PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bob Casey denounced antisemitism at a rally in Philadelphia on Sunday.
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Community leaders gathered at Congregation Rodeph Shalom Synagogue in Spring Garden, and organizers say the rally was in response to recent incidents of antisemitism in Philadelphia and increasing incidents globally.
Shapiro praised those who are speaking up.
“You are showing that hate has no place here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and hear me on this — hate in whatever form,” Shapiro said. “Whether antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia — it has no place here in Pennsylvania in a place founded on the promise of William Penn. We will not tolerate it.
The gathering came one day after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned amid criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing. Magill was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.
“We shouldn’t have to gather on a rainy day in Pennsylvania to talk about antisemitism, but we must,” Sen. Casey said.
Scott Bok, UPenn’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, also resigned after Magill.
On Sunday, Penn named Julie Platt as the interim chair of the Board and said they will “immediately undertake an expeditious process” to find the next permanent chair before the start of the spring term.
Eitan Linhart, a sophomore at Penn, discussed his experience with what he called the rise in antisemitism on the school’s campus. He cited a Jewish fraternity being defaced with graffiti that read “The Jews are Nazis” and spoke of friends who no longer wear yarmulkes on campus out of fear.
“What surprises me is not the hatred,” Linhart said. “What surprises me is the indifference.”
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