IF there is one thing this war between Israel and Hamas has brutally revealed, it is the hapless helplessness of the United Nations as an international entity. This war has single-handedly handed over on a bloodied silver plate the fact that, in an anarchistic world of sovereign states, the UN is not the most effective arbiter.

Many criticize the United States for taking the side of Israel. Yet it is probably the only country on the planet now that has some level of influence over Israel and can prevent it from going totally rogue. It was the US that convinced Egypt and Israel to open the Rafah gate to allow the entry of humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip. There are those who wish for the US to totally abandon Israel without thinking of the greater unimaginable consequences that such a move could bring. Israel will be virtually untethered.