A major free-speech organization made headlines this month for its advocacy on behalf of two students—Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk—claiming that their anti-Israel speech is being unfairly targeted. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) frames this as a fight for free speech, but it misses a crucial point: Not all speech should be protected, especially when it is aimed at generating violence.

FIRE’s stance may seem noble on the surface, but defending hate speech, particularly when it incites violence and calls for the vicious destruction of a specific nation, is far from noble. It’s dangerous.

Khalil’s anti-Israel extremism is protected under the First Amendment, but those rights do not mean a non-citizen should be allowed to stay as a guest in our country. FIRE has sued U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Defending this kind of antisemitism, without acknowledging its potential to incite terrorism, misses the larger picture.