Interesting article by Israel correspondent Rory McCarthy in yesterday's Observer: Brazen hardliners and ardent critics: the Israel I have seen.

Whenever Zionists and supporters of Israel right or wrong complain about "freedom of speech" remember the following from this article:

'He said he was concerned about the new stifling of free speech, for which the best challenge, he thought, was continued popular dissent. "Technical democracy is functioning," he said, "but substantial liberties are not here."'