By the laws of nature, the occupation, apartheid and ultimate dominion of Israel over all Palestinians’ lives are not containable. This is not just a moral crime, one which claims people’s homes, lives and dignity, but a practical folly. And so the concentric circles with Palestine at their centre began to widen.

After 7 October, Israel claimed that its security now relied not just on eliminating Hamas in Gaza, but all those that Israel considered its proxies. It went about that mission in Lebanon and Syria in much the same way it did in Gaza, occupying more land and killing thousands of civilians in the process.

And now, with the Iran strikes, Israel, with the US’s backing, is further widening the definition of what is required for its security – regime change in the country that backs those proxies. This, even though Benjamin Netanyahu already has all that he asked for: he has levelled Gaza, is en route to de facto annexation of the West Bank, and has so far avoided standing trial for corruption in Israel or being arrested abroad, as demanded by the international criminal court. In reducing the entire region to its arbitrary definition of what is threatening, Israel has expanded into essentially dictating the fate of that entire region – and the rest of the world.