The Seventh of October

numbed
almost to the point
of indifference
by the gruelling
and gruesome
attrition of the
war in
ukraine
the world was
again
shaken to its roots
by the
unexpected
multi-domain
barbaric
armed
hamas incursion
into israel
on 7 october
that
in its ruthless
and cruel
brutality
has sent
aftershocks
through the near
and middle east
and beyond
with no one
but those
blinded by
instinctive hatred
for all things
jewish
failing to
condemn
the more than evil
and inhuman acts
and recognising
israels right
and need
to defend itself
and respond
in a decisive
measured
but moderate
and civilised
manner
the price of democracy
being that
we have to fight
openly
firmly but fairly
and with one hand
tied behind our backs
whereby
the adversary
has all
inhuman
undemocratic
options open
as we experience
daily
in reports
from ukraine

that it is
legitimate
to root out
and destroy
the evil
that is hamas
is unquestioned
not only for
the deep wounds
and humiliation
inflicted on
the jewish nation
but also for
their treatment
of their own
palestinian people
and the perils
of devastation
death
and misery
to which
they now
expose them
it is moot
in the heat
of conflict
to point fingers
and discuss
the origins
and the
undoubted faults
on both sides
the historians
will do that
for us
although there
is no shortage
of the
usual suspects
the expert vultures
who are
already circling
bickering over
and picking at
what flesh
still remains
on the bones

israel will
react with
hard and
undoubtedly harsh
and subjectively
appropriate measures
but we have
moved on from
the biblical
principle of
an eye
for an eye
not least
because
if we have learnt
one lesson
from the
armed conflicts
from vietnam
to kosovo
and all before
after and
in between
it is the phrase
that slips
far too easily
from our lips
but which
is a five-syllable
euphemism
for the maiming
slaughter of
innocents
the elderly
the sick
women
children
disabled
and all others
that fall under
the term
non-combatants
meaning
nothing else
but
peripheral
defenceless
vulnerable
soft
non-targets
termed
obliquely
collateral damage

breaking news
a senior
isis
taliban
hamas
commander
was
targeted and
eliminated
taken out
killed
in a
precision
bomb
missile
rocket
drone
strike
last night
and we
gaze at
our tv screens
and are
mesmerised by
the crosshairs
unwaveringly focussed
on a
boat
vehicle
house
and the noiseless
expanding
mushroom
of billowing smoke
dust and debris
we are shown
no images
of the child’s bicycle
or nearby
twisted bodies
torn-off limbs
and shattered
neighbouring dwellings
after the dust settles
victims of
collateral damage
blast waves
metal splinters
flying and
falling masonry
these are not
snipers’ rifles
with one small
deadly
but
individual
projectile
no
these weapons
are designed
to maim
kill and subdue
within a
planned
lethal radius
and they complete
their macabre task
efficiently
impassionately
and thoroughly
with the aftermath
announced in
military statements
press conferences
x - formerly twitter
and batted
like a thousand
ping-pong balls
back and forth in the news
and social media
until the questions of
relevance
appropriateness
morality
and
responsibility
are entombed
in the mass grave
of truth
and between  
the new
and hastily-printed
pages
of rival
would-be
historians
best sellers

as all
internecine
conflicts
the major
world players
will ultimately
bring this to an end
if only temporarily
with negotiation
and political settlement
but not before
too many innocents
have died
or are fated
to suffer
displacement
poverty and
an empty future