By the time this is published, it will be only two days to go to find out if Yes or No wins. I would correct one slogan from the Yes camp. They say: “If you don’t know, find out.” The problem with that is if you try to find out what a Yes vote would mean, no one can really tell you, as they too don’t really know either.

I was on pre-poll duty (for the No’s) at Belconnen and Tuggeranong, and had a productive time. I caught up with an old friend from rugby days at Tuggers, as well as securing the ACT Legislative Assembly’s longest-serving political staffer (24 years), the redoubtable Keith Old (trivia expert extraordinaire), for my trivia team, which competes at Eastlake Footy club every Wednesday (7-9pm, all welcome). I also saw my old Labor mate John Hargreaves (who handed out Yes votes) for the first time in a few years. It was all very pleasant and civilised, apart from one bloke who was needlessly aggressive.

One recent event that was the opposite of ‘civilised’ was the well planned but barbarous attack on Israel and its civilian population by Hamas terrorists invading from Gaza.

Seeing footage of screaming Palestinian mobs mutilating the bodies of slain Jewish women and children reminded me of the holocaust and footage of SS and Einsatzgruppen thugs slaughtering helpless Jews. Hamas wants to get rid of all Jews from Israel. It is a truism to say that if Israel disarms, it will be destroyed, but if the Palestinian terrorists disarm, there will be peace.

I have written before about the scourge of anti-Semitism gaining ground in the West (especially in leftist academic circles). Anti-Semitism is fundamentally evil, as indeed are all forms of extreme racism.

I hope Israel takes this opportunity to smash Hamas. Maybe it needs to reoccupy Gaza, which it gave away in 2005. But let us not forget the other villains here: Iran and indeed its close ally, Putin’s Russia. Biden gave the Iranians back US $6 billion, unfreezing Iranian assets, for freeing a few hostages. If the money has not gone back, he needs to freeze it again – maybe give it to Israel or Ukraine. This is probably as good a time as you could get for the US and Israel to take coordinated action (including military) against Iran and its interests, and both countries should also take the opportunity to up the ante against Putin in Ukraine. Give Ukraine all the conventional help it needs – now.

I don’t expect the pathetic Western Europeans and the UK to do much. I suppose as long as they continue to help Ukraine, it’s something. However, all civilised countries need to back Israel. 

And I would say to any misguided people who might say it’s somehow Israel’s fault: if you are incapable of telling evil acts from justifiable self-defence, you need to have a good long look at yourself. How would you like it if your son or daughter was slaughtered at a music festival in Canberra by terrorists?