When does free speech cross the line to hate speech? We have an instructive example in a letter to the editor in the Jan. 3 Viewpoints section of Wednesday Journal [Speak out against anti-Jewish speech and action].
In his desperate attempt to support three months of horrifying destruction of Gaza and its people, the writer slanders the Islamic faith and thereby our Muslim neighbors.
Of course, he inserts, “Hamas” to normalize his attack on Muslims because of our disgust with the unconscionable brutality of the Oct. 7 attack and hostage-taking of Israeli citizens and other people.
Our Muslim and Arab neighbors are already experiencing incredible stress and harassment in their everyday lives. Part of that is from accelerated anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, which was already palpable before Oct. 7. Part of it is the daily anxiety of waiting for a text or a phone call about the safety of friends and loved ones in Gaza or the West Bank.
In addition to fanning the flames of bigotry, he willfully ignores Jewish community members, such as myself, who reject criticism of Israel as anti-Jewish in any way. Israel is a nation-state. It should be judged by its actions, not shielded by racist rhetoric and false claims of antisemitism.
Such reckless, false charges sabotage the need to challenge real antisemitism — hatred and demonization of Jews for being Jewish — which is on the rise as part of the growing white nationalist movement in this country.
I am hoping that community members are challenged by this wake-up call. Sadly, I know that this writer is not the only propagator of this ignorance and racism in our community. Hopefully, more people will become aware and speak up in both public and private settings. Maybe then some good can come from this despicable episode.
Caren Van Slyke
Oak Park
Editor’s note: We agree and apologize for our lapse in judgment. That sentence has been removed from the aforementioned letter.