on his program someone at one of the rallies was raising an index finger, a known ISIS solidarity gesture.

These are just a few examples, but these people are actually committing a crime. But they use their purported care about the Palestinians to cover their fear and hatred of the Jewish people.

If they did care about the Palestinians, they would condemn Hamas, but they do not. Because Hamas is a bad, a wicked and evil organisation.

Not just to Israel. It throws its political opponents off rooftops. And it's supported by Iran, a country that has no civil rights at all.

If Hamas would have its way, you would find Israel turned into something resembling Iran. That is its model. That is its paymaster, that it is its senior partner.

So an ancient hatred is back in Britain, and it has taken refuge in a cause that purports to be a liberation movement. But whatever shape anti-Semitism takes, it remains the same brutal, evil ideology that it always has been. It cannot hide by pretending to be pro Palestinian.