Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Marc J. Zucker issued the following statement regarding the recent protest targeting a Jewish-owned business in Center City:
“The Philadelphia Bar Association condemns the overt antisemitism displayed by protestors in Center City toward Goldie, a Jewish-owned business, over the weekend. While the freedom of assembly is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the vitriol directed toward a restaurant simply because its owner is Jewish and serves Israeli food nevertheless is unconscionable.
“This incident, which for many Jews evokes images of Kristallnacht (the ‘night of broken glass’) in 1938 Nazi Germany, comes on the heels of a staggering rise in hate speech, hate crimes and similar acts inciting or directing violence against both Jewish and Muslim Americans, both nationally and locally. According to recent FBI statistics, more than half of the religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States were committed against American Jews, who account for approximately 2.4% of the population. Hate crimes against the Jewish community increased by 36% from 2021 to 2022 and are expected to be markedly higher this year. Whether on law school campuses, in social media or in our city, such behavior is intolerable in a civilized society,” Zucker said.
“Many of the members of this Association have been deeply impacted by recent events in the Middle East and by manifestations of ethnic and religious hatred right here in Philadelphia,” said Zucker. “Marginalization on local campuses is of particular concern. Many of the antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents have targeted law students and college students, who feel unprotected by their colleges and universities. These developments, among others, led the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently to disclose pending investigations of antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents on campus as possible violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Just today, Congress has convened witnesses to testify about this issue, including the president of the University of Pennsylvania.
"The Philadelphia Bar Association already is on record speaking out against antisemitism and calling for strengthening of Pennsylvania hate crime laws and expansion of the Human Relations Act. As an association that stands for justice and the rule of law, we must act in coalition with community partners, law school administrators and government officials to address the insidious danger posed by this tide of rising hate and take steps to improve the security of local businesses, religious institutions and other targets of hate crimes, and to identify and curb hate speech and the violence it spawns."
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The Philadelphia Bar Association, founded in 1802, is the oldest metropolitan association of lawyers in the United States. Representing thousands of lawyers and hundreds of judges in the city and beyond, it is an engine of innovation and reform in the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania legal systems, dedicated to access to justice and the rule of law. With more than 220 years of dedicated service, the Philadelphia Bar Association is firmly rooted in the Philadelphia community as a change agent and convener of the legal community and the community at large. To learn more about the association, visit here
