Mike and archduke:

Consider the moral implications of the 'experiment' you are suggesting.

As we wrote, this event was primarily an expression of a political opinion and only secondarily an application of the town square test to Britain.

The opinion being expressed was a morally right one even though it is, alas, unpopular. Expressing it was a noteworthy event for many reasons. As some of the discussions that this has raised on other blogs, and several of the coments on this thread, show, it has caused people to re-examine their own criteria for expressing their support for Israel, and to reconsider their own assessments of a society in which revealing one's support for Israel is an act of bravery.

Expressing the opposite opinion in the same way would be morally wrong to at least the same degree as expressing this opinion was morally right. Neither the principle of freedom of speech nor that of scientific curiosity erases the distinction between right and wrong. In this case it is the distinction between incidentally offending people who support mass murderers, and deliberately contributing to the intimidation of people who support their victims. Doing the latter would be indefensible.

In answer to your question Mike, no, we are not curious because, for the reasons we gave above among others, we are in no doubt that you are mistaken in your belief that British police would forcibly remove an Iranian or Hezbollah flag if displayed under similar circumstances.