In a case of life imitating the blogosphere, since I began writing the previous article about Shimon Peres, there been ‘breaking news’.

Apparently the President of the Apartheid State in Palestine (ASP) has been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II.

Now he is a knight commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, no less!

I had no idea this was in the offing, but apparently so – for some time.

It isn’t just crazed pseudo-Kabbalist tinsel-queens like Madonna who shake his hand. Mr Peres gets to schmooze with real Royalty!

There are indications that the Palace was bullied and/or embarrassed into granting this ‘honour’ to Peres.

See Queen to Snub Israeli Knighthood Bid by the Daily Express’ royal correspondent, published on November 3rd 2008 – and as of today still retrievable from Google’s cache.

The original of this article has been scrubbed from the Daily Express online edition. Not surprising really. It suggested that the Palace stood up to Israeli stand-over tactics and rejected Peres’ unseemly ‘hints’. As it has turned out, it eventually caved in to Israeli / Jewish pressure.

Here’s an extract from the Daily Express report earlier this month:

“THE Queen has been drawn into an embarrassing diplomatic wrangle with Israel after Britain snubbed efforts to have the Jewish state’s President Shimon Peres knighted.

“She will meet Mr Peres, the architect of several stalled Middle East peace plans, when he begins a three-day official visit to Britain on November 18.

“But the Queen, on the advice of ministers, has rejected efforts by Israeli diplomats to secure an honorary knighthood for Mr Peres.

“It’s not going to happen. There is no knighthood,” a British official told the Express.co.uk, only hours after Israeli diplomats indicated it was something that was still under discussion.

“The 82-year-old monarch was dragged into the controversy after Israeli officials breached protocol by leaking early discussions about the knighthood to their media, perhaps in an attempt to force the issue.”

Over the years, the Express has not exactly been my favourite British newspaper and I don’t usually follow Court gossip – but this article is a real corker.

Here’s what it had to say about Prince Charles and Israel:

Reports in Israel said the Queen would make Mr Peres an honorary knight commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for his contribution to the Middle East peace process and to improve British-Israeli ties. Foreigners can be made knights but are not allowed to use the prefix Sir.

It was presented as an attempt to smooth over tensions created by a diplomatic row with Prince Charles last year, when his aides rejected an invitation to visit the Middle Eastern country.

Israelis were furious after the Prince’s deputy private secretary Clive Alderton inadvertently sent their London ambassador an email meant for Charles’s principal private secretary Sir Michael Peat

“I’m being pursued by the ambassador; no doubt you are too,” he wrote. “Safe to assume that there is no chance of this visit ever actually happening? Acceptance would make it hard to avoid the many ways in which Israel would want HRH (Charles) to help burnish its international image. In which case let’s agree a way to lower his expectations.”

Charles and the Queen both undertake official royal visits at the request of the Foreign Office and Britain has made it clear that it is unlikely that either will go to Israel on State business until there is a lasting peace settlement with the Palestinians.

However, the heir to the throne and several other members of his family have been there on lower-level visits, either in a private capacity or to visit charities.

Charles went to Israel for the funeral of the country’s murdered prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

So there we have it. The Israel Lobby has extorted an ‘Honour’ for its Pres.

Now here’s a tabloid headline that probably won’t appear in print: ‘Zionists Mug Palace in Royal Backflip!‘

What a shame Steven Sackur never thought to inquire about any of this on ‘HardTalk’ just a day ago. How poorly briefed they must be at the BBC! Yet they can predict the collapse of skyscrapers half an hour in advance. It’s a paradox!

The overall impression created by this sordid Israeli behaviour is that an ‘honour’ has been granted – but it’s honour without respect.

Bullies can extort. Bullies can blackmail. Bullies can threaten and demand. But bullies are never liked – however much they may persuade themselves to the contrary. Bullies don’t gain real respect, not do they deserve it.

It was nice to see Peres finally caught up with a little HardTalk on his excursion to speak to students in Oxford.

Bravo to the protestors who shouted their opposition to the old liar! You have my respect.

You are the future. Apartheid is not.

At least Peres is in good company as a recipient of this particular award. Not so many years ago, Robert Mugabe was another. In that case, the honour has been retracted.

So – on your best behaviour from now on, Shimon – if you want to keep the gong.

No more ‘extra-judicial’ Israeli assassinations! Free all Palestinian political prisoners! Free Morchechai Vanunu! No more collective punishment for Gazans! Stop Israel behaving like a rogue State. No more attacks on neighbours. Abolish all Israeli WMDs! End apartheid in the Holy Land!

Think you can manage that? If so, for all we care call yourself ‘His Most Revered Excellency Grand Duke Shimon of Dimona’.

Appalled that vocal protests against the Peres visit to England were unmatched by any significant demonstrations of support, the headline in the Jewish Community Online screams: Israelis ask: where is the community support?

Now that IS a good question.

Where indeed?

Some TV is pure shock and awe.

Take the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’s internationally-broadcast current affairs interview program ‘HardTalk’.

In times past, Englishmen had a reputation for politeness and reserve. It’s possible that was really just another smug self-serving Anglocentric myth – but there did seem to be some validity to the stereotype – at least on the BBC. Politeness was normal. A generation ago, interviewers like Richard Dimpleby combined incisive interview technique with courtesy. His son maintains the tradition.

But politeness is no longer at the cutting edge, if HardTalk is any guide. These days, the brightest and best British interviewers have an extra talent to offer viewers. They can shout louder than anyone else. This especially applies if they interview foreigners.

In the unlikely event I ever get interviewed on this marvellous program, I shall certainly take a megaphone along. These guys are experts at shouting down their guests!

A couple of years ago, the Chief Shouter was Tim Sebastian. But the BBC has been going through generational change.

In 2008, Shouter No 1 is Steven Sackur. It’s a hard call, but I think he may be an louder shouter than Tim. His lung capacity is probably greater. One of these days, there really should be an International Shouting Competition between Britain and the USA. Perhaps the USA will field Bill O’Reilly. It would be a match well worth watching – a clash of titans. I’d bet a Euro on Sackur to over-shout even the Beast of the ‘No Spin Zone’.

But I digress. Today I had an awesome shock. I tuned to the BBC and saw HardTalk was about to begin. By reflex, I turned the sound down. There have been HardTalks – especially when African or Arab leaders are interviewed – where I’ve been concerned for my eardrums.

But on this occasion Steven Sackur seemed to be on sedatives. Perhaps someone had slipped him an  Eccy? Sackur was polite, softly-spoken, almost docile. His eyes seemed glazed with adoration. I turned up the sound and listened. For the first time, I realized that Steven can be a charmer when he tries. Polite, almost ingratiating.

So what hard happened to HardTalk? Why so soft, all of a sudden? It’s an easy question to answer.

On this occasion, Mr Sackur interviewed Shimon Peres, the octogenarian President of the Israeli State. Mr Peres probably doesn’t like being shouted at. In any event, it didn’t happen. It goes to show the BBC has flexible editorial standards. But of course, we knew that already…

Old Mr Peres is a very skilled, very experienced liar. He has been lying for over 50 years. It was Peres who told John F Kennedy, to his face, that “Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East”. For the role that Peres played in soliciting French nuclear technology during the 1950s (before De Gaulle put a stop to this ‘co-operation’), Peres is sometimes called the ‘Father of the Israeli Nuclear Bomb‘. He was Prime Minister at the time that Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped in Europe by Mossad spies. That’s before we get into Peres’ crimes against Palestinians.

You’d never guess any of this from watching Hard Talk, of course. Sackur served Peres one gentle softball after another, sporting a silly schoolboy grin. He listened respectfully to the Great Man’s replies. When Peres stopped speaking, he asked another. It was nice to see that when he tries, Sackur can be a perfect gentleman. He does know how after all!

There was a sensitive moment when Sacur mentioned the Jewish settlements that now house close to half a million Israelis. All sited on land where Israel has no right to build. All illegal under international law. Settlements built under Israeli governments of all political complexions, systematically over several decades.

Sackur used the ‘O’ word.  ’Occupation’. It was like a young boy teasing his grandfather, pushing to see how far he could go before the old man erupted.

For a moment, I thought there might be an outbreak of shouting, at last… But no, no ‘hardtalk’ today – even in rebuttal. Peres gave Sackur a lecture about how there had never been a Palestinian State. He questioned whether ‘Occupation’ is the right word to use. Sackur seemed well-satisfied with the answer. It was all very touching. And very quiet. Lie a fireside chat for two. I nearly snoozed off in the warmth of their consensus.

Peres, the wizened survivor, seemed momentarily ruffled when, in a nice calm discussion about the Jewish fundamentalists, Sackur mentioned the untimely demise of Ishak Rabin. He sighed and murmured that the road to peace isn’t easy, or words to that effect. How sagacious. It is inbubitably much harder if one is being shot at with live ammunition.

If only JFK had dropped in unexpectedly, to resume the dialogue he’d began with Peres 45 years ago (the dialogue terminated by assassins’ bullets (especially a bullet with magical properties, according to Warren Commission lawyer (now Senator) Arlen Specter.

What might John Kennedy say to Peres now?

I imagine him strolling up to the old Zionist, bending as though to whisper in his ear… then letting rip with a shout loud enough to blast the disembler clean out of his armchair.

Just one word would do the trick.

“LIAR!”