– Jason Holtzman, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Jewish Community Relations Committee

The Inquirer editorial cartoon “The price of free speech” dangerously plays into the antisemitic trope that Jews use money and power to exert control. The only group responsible for what transpired at the University of Pennsylvania this past week is the Penn administration for its inability to denounce without equivocation calls for a Jewish genocide. Free speech is undeniably important, but any speech that serves to demonize or justify violence against Jews, or any other group, should never be tolerated. It is universities’ responsibility to set the precedent that there is no room for antisemitism and hate on campus. Any message that implies otherwise only further contributes to more division and tension on campus.

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This message was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Letters to the Editor Section which you can see here.