There is a famous poem by pacifist Pastor Martin Niemoller which reads as follows: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me”

I often reflect on this when I see lefty liberals joining the Free Gaza marches.

Yes, I too want a free Gaza, but it’s not going to happen when it’s ruled by a bunch of rocket toting, ground tunnelling, militant mafiosi who have no problem throwing their political opponents off the roofs of buildings.

Yes, they were democratically elected, if you call having a gun pointed at your head when you mark an X on your ballot paper a democracy.

Elected

Hitler was democratically elected too and, like Hitler, Hamas have banned elections and have a different sense of norms to our sheltered, guilt ridden, Western way of doing things. So why do these lefty liberals support them? Do they think a free Gaza will be free for women?

Will it be free for homosexuals?

Will there be freedom of speech?

Will Jews be able to live there and practice religious freedom as Arabs can in ­Israel now and where there are even Arab members of Parliament? What kind of free Gaza do these left-leaning liberals want? Because if they think for one moment, that the kind of people ruling Gaza now have an ounce of fellow feeling for them they need to wake up and smell the rocket fuel.

When asked what country he would choose to live in if not the UK, Muslim Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Sajid Javid, chose “Israel” for it offered him “the warm embrace of freedom and liberty”.

Yes let’s “Free Gaza”, lets free it of Hamas, so its people can have a fresh start at freedom, liberty and dignity; the sort of warm ­embrace of freedom enjoyed by Israeli Jews, Arabs and all minorities there including lefty liberal Israelis who are happy to shout from their rooftops without fear of being pushed off.

Read more Lance Forman.