The Doha Debates -- Israeli Lobby Stifling Debate in the West?

A fast paced and entertaining debate in an august venue (the Oxford Union) about a pretty serious issue, i.e. the extent to which open and free debate about particular issues can be strangulated and kept off the public agenda by powerful special interest groups, in this case the so-called Israel lobby (mainly in the US) that allegedly is trying to squelch criticism of the state of Israel for its policies in the Middle East and in the Occupied Territories in particular.

The classic debating society format does appear slightly artificial and contrived - some of the proceedings are merely verbal fencing. I must admit that I was slightly surprised by the final vote of the audience. Just goes to show how much we've become accustomed (in the US) to pussyfoot around hot issues such as this, and when a young intelligent audience in the UK calls a spade a spade, one tends to be surprised.