Suffering does not make us better: why it is deluded to imagine that the massacres in Israel and Gaza will lead to a better future

The triumph of extremism: the Islamist ultra and new leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar greets supporters

Checking the news from the Middle East this morning I see that at least five people were killed in an Israeli air strike on an aid convoy carrying fuel and medicine to a hospital in southern Gaza. It was the fourth Israeli attack on aid workers in a week.

What makes us think that young Palestinian men watching on won’t want to join Islamist cells and seek revenge? Especially when, despite all the tough talk from Netanyahu, he and his government have not destroyed Hamas.

Or even moderated it. After Israel killed its last leader, Hamas choose Yahya Sinwar as its next boss.

I know the idea of a moderate wing of Hamas is hard to take but Sinwar was the most extreme candidate available. Apparently, he is now sitting in a tunnel under Gaza, surrounded by a human shield of Israeli hostages.

After the Hamas atrocities, every Western governmen agreed that, inevitably, the war would lead to a compromise in the form of a two-state solution.

If only that were true. On occasion, great suffering leads to a better future.

The notion it should and must, however, lies deep in the Judeo-Christian belief in redemption through suffering and in liberal beliefs in progress and reason, and it is, I am afraid, an illusion

Surely, we think, you benighted Jews and Arabs must now see the need to settle your disputes.

Most of the time history does not work like that. Violence begets more violence. Hate begets more hate.

As I explained in the Jewish Chronicle, the peculiar circumstances of Israel after the October attacks allowed a false hope to grow. That hope is now shattered.

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What doesn’t kill us makes us nastier

The Gaza conflict is destroying one of our dearest beliefs: the delusion that good must come from suffering. The hope that pain is not in vain is so widespread it must be wired into us.

It is certainly wired into me. Centre-left commentators like me have been guilty of promoting false hope after the October 7 massacres.