Hats off to the South American countries who've recalled their ambassadors to Israel. But that ain't going to happen here, let's face it, where more than 3 weeks' worth of public calls for justice for the Palestinians (see e.g. www.fbu.org.uk/resources/executive-council-statement-crisis-gaza/; www.tuc.org.uk/gazajuly2014) have been studiously ignored by those who are supposed to represent us. Cameron et al's silence on the atrocities perpetrated by Israel have been - quite astoundingly - deafening.
Protests and demos should be a way of getting our voices heard, but as many have noted, there's a real sense of anti-climax when these are barely even mentioned by our biased news channels. We should have learned from the Iraq war that governments take no notice of public protests (though these are clearly helpful in creating a sense of solidarity and mutual support).
It's really time to try another tack.
I vote for massive boycotting of all Israeli goods at each and every opportunity. We can keep up the e-petitions, emails to MPs etc etc, but simply hitting the oppressors in the pocket will surely have a much greater impact than all the hand-wringing and appeals to reason, fairness or just basic humanity.
www.inminds.com/shopping-can-kill.php gives a great overview of the what and why of boycotting. Be prepared though for some truly disgusting t-shirts (e.g. pregnant Arab woman with bull's eye on bulging belly, with slogan below '1 shot 2 kills'). While the info on this site is from the 2009 round of atrocities, much is still of relevance, if only as a poignant reminder that we really need to get justice for the Palestinians this time: so many thousands of deaths must not be in vain. In terms of a boycott rationale, there are also some very compassionate views expressed on jews4big.wordpress.com/tag/jews-for-boycotting-israeli-goods/.
Not sure I agree with the more overt direct action suggested on www.boycottisrael.org.uk/ though its article on Israel's looming energy crisis suggests a perspective I hadn't considered and might go some way towards an explanation.
So why not join me in going a step further than the futile and frustrating weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and pledge to boycott Israeli goods at www.palestinecampaign.org/boycott/?