A little over two months ago, I stood in the fallow murderscape of the Nir Oz kibbutz facing towards the barbed border fence with Gaza. Once, this village in southern Israel was a thriving community of 400 Jewish people, known for their left-wing ideologies and progressive ideals. But, two years ago on this very day, 500 Hamas terrorists smashed holes in the security wall, poured into Israel and stormed this quiet kibbutz. Nir Oz suffered the worst violence per capita of any village in the country that day, with a quarter of its population either slaughtered or taken hostage. Now only burned and looted cottages remain in this deserted memorial to inconceivable cruelty.

For me, having grown up during the sectarian bloodshed of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, it was the homely artefacts o

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