For decades the West has presented itself as the global guardian of free expression. Freedom of speech has not only been framed as a moral value but as a functional pillar of democratic stability and political legitimacy. Yet as the war in Gaza has intensified and narratives around Israel have come under unprecedented scrutiny this self-image has begun to fracture. What we are witnessing today is not an exception driven by crisis but the reappearance of a familiar pattern in Western political behaviour; the suppression of dissent in the name of order security or liberal values.

Over the past year a growing number of critics of Israeli policy have faced direct institutional and digital penalties. Social media platforms have suspended accounts citing vague violations of policy while universities and research centers have quietly distanced themselves from scholars whose analysis challenges dominant narratives. One of the clearest recent examples is the suspension of the X account of Dr Shirin Saeidi a Middle East scholar whose public commentary on Gaza placed her at odds with prevailing political sensitivities. Around the same time, she was removed from her affiliation with the Middle East Studies Center at the University of Arkansas; a move that raised serious concerns about academic freedom and viewpoint discrimination. The issue here is not one individual career but the precedent such actions establish. When dissenting analysis becomes professionally costly the boundaries of permissible debate shrink rapidly.

These measures are often justified as necessary to prevent extremism misinformation or social unrest. Yet history suggests the opposite outcome. Censorship........

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