Absolutely chilling and dreadful news from the Netherlands, where the tentacles of the jihad have stretched to murder the Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, the provocative film-maker who had made a career out of attacking political correctness and Islam. As the Telegraph reports, the atrocity by a Muslim of Moroccan/Dutch origin bears a remarkable similarity to the murder of the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, who was apparently a close friend of van Gogh and had similar views. And in similar vein the decent Dutch have shown how appalled they are:

'In Amsterdam, an estimated 100,000 people - including many Muslims - marched to Dam Square, rallying in defence of the country's centuries-old model of tolerant co-existence. Thousands blew horns, banged tins and shouted in affectionate memory of the man famed for "making noise".'

As with the murder of Fortuyn, this killing once again exposes the lethal naivety of the Dutch experiment in multiculturalism. It also illustrates the extreme danger courted by those brave Muslims who dare protest at their religion's excesses. One of the bravest, Irshad Manji, has written of van Gogh's murder:

'I regularly get death threats through my Web site. Some of my would-be assassins emphasize the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the "flames of hell" in exchange for 72 virgins. Others simply want to know what plane I'm next boarding, so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't feel the urge to share my schedule. A few threats have been up-close and personal. At an airport in North America, a Muslim man approached my traveling companion to say, "You're luckier than your friend." When she asked him to explain, he turned his hand into the shape of a gun and pulled the trigger. "She will find out later what that means," he intoned. But, for all of the threats, there's good news: I'm hearing more support, affection and even love from fellow Muslims than I thought possible. Two groups in particular -- young Muslims and Muslim women -- have flooded my Web site with letters of relief and thanks. They are relieved that somebody is saying out loud words they have only whispered, and grateful that they're being given the permission to think for themselves. That's why I don't take my bodyguard everywhere I go. It may be necessary to have one when I visit France next week. But in my day-to-day life, I refuse to be closely protected. If I'm going to have credibility conveying to Muslims that we can, indeed, live while dissenting with the establishment, I can't have a big, burly fellow looking over my shoulder. I must lead by example. So far, so good.'

One can only gasp at such amazing courage. What are governments doing, not only to offer such people physical protection but to encourage and support them by endorsing and praising them, throwing the full force of their own authority behind them, and making their work widely available? Not enough; not nearly enough. Indeed, the silence from such quarters shames us all.