Look What’s Passing for Free Speech…

5/3/24

My first experience with pro-Palestinian demonstrators came a few weeks shortly after Hamas’ 10/7 assault on Israel, when my wife and I went to a meeting arranged by our local neighborhood association in Brooklyn. The topic was a major highway improvement project in our area. The existing roadway near us is seriously compromised and in need of repair. Still, members of the community were concerned about the noise of the construction as well as the traffic that would be redirected to local streets. Given the Federal dollars involved, NY Senator Gillibrand was invited to address the group and to offer her perspectives on the project. I, along with several hundred people, was interested in hearing what she had to say.

As we neared the venue, we heard chanting from a pro-Palestinian demonstration that was in process. Frankly, I wanted to get inside and get a seat, so I didn’t pay much attention to what was being chanted. We arrived just when the meeting was supposed to be starting. One of the demonstrators had commandeered the microphone, and she was spewing accusations about the culpability of the US in supporting Israel’s evils in Gaza.

Ultimately, the demonstrator was physically removed by the police — a response that certainly seemed reasonable to me and to my sensibilities, may even have been overdue. In any case, they…