WHY IS BRITAIN SO HOSTILE TO ISRAEL?

Why Britain? (JPost)
....The most puzzling question of all, however, is "why Britain"? There have been boycott initiatives elsewhere, but no other country outside the Arab world comes close to Britain for the sheer number of such initiatives and the range of professions they encompass. Why is Britain alone seemingly consumed with this anti-Israel obsession?

Psychologists could undoubtedly have a field day exploring the possibilities. Perhaps this obsession is a reversion to Britain's historic role as a pioneer of new forms of anti-Semitism? Britain, after all, gave the world the first known Christian blood libel against Jews (the case of William of Norwich in 1144); it was also the first country to expel its Jews, in 1290 - two centuries before the more famous Spanish expulsion of 1492.

Or perhaps it reflects guilt over Britain's failure, as the country that controlled the area in 1948, to prevent a Jewish state from arising at all? Certainly, it made a good-faith effort - for instance, by giving Jordan and Egypt free access to its arsenals when they invaded the nascent Israel in an effort to strangle it at birth. Nevertheless, it undeniably failed.

Whatever the reason, this British obsession has serious policy implications for Israel, which has long regarded that country as one of its closest friends. Britain, for instance, consistently places second only to the US in polls asking which country Israelis would trust to mediate Arab-Israeli talks, or as part of a peacekeeping force under any future deal.

THERE ARE two obvious reasons for this belief in British friendship. One is Britain's longtime status as America's closest ally. America is unquestionably Israel's best friend, and Israeli affection for the US has thus been extended to Britain by association. The other is Tony Blair's 10 years at Britain's helm, during which he has been the European leader most supportive of Israel's right to defend itself. This misled Israelis into thinking that most Britons share his views.

In reality, however, Blair's support of Israel on this issue has been immensely unpopular with his countrymen, and with British opinion leaders so fixated on Israel-bashing, the situation can only get worse.

After all, the NUJ controls what Britons read in their papers, hear on their radios and see on their televisions; the Anglican Church controls what they hear from the pulpit; the UCU controls what college students hear in class; UNISON plays a major role in setting and carrying out policy. What else is left?

This does not, obviously, mean that Israel should abandon the public relations battlefield, or cease trying to find common ground with both the British government and individual companies and organizations. But it does mean that it will not be able to rely on Britain much longer as one of its comparative advocates within Europe. Israel must therefore immediately start investing effort, at both the governmental and public opinion levels, in cultivating other European countries to replace Britain in this role.

Britain, unfortunately, is already a lost cause.

HERE'S ANOTHER REASON: THE RISING MUSLIM POPULATION OF BRITAIN.

Muhammad is No 2 in boy's names [England] (Times Online)
Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.