These are not questions one regularly asks in America because of our rich tradition of protecting the freedom of speech from infringement by the government. Yet, we appear to be on the cusp of the mass suppression of public speech.

Nothing would be more unnatural and un-American than the prohibition of the expressions of ideas.

Here is the back story.

The Hamas assault on Israeli civilians and military on Oct. 7 prompted a ferocious Israeli response on Palestinian civilians and Hamas fighters, the latter of which has been the subject of intense international debate and even litigation in the International Court of Justice. Both the initial assault and the response in turn have prompted in the U.S. the articulation of deeply held and strongly worded ideas.

Some folks here believe that the Israeli Defense Force has intentionally engaged in the genocide of Palestinian civilians in order to expand the borders of the current State of Israel so as to include what is today the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Some believe that this land was destined by God to be the Israeli homeland. Some believe that the IDF has engaged in war crimes, and others believe it is doing what is necessary.

Some believe that only the total obliteration of Hamas will bring peace to Israel. And some fear that a strident anti-IDF or anti-Israeli government and pro-Palestinian rights verbal campaign in the U.S. will lead to violence against the Jewish people here and even to another Holocaust.