http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/columnists/108363/when-israel-bo...

Jonathan Freedland asserts that those who posted unpleasant comments about Stephen Hawking on social media were ‘defenders of Israel’. Of course there is no evidence for this at all, since social media allow vitriol to be posted under the cover of a pseudonym. Those comments could just as easily have been posted by opponents of Israel in order to defame its supporters. Once this possibility is accepted then Freedland’s argument – that abuse directed at a ‘national treasure’ by Israel supporters only intensifies hostility to Israel – collapses.

But then what would he have to write about …