by Danny Cohen, Telegraph
The lesson is explicit: back away from Israel and the Jewish community, or your family pays the price
Last week, a senior American politician made a highly disturbing admission.
Washington Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services committee, revealed that he had voted in favour of cutting American military aid to Israel because of the violence and intimidation he and his family were facing.
Mr Smith said: “My family and I have had our home vandalised, a fire has been set in my driveway, my neighbours’ lives have been disrupted by demonstrations in the middle of the night, town halls meant to be forums for dialogue have been shut down, and a staff member has been physically assaulted.”
Mr Smith had previously said he would oppose the cut in aid to Israel. It appears that this legislator did not change his mind on the issues at hand. The mob changed it for him.
The vandals and the arsonists did not need to win the argument. They simply made the cost of disagreeing with them unbearable.
Here in Britain we should recognise this story because we have already lived a version of it.