If you thought the Danish cartoon controversy caused a ruckus, get ready for this. Reports out of Switzerland suggest that voters have today approved a referendum to ban the construction of new minarets — spires situated next to Mosques for the Muslim call to prayer — across the country. News agencies say that the legally binding decision was backed by an astounding 57.5 percent of the population. A week ago, opinion polls put support for the move at just 37 percent.

The move is likely to provoke the kind of mass confrontation that followed the publication of a series of cartoons in Denmark in 2005 which linked the Prophet Mohammed to terrorism. In the months that followed, more than 100 people died in unrest across the Muslim world, Danish embassies and shops were burned to the ground and protests erupted by Muslim groups in Europe calling for the censorship of opinions considered insulting to Islam.

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Last week, Oliver Miles, Britain’s former ambassador to Libya and a pillar of the country’s foreign policy establishment, put his thinking cap on, put pen to paper and came up with the following thoughts in a column in the Independent newspaper about the presence of the esteemed historians Martin Gilbert and Lawrence Freedman on the board of the UK’s latest Iraq Inquiry:

“Both Gilbert and Freedman are Jewish, and Gilbert at least has a record of active support for Zionism,” he said. “…if and when the inquiry is accused of a whitewash, such handy ammunition will be available. Membership should not only be balanced; it should be seen to be balanced.” (My italics)

In other words, Jews are an embarrassment. Ban them.

Hold that thought. Now consider the words of the celebrated journalist Richard Ingrams — a man who once said he does not open emails about Israel if the writer appears to have a Jewish last name — writing in the same paper today.

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The way in which senior western diplomats view the world is something we are usually reduced to speculating about. Shrouded in off the record briefings, the business of international statecraft is mostly hidden from view. Allegations about an appeasement-oriented mindset remain just that — allegations.

But sometimes, it all comes out into the open. Today’s hearings at Britain’s official inquiry into the Iraq war have provided startling evidence of the way in which the country’s diplomatic class regards the assorted dictatorships and tyrannies which hold so much sway at the United Nations.

The day’s events featured testimony on the events leading up to the Iraq war by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s former ambassador to the UN. In response to a question about the legitimacy of the war, Greenstock described the United Nations as a profoundly democratic institution. Since all member states had a vote, he said, it was clearly able to either confer or withold democratic legitimacy on actions taken by other member states.

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I have written many times on the subject of how the BBC airbrushes the anti-Semitism of Hamas out of its profile of the organisation on its website. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is just about Israel. Another favourite trick in the armoury of the politically correct ideology which holds sway in the Western world’s most powerful media organisation is to play down or ignore the Islamist roots of much of the world’s terrorism generally.

Today, the BBC website carries a story entitled “Mumbai Attacks: One year on”. The attackers are variously referred to as “militants” and “gunmen”. To wit:

“On Wednesday, a court in Pakistan charged seven people in connection with the attacks, including alleged mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - head of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

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If you haven’t seen this story from the Wall Street Journal, you need to. Reviewing an extraordinary new book: “Start-Up Nation,” by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, the piece begins by quoting an executive from British Telecom thus:

‘There are more new innovative ideas . . . coming out of Israel than there are out in [Silicon] Valley right now. And it doesn’t slow during economic downturns.”

And, the piece goes on to say of the Jewish state:

“Civilian research-and-development expenditures run 4.5% of the gross domestic product—half-again the level of the U.S., Germany or South Korea—and venture-capital investment per capita is 2½ times that of the U.S. and six times that of the United Kingdom. Even in absolute terms, Israel has only the U.S.—with more than 40 times the population—as a challenger.”

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