This is not freedom of speech....

The Jerusalem String Quartet is disrupted in Edinburgh...

A sheriff has ruled that criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism after Palestinian protesters disrupted a recital of the Jerusalem String Quartet in Edinburgh.

Prosecutors had claimed that the actions of five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign were racially aggravated when they interrupted the performance.

They had cried out “they are Israeli army musicians ... end genocide in Gaza ... boycott Israel”.

However, throwing out the charges yesterday, Sheriff James Scott said human rights legislation would be worthless if people on a public march “designed to protest against a state and its army” were afraid to name the state for fear of being charged with racially aggravated behaviour.

Human rights campaigners have welcomed the ruling, saying the prosecutions had threatened freedom of speech.

Mick Napier, 63; Sofia Macleod, 39; Vanessa Fuertes, 35; Kevin Connor, 40; and Neil Forbes, 55, all from Edinburgh, were originally charged with breach of the peace on August 28, 2008, in the Queen’s Hall. The Crown deserted the original case, but charged the five with racially aggravated conduct.

The prosecutors should be shot. Race has nothing to do with it....they should not have deserted the original charge of breaching the peace.