Today, the world will have new reigning champions in the world of football. Printing constraints do not allow for a piece to be written after the result is out, but that is not the thrust of this leading article.

At the time of writing, millions of fans the world over were waiting in anticipation of the World Cup final between Argentina and Germany. And all the while, a people who live in a strip of land with appalling sanitary and living conditions are being warned to evacuate their homes. The people we are speaking about are the people in Gaza. Already refugees in their own land, these people are  being threatened by Israel’s response to rocket attacks by militants.

Israel has made an incursion into Gaza, sending in troops and bulldozers to clear nests of activity that has seen rockets land in Israel. Israel says it has a right to defend itself – which it does – but one really must look into the proportionality of the response. Israel is by no means one of the worse occupying country that has been seen on this earth. But it is the only occupying country that has ever tried to make out that it is the victim. At the last count, over 150 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes.

One can never condone violence and Israel cannot be left to act with impunity and put the numbers down to collateral damage. Humanitarian agencies estimate that some 77% of casualties were civilians. On the other hand, Hamas should unilaterally stop all attacks on Israel. But do people who are already living in squalor need to be downtrodden even more? Do they deserve to have their homes demolished? Do they deserve to be refugees in their own land? The answers to all those questions is a very obvious ‘no’. It seems that peace in the Middle East will continue to elude the world, and more importantly, the people who live in the highly volatile region. Flames of sectarianism continue to be fanned as militants across Iraq and Syria move the create the Islamic State, inching ever closer to Israel’s heartland.

Malta’s relations with Israel have warmed somewhat in the past year or so as an official visit to the country by PM Joseph Muscat resulted in several agreements including one related to health care. Malta maintains that Israel has the right to defend itself – a right which every nation has. But Malta has also always supported the two state solution. The world, Malta included, must speak up.