Stop delaying Sport may be a blunt tool but it's time to take a stand against Israel

Probably you already know what this is. Probably before you read a word of it, you decided what it was, where you stand on it, how you're going to feel about it.

- Jonathan Liew

The headline, there's your first clue. Maybe you recognised the name of the writer and drew your own conclusions. And of course there's the Guardian masthead at the top, the world's leading bat-signal for wet liberals, so already there's a self-selecting audience there.

Or maybe you came via a social media link that already told you what to expect. Necessary, vital, powerful. Great piece by so-and-so. A shocking antisemitic screed by an unashamed Jew-hater. Sides are taken. Feelings are felt. Minds are not changed.

So we despair quietly. We stay silent, or simply look away. Because to do otherwise is to run a gauntlet of threats, smears and abuse, a very public excoriation whose very purpose is to distract, divide, dishearten.

Is starvation bad? Ack, it's complicated. What about the bombing of hospitals or residential areas? Ah, right can of worms you've opened there. In the meantime almost two million people in Gaza are at risk of starving to death. In the meantime the Gazan ministry of health reported that 76 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours on Monday, but nobody seems to know who did it, or whose fault it was, or whether this is a welcome or unwelcome development.