There was a time when Britain understood what was at stake. A time when this country did not flinch in the face of tyranny. A time when appeasement was recognised for what it was — not diplomacy, but cowardice. When Britain took its stand, when it did not wait for the war to be brought to its doorstep but chose, instead, to be the last bulwark against the march of darkness.

       That Britain — the Britain of Churchill, of moral clarity, of unshakable defiance in the face of evil — is needed once more. The images emerging from Israel should be enough to rouse even the most indifferent among us. Men and women, dragged from captivity after 490 days in Hamas’ dungeons, their bodies skeletal, their eyes hollow, their survival a miracle and an indictment all at once.

       And yet, where is Britain? Where is the nation that once prided itself on standing against barbarism? Where is the outrage? Where is the action? For months, this government has spoken of balance, of de-escalation, of the need for peace. But what peace can exist when hostages are still rotting in the tunnels of Gaza? What balance is there between a sovereign democracy fighting for its survival and a death cult that parades children in chains?

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       There is an illusion — one that Britain, along with the wider West, has clung to for far too long — that Hamas is merely another player in a political conflict, that with the right incentives, the right words, the right diplomatic mechanisms, it can be reasoned with.

       This is the great lie of modern foreign policy. Hamas is not a government. Hamas is not a resistance movement. Hamas is not a liberation force. It is a terrorist empire built on the bones of its victims, sustained by an industry of deceit, and protected by the very institutions that claim to champion human rights.

       It is an empire that kidnapped a grandmother and slaughters babies, that rapes women and burns people alive, that hides behind children while launching rockets at civilians — and then dares to speak the language of victimhood. And that empire is laughing at Britain and the rest of the West for a very simple reason. Because we let them.

       The United Nations lets them. UNRWA, that grotesque parody of a humanitarian organisation, does more than let them — it enables them. It funds them. It educates the next generation of terrorists in its schools. It allows its facilities to be used as launch sites, its hospitals as command centres, its very name as a shield against scrutiny. And then, when it is caught — when its own employees are exposed as killers, when its own leaders are found to be complicit in massacre — what happens?

       The UK and the European Union issue their temporary condemnations. They pause their funding. They express concern. And then, quietly, discreetly, they open the tap once more, and the money flows again, just as it always has.

       To fund UNRWA today is not to help Palestinians — it is to finance a terror network that thrives on war, that ensures there can never be peace, that has spent decades creating a Palestinian population more radicalised, more entrenched in its rejection of Israel, than ever before. Britain must ask itself: how much longer will it be complicit? How much longer will it pretend that UNRWA can be "reformed," that Hamas is a political entity rather than a death cult, that there is any path forward that does not begin with the complete dismantling of this machinery of terror?

       The same question must be asked of humanitarian aid. Where does it go? Who controls its distribution? The answer is known, but few have the courage to say it: Hamas controls it. Hamas decides who eats and who starves. Hamas ensures that its own men are fed, that its tunnels are supplied, that its leadership lives in comfort, while the people of Gaza suffer. And Britain — through USAID, through UN funds, through every channel that refuses proper oversight — is helping them do it.

       If Britain truly wishes to uphold its values, if it wishes to remain a nation that history will look upon with dignity rather than shame, it must take a stand. It must take a stand against Hamas, against its use of human shields, against its systematic abuse of women, against its very existence as a governing force in Gaza.

       It must take a stand against UNRWA, against the absurdity of financing an organisation that has been exposed as an accomplice to terror. It must take a stand against the corruption of humanitarian aid, against the grotesque farce in which millions in UK taxpayer funds are funnelled into Hamas' war machine, sustaining the very forces that seek to erase Israel from the map.

       This is not neutrality. This is complicity. Britain cannot remain complicit. It cannot remain complicit in the continued captivity of hostages who should, by all moral standards, be free today, not tomorrow, not after another round of ‘negotiations’ with butchers, but today. It cannot remain complicit in the great deception that is UNRWA, in the continued absurdity of financing an organisation that collaborates with terrorists while pretending to provide aid.

       It cannot remain complicit in the charade that treats Hamas as an actor in a political struggle rather than what it is: a terrorist empire that must be destroyed. There was a time when Britain understood that some wars had to be fought. When it did not call for ceasefires while enemies amassed their arsenals. When it did not hesitate to declare, in no uncertain terms, that barbarism must be confronted, not accommodated.

       That time must come again. Britain must recognise that this is its moment to choose. To choose whether it stands with those fighting for freedom or with those who take children hostage. To choose whether it funds terror or defunds it. To choose whether it will continue to look away or finally open its eyes to the reality that Israel faces — a reality that, should Hamas be allowed to win, will not stop at the borders of the Middle East.

       For if Hamas is allowed to remain in power, if its methods of terror are validated, if its use of hostages as a political strategy is rewarded, the consequences will not be contained. Other jihadist groups will take note. Other enemies of the West will watch. The lesson will be clear: terror works. Hostages are leverage. Brutality pays.

       It is not just Israel that will suffer the consequences. Britain will. Europe will. The entire democratic world will. There is no neutrality in the face of evil. Britain must decide whether it will, once again, be a force for justice — or a bystander to history’s next great crime.

       Catherine Perez-Shakdam is the Executive Director at We Believe In Israel