One of the most serious threats to free speech is the silencing of criticism of the government of Israel.

I have now found this out the hard way, having just been fired as a Guardian columnist for sending a tweet about US military aid to Israel https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/02/how-the-media-cracks-down-on-critics-of-israel

I knew that this sort of censorship happened. I have long argued that the most pernicious “cancel culture” is the one directed toward pro Palestinian speech. But I was shocked at how blatant it was. They were very clear I was being fired for criticism of US policy
toward Israel.

Losing a job right now is really difficult. Very clear how effective this is in keeping people silent. At-will employment means writers can be put under high pressure to not say anything politically that their boss disagrees with. You can see how easily opinions are stifled.

I am lucky, however, that I have an independent platform at my own small leftist magazine. This means that I have more ability to speak, because I can survive without getting another newspaper column. If I was freelance it would be much more difficult.

The editor in chief told me, in writing, that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that he was policing my tweets because officially I was “free to speak.” He tried to “confidentially” patrol my public speech. But I am not going to keep something like that silent.