Or take Jewish history. This is the greatest story of national survival ever told, which is why some people pretend that it is fiction. Shlomo Sand, for example, has written a bestseller, The Invention of the Jewish People (Verso, 2009), which claims to debunk the "myth" of exile and return that is the foundation of the state of Israel. Sand dismisses the notion of a common ancestry for the Jews of the diaspora and modern Israel. Yet a recent article in the journal Nature (June 9, 2010), based on DNA samples from 69 diaspora Jewish communities, found a "remarkably tight subcluster" which "fits with the idea that most contemporary Jews have descended from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant". In other words, a common Jewish history is not an invention and nor is Israel's right to exist.

This goes to the heart of the matter. Why should the West care what happens to Israel? Rome, Athens and Jerusalem are the three temple mounts where we recognise our Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian origins. The story of Western civilisation is unthinkable without the Jewish people, as the enemies of the West from Hitler and Stalin to bin Laden and Ahmadinejad have always understood. By denying the historical narrative of the Jewish people, by questioning their right to live in their own state, these enemies are undermining the entire edifice of our civilisation. Over the coming months, the West's commitment to protect Israel will be tested, perhaps to destruction. But we should be under no illusions: if Israel falls, the rest of the West will be next.