Today marks the start of Hanukkah – a time when Jewish families gather together to celebrate the miracle at the heart of the “Festival of Light.”

The images of the pale, weak and overwhelmed hostages as they are freed from captivity should serve as a reminder that without pressure from Israel, in the form of a ground invasion into Gaza, their fate would have been as additional entries on Hamas’s tally of terror and barbarism.

This week’s news cycle has seen unrelenting focus on the Al-Shifa hospital, with ever increasing media skepticism turning into hostility towards, and condemnation of Israel, as it searches for hostages and pushes forward with its mission to ensure Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure and its ability to operate as a terrorist organisation are destroyed.

As the Israeli ground invasion progresses, a coalition is gradually emerging between those that were reluctant to condemn the 7th October (7/10) terrorist attacks on Israel and even those who, it appears, were prepared to only give lip-service to Israel’s right to defend itself. This nascent and loose coalition is rallying around the call for an immediate unilateral ceasefire.

Growing up embedded into a strong Jewish community, just outside of London, I previously believed that antisemitism had largely been discredited due to increased awareness and enlightenment like other forms of abhorrent discrimination such as racism, homophobia and sexism.