There are too many Muslims in the world, having weight in international forums, with the US and EU inclined to go along with them.

The ascendance of radicalism among Muslims makes any of their governments reluctant to challenge a hard line against Israel.

All that is true, but within those constraints, there is wiggle room for Israel and its friends.

Governments of Muslim countries routinely demand anti-Israel declarations in the UN and other bodies, and press governments of the US and EU to decry whatever Israel does. However, those same governments of Muslim countries do not deliver anything close to the financial support to Palestinians that they promise. Almost all of them have made life unpleasant for the Palestinian "refugees" living in their borders since 1948. Many Arabs and other Muslims (e.g., Iranians, Turks, Indonesians, Malaysians) are tired of the Palestinian claims of suffering. Yet Palestinian claims ring to some extent with the crowds that may riot against their governments. It''s easiest to sing in their chorus when it does not cost much.

Many if not most of those countries do business with Israel, but quietly. Elites come to Israel for medical care. Personnel from Israeli firms fly in private planes to airports that do not welcome El Al or other commercial flights from Israel. They move around, sleep and eat with security, sell and service what Israel has to offer, and fly home until the next visit. Israeli industries use addresses in some other country for such transactions, which have the approval of government authorities.

Americans and Europeans sign on to the hypocrisy of the Muslim claims for the sake of humane values and what is easiest. Who knows the seriousness of politicians who say time and again that Islam is a blessing rather than a problem? Media personalities, activists, and many of the common folk take them seriously and join the chorus. Most do not care, and many recognize nonsense when they hear it. Some may recognize the nonsense in what they say, but politics involves getting along.

When the weak behave as barbarians, it is easy to excuse them as not yet ready for the clubs of the better class. What else to expect from them?

There is also at least a bit of anti-Semitism in what we hear, now dressed as opposition to Israeli excess.

The best educated and most WASPish of upper caste Presbyterians are among those who have joined the barbarians with their intellectual contortions.

Can Israel solve the problem of Hamas and its friends?