Richard Hogan: Criticising the IDF's actions is not hate speech — we shouldn't be bullied

"To criticise the IDF’s attack on innocent aid workers, how they murdered them and subsequently buried their bodies to hide the atrocity, to criticise that does not have anything to do with their religion – it has to do with their actions and wilful denial of human rights."

Richard Hogan: "Our artists have always spoken against the injustices they see in the world, whether that was the power of the Catholic church, a colonial power, the wealthy merchant class, or Israel’s response to the incomprehensible carnage of October 7 terror attacks." Photograph Moya Nolan

We probably take free speech for granted on this island. It is something we have grown up with. 

The fact that we can criticise our government when we feel they have gotten something wrong; or voice our dissent by standing outside Leinster House and roaring into a microphone about what we are annoyed about without fear of tear gas or bullets; the fact that I am free to write this column, without fear of persecution for myself or my family, is something we all probably take for granted.