The timing is either perfect or perverse, depending on your point of view. At the very moment that the UK government has announced plans to ban boycotts, divestment and sanctions by public funded bodies, the very reasons for supporting non-violent strategies to achieve equality for the Palestinian people look more urgent and compelling than ever. As I write this post [May 15], Israelis are being killed and maimed by indiscriminate Hamas rockets fired from the Gaza Strip and are now experiencing the same sense of terror which has become common place for Palestinians in Gaza for years. Meanwhile, in Gaza itself, scores of Palestinians have been killed, including many children, as Israeli jets and drones drop shells that will inevitably land in residential areas. An Israeli ground invasion of Gaza is said to be being prepared. None of this has come out of the blue.