Amid the noise and the fury surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, some places are unexpectedly quiet. “I’ve got friends, dear friends of 30 years standing,” said Charlie. They are scattered across the world, and stay in touch online, through platforms including WhatsApp. “We’ve got one friend who is going off. And the rest of us are just standing back. It’s literal silence on a group that’s normally very, very prepared to dive in on issues.” Charlie is a pseudonym, because this silence is the manifestation of fear. “You think, if I say something then you go down the worst kind of...