Remember the Satanic Verses controversy? Remember “Je suis Charlie”? Remember the constant invocations of Voltaire and Orwell? The great irony of our age is that many of the cadre of politicians who spent years anointing themselves as champions of free speech have become its most enthusiastic enemies when the subject turns to one issue: Palestine.

For decades, western governments lectured the world about liberal values. They declared freedom of expression the hallmark of a liberal democratic society. Protest was deemed patriotic while the right to offend was considered sacred. Then came Gaza. Suddenly, the principles that we were once told were non-negotiable became highly negotiable indeed.

In Britain, where I was born and raised, the government proscribed the direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation – with the shameful support of 385 votes in parliament from across the political spectrum. We have since witnessed priests and elderly and disabled people grabbed by the police for holding signs that simply said, “I oppose genocide; I support Palestine Action”. Their real crime was daring to speak out against a UK-enabled genocide.

Last week, the British state took another extraordinary step in its campaign of repression against pro-Palestine figures, blocking US commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker from entering the UK. The Home Office did not explain its reasoning, simply saying their presence in the UK was not “conducive to the public good”. The Guardian reported that it was “understood that both men have been blocked because of concerns that they could exacerbate antisemitism”.

The actions are opaque, the message unmistakable: there are political causes the British establishment welcomes but also political causes it very much fears.

This isn’t even about Uygur or Piker’s........

© The Guardian