It is instructive to absorb the reaction to the many important stories from the Middle East this week.
The Iranians have denied the International Atomic Energy Agency access to their nuclear testing facilities. The Syrian government has carried on annihilating its own people while the world looks on. Marie Colvin, a fearless reporter who adorned the Sunday Times for more than 20 years, cruelly lost her life at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces. The BBC's Middle East page shows violence continuing in Yemen, Libya and Bahrain.

But which nation is on the receiving end of the world's lectures? No prizes for guessing. Russia has warned Israel not to attack Iran. The King of Jordan has insisted that the Middle East stalemate is Israel's fault. And Amnesty International has issued yet another denunciation of Israel. On it goes, this bizarre, willful blindness to the implosion taking place among Israel's neighbours, and obsession with blaming Israel for all the world's ills.

Israel is not a nation without fault, or should be immune from criticism. But, oh, for some perspective.