I wrote last year that I thought there was no future for a two-state solution. The response was adamant that I was wrong. But this time I asked Ian Parmeter, a man who’s been a diplomat, analyst and academic for decades, with time spent in Israel, Lebanon and beyond. He agreed a two-state solution is effectively dead, given there are now about 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank. He also confirmed a democratic one-state solution is being considered by Israelis and Palestinians who want peace.

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But it would be hard. Israel would have to accept Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as having equal rights with Israelis. Zionists would have to recognise that it would be impossible to keep Israel as a Jewish state. And right now, nothing that makes sense seems possible.

Hamas’ appalling attack on October 7 and Israel’s extraordinarily ferocious response have created enormous hatred on both sides. Nothing truer. Nothing. Enormous hatred. But let’s not pretend there was anything less than hatred beforehand.

So let me ask this: could Israel possibly cease to exist? Parts of my family fled there to what they thought was safety. My parents considered it a haven if things turned bad here. I’ve lost the hope that a haven is possible.

Israel has survived many challenges since 1948, says Parmeter, and he has no doubt Israel will continue, particularly given US military support. “But Israelis will need to be on their guard for eternity for as long as they are there,” he says.

We, Jews of the post-Nazi era, are less safe now than we have ever been and that’s been made even worse by fools on social media who develop instant expertise. Netanyahu has made it tougher for Jews in the diaspora. Parmeter is not Jewish but says there is no question the appalling pictures of Gaza we see on television each night make it harder for Jews, even those not in Israel.

Yet Netanyahu will continue with his campaign both to boost his security credentials and to re-establish himself with the Israeli electorate, after all the strategic failures of October 7.

Maybe that’s working in Israel, but it’s not working here. It fuels antisemitism because people still can’t separate Jews from the actions of Israel, done in the name of Zionism. And the number of self-appointed experts with no kin in the game – or even basic knowledge about the region – is exhausting and dispiriting. And let’s not forget ignorant social media influencers, though I would like to.

When I last wrote about this – and I don’t do it again lightly because the resulting correspondence is often unhinged, and life is short, too short – I had messages and emails across all platforms. A few were downright deranged. But some, from Jewish friends, had so little understanding of why we all need to take a long hard look at the country that Israel has become. It is becoming harder and harder to support. There are more of us asking these questions now despite the horror and trauma of October 7 – and because of the horror and trauma of October 7.

The war spreads everywhere. Of course there are no guns here. I hope there will never be guns. But there is plenty of hatred to go around. And it does.

Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.