Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words.

To a reader and Joanne: I see what you're saying, but I think this is a bit different. I wasn't trying to provoke anyone, or even confront anyone like ProtestWarrior do. I wasn't going to any particular parts of town where I knew there were violently anti-Israeli people. I was just expressing a view peacefully in the most public area of town. The Town Square test is not about whether you can go to an immigrant neighbourhood waving an Israeli flag in their faces and expecting everyone there not to bother you; it's about whether you can go to the town square -- where every subculture of that community goes -- and express your view peacefully without fear of harm. I don't mean it's acceptable for assault to happen anywhere, but that's not what the Town Square test is about. For one to be unable to go to the most public place in town and express an opinion means that one is unable to express that opinion, full stop. It means that there is no room for criticism on the way that society thinks and acts on things.

By the way, reader: I've seen gay men in Oxford holding hands. It's not a big deal here. At least in the city centre -- it might be in the Muslim areas.