The Tragedy of the British Imagination

By Khaled Salih

“Feel good.” Source: Telegraph

The history of the British imagination, according to Peter Watson, was anchored for centuries on an explicit and audacious claim: that the British were a divinely chosen people, a “new Israel,” set apart by God for a special purpose. This concept of the “elect nation” was consciously constructed to unify a once-fractured realm and provide the moral and psychological engine for its global ambitions. Yet, examining this historical conceit in light of modern geopolitical commentary, particularly the recent decision by Commonwealth governments, including Britain, to unilaterally recognise a State of Palestine, reveals a profound and tragic historical irony: the nation that built its self-image upon the symbolic inheritance of Judaism now appears to betray the sovereignty of the only Jewish State.