Hamas apologists are entitled to free speech, too.
Virulently anti-Semitic speeches and demonstrations celebrating the massacre of Jews demand more from free-speech advocates than reflexive calls for ‘freedom for the speech you hate’. They demand empathy for the fearful targets of murderous hate, who cannot understand our defence of the right to indulge in it. But a commitment to free speech values everyone’s freedom of conscience, and it is threatened by extreme efforts to punish pro-Hamas protesters for their political advocacy, however inhumane. People have a right to hate.
