Although people are confusing language design with language implementation, they are correct in saying that "Python is slower than Java" by which they mean "in practical daily usage and with the language implementations most commonly available for Python and Java users, Python applications generally execute more slowly than Java applications."

This does not obviate the fact that there are special implementations of Python that execute at blistering speed, just that such implementations are not commonly used.

So, while the argument you make is pedantically correct, it is not pragmatically useful.