A depressing post here. The New Republic Online comes about as close as you can to endorsing the use of death threats to silence anti-Israel commentators, in particular, one made by actor John Malkovich against Robert Fisk. There is one weaselly phrase –however reprehensible–, but the anonymous editorialist’s real feeling is in the summing up.

(S)he quotes Fisk
‘ “As journalists, our lives are now forfeit to the internet haters,” Fisk wrote. “If we want a quiet life, we will just have to toe the line, stop criticising Israel or America. Or just stop writing altogether.” ‘
Then observes
‘Hey, now there’s an idea. ‘

It’s easy to find similar, and, for that matter, far worse, on the other side of the wire. (For example, look at all the equivocal or even supportive responses to the fatwa on Salman Rushdie). But it’s sad to find it somewhere like TNR. The TNR article pretty much proves Fisk’s point. He writes: ‘Slowly but surely, the hate has turned to incitement, the incitement into death threats, the walls of propriety and legality gradually pulled down‘.