If any other group in Britain tried to blackmail the government in this way, not only would they not be invited in "to express their concerns", they would be thrown into the political wilderness. But another standard applies once your community has produced people actually willing to kill. Witness the nightly street thuggery outside the Israeli embassy in London. Or the fact that holding an Israeli flag in the open at a counter-demo before getting into a police-cordoned counter-rally area was deemed by police to be an act of incitement. Azzam Tamimi of Hamas was able to shriek "We are all Hamas" to a crowd of thousands in Hyde Park a few days later, amid cries of "Allahu akhbar" ("Allah is Great"), and nothing happened. Marching along the streets of London with a banner and declaring membership of a genocidal terrorist group does not constitute incitement, but holding the flag of a British ally in our capital city does.

You sometimes have to rub your eyes at what we in modern Britain are becoming. Our cowed police appear to have become little more than the militant wing of the Guardian. Our most senior statesmen and counter-terrorism officials not only listen but actually pay money to people who threaten them. And statements from government on foreign policy appear to be increasingly influenced by what illegal acts might be carried out at home by a minority of a minority.

Fortunately no other faith community in Britain has realised what is on offer here. But at some point they will: they will notice how cheaply we can be bought now, and how swiftly we will roll over.

"What would Britain do if 6,000 rockets had rained down on us?" Supporters of Israel have asked this question a lot in recent weeks.

I'm beginning to think I know the answer. We'd have surrendered to the Islamists about 5,996 rockets ago.