In the UK, Free Speech Is on the Ropes

Which speech is now being punished in the UK? Oh, any speech that could be interpreted as criticism, however indirect, of Muslims and of Islam. Robert Spencer wrote about this here, and the Italian journalist Giulio Meotti provides five disturbing examples here: “Orwell’s 1984 is now! Don’t dare to criticize Islam in the UK,” by Giulio Meotti, Israel National News, May 14, 2025:

We live in strange times, when the Pulitzer Prize is awarded to the Palestinian Arab poet who attacks Israeli hostages and denies that the Bibas children were strangled and mutilated in Gaza.

Strange times, given that the “thoughtcrime” prophesied by George Orwell’s pen – those committed by those who dare to think things that the “Ministry of Truth” has decided should not be thought – is now a reality in the country of the author of “1984.” Orwell’s book was written in 1948 when the Soviets had swallowed up half of Europe and were eager for more.

And we remember that Jolly Old England is the country of liberalism, of the Magna Carta (the first constitutional document in history), of the first publishing house in the world (Cambridge University Press), of the first modern newspaper (The Daily Courant) and of the oldest democracy.

Until recently, a knock on the door by the police was very KGB, but now it is a feature of English national life.

A retired special agent has been arrested for a social media post warning about anti-Semitism. Hard to believe, right?

Julian Foulkes was handcuffed at home by six officers of the force he served with after responding to a pro-Palestinian activist on X, The Times reveals.

What did Foulkes do to deserve being handcuffed and held for eight hours for questioning? He only put up a post in which he responded to a previous post by a pro-Palestinian “activist,” who had claimed that an anti-Israel march in London a few days before had not expressed “hate.” Foulkes in his comment on X said only that he disagreed; that the chants and signs accusing Israel of “war crimes” and “genocide” in his view constituted antisemitism. And that simple remark was then reported to the authorities, which led to six police officers arriving at Foulkes’ door to interrogate him about his mild remark as if it had been a death threat.

The 71-year-old was held for eight hours, questioned and finally “cautioned”. Foulkes accepted the “caution” from police after eight hours behind bars without having to go to court. He did so because, as officers discovered when they searched his home, one daughter died in a car crash in Ibiza and the other lives in Australia, and Foulkes feared he would be refused entry to visit her if convicted.

Foukes had responded to a pro-Palestinian poster on X who had claimed that a pro-Hamas march held a few days before in London was perfectly within the bounds of decency. Foulkes pointed out that he begged to differ; that in his view what the pro-Palestinian “activist” had posted smacked of antisemitism. That’s it. Since when is it a crime to tell someone that “your remark smacks of antisemitism”? Since the UK authorities have been going out of their way to protect Muslims from any rebuke, however slight.

Perhaps the only unusual element in the story is that the police admitted they had gone too far and apologised. But the former officer has decided to sue the authorities.

Bodycam footage from the raid paints a disturbing picture of what police are considering “suspicious”. Officers searched Foulkes’s book collection, with one expressing concern about some of the “very Brexit stuff” on his shelf. Another leafed through a copy of Douglas Murray’s “War on the West”. No doubt, the politically correct police see this as evidence of a “potential extremist threat”.

The retired cop was responding to a “pro-Palestine” protester who had denied there was a “hate” streak in the marches in London.

His post on X, sent two days before police went to his home, was a reaction to reports of an anti-Semitic mob storming an airport in Dagestan, Russia, looking for Jewish passengers. It was a response to an activist threatening to sue Suella Braverman, the then Home Secretary, for calling the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London “hate marches”.

Foulkes is not going quietly. He’s now suing the government for sending the thought-police to intimidate him — handcuffing and holding him for eight hours of intense interrogation — forcing him into silence on the subject of Muslims, Islam, and Palestine.

It was six o’clock on a Sunday morning when Allison Pearson found herself on her doorstep, in her dressing gown and slippers, facing two police officers.

The Telegraph journalist was facing a “Kafkaesque” police investigation for “inciting hatred” in a social media post last year. Pearson, an award-winning writer and excellent columnist for the English newspaper, had two police officers arrive at her home to tell her that she was under investigation for a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Here is her offending post, in toto: “We could be looking at the gradual Islamification of our country.” Pearson “said she was worried that ‘a bunch of Muslim councillors’ would dictate British foreign policy and voiced concerns that the war on Gaza is swaying the votes of Muslims.”

What law did that post violate? The two officers were sent to her home, announcing she was under investigation, in order to scare her into silence about the growing influence of Muslims in the UK on the country’s foreign policy, an influence that Ms. Pearson deplored. Had she posted praise for “the Palestinian resistance that stood up to the genocidal Israelis on October 7, 2023,” no one in authority would have minded.