Associated Press
President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism on college campuses and around the globe in the months since Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war in Gaza, using a ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust to also denounce new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews.
Biden said that on Oct. 7, Hamas “brought to life” that hatred with the killing of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and warned that, already, people are beginning to forget who was responsible.
The President used his address to renew his declarations of unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas even as his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained over Israel’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which would surely worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians.
The Democratic President has struggled to balance his support for Israel since the attack by Hamas — the deadliest day for Jews worldwide since the Holocaust — with his efforts to protect civilian life in Gaza.
While acknowledging the ceremony was taking place during “difficult times,” Biden made no explicit reference to the deaths of more than 34,700 Palestinians since the attack by Hamas led Israel to declare war in Gaza. The tally from the Hamas-run health ministry includes militants, but also many civilians caught up in the fighting.
“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree,” Biden said.
“We’re at risk of people not knowing the truth,” Biden said of the horrors of the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews were systematically killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. “This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world.”
Biden steered clear of the upcoming presidential election in his speech. But it played out in counterpoint to former President Donald Trump’s criticism of the incumbent for not doing more to combat antisemitism. Trump has a long personal history of rhetoric that invokes the language of Nazi Germany and plays on stereotypes of Jews in politics.
Biden’s remarks at the Capitol played out as pro-Palestinian protests — some of which have involved antisemitic chants and threats toward Jewish students and supporters of Israel — rock college campuses across the country.
“As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocity and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we’ve seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world,” Biden said.
“Not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting, they’re already forgetting, that Hamas unleashed this terror that it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis, that it was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages,” Biden said. “I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget.”
The Capitol event, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, also featured remarks from House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Holocaust survivors, local youth and elected officials took part in the remembrance ceremony, which included a recitation of the Jewish prayers for the dead.
The campus protests have posed a political challenge for Biden, whose coalition has historically relied on younger voters, many of whom are critical of his public support for Israel.
Biden said “There’s no place on any campus in America” or any place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence. He added, “We’re not a lawless country — we are a civil society”
In conjunction with Biden’s speech, his administration was announcing new steps to combat antisemitism on colleges campuses and beyond. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights was sending every school district and college in the nation a letter outlining examples of antisemitism and other hate that could lead to federal civil rights investigations.
The Department of Homeland Security was moving to educate schools and community groups about resources and funding available to promote campus safety and address threats. And the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism was meeting with technology companies on how to combat the rise in hateful conflict online.
On Monday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish spouse of a nationally elected American leader, met with Jewish college students at the White House about the administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism. He heard students describe their own experiences with hatred, including threats of violence and hate speech, his office said.
Trump’s campaign on Monday released a video on Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day, that aimed to contrast the 2024 presidential candidates’ responses on antisemitism.
The video shows images of Trump visiting Israel and speeches he has given pledging to stand with Jewish people and confront antisemitism, while showing footage of the protests on campuses and clips of Biden responding to protesters upset with his administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
One of the clips shows Biden saying, “They have a point,” but it does not include the next sentence in which Biden said, “We need to get a lot more care into Gaza.”
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said in response that “President Biden stands against antisemitism and is committed to the safety of the Jewish community, and security of Israel — Donald Trump does not.”
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
14 comments
Julia
May 7, 2024 at 6:32 pm
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Elvis Pitts "AMERICA'S BIG VOICE ON THE RIGHT" American
May 7, 2024 at 6:45 pm
Good evening America,
Politicaly Joe comdems antiseminitsm however in reality Joe’s Democratic Party is funding antisemitism.
Their secret is widely known and American Jews are voting for their very lives for Trump.
Thank you America,
Elvis Pitts American
My Take
May 7, 2024 at 10:27 pm
The prevalence and acuteness of antisemitism now in America is hard to judge. Media probably don’t want to repeat the vilest statements and give few specifics in any event. And the proIsrael side tend to accuse antisemitism of any criticisms of Israel, AIPAC, ADL, iDF, etc. So how do you judge?
rick whitaker
May 7, 2024 at 10:40 pm
MY TAKE my way of looking at this is simple. when a group declares openly that they are god’s chosen people, then all hell starts breaking out after that declaration. to be called less in god’s eyes by a group means you agree with that assumption or not. i don’t. i think it is silly for any group to say that. but when a group starts acting on that assumption, well this is what we got. BTW god does NOT have a chosen people, that’s silly.
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 6:36 am
Rick, are you accepting God by your last sentence? Have you abandoned me, your fellow heathen?
Listen, it is silly to claim to be chosen, perhaps they were chosen for eternal suffering. History has delivered them a homeland, hope it will do the same for the Kurds. Armenia finally has a homeland getting blasted from all sides.
Another reason to appreciate what we have: two great neighbors in Mexico and Canada and two oceans.
rick whitaker
May 8, 2024 at 11:31 pm
OJ, i just get upset that all these rules and favors were put in place without any knowledge of the other 2/3 of the people they didn’t know existed on the other 2/3 of the earth they didn’t know existed. i’m speaking of the religions of the time in the middle east and asia. religion makes my blood boil.
PeterH
May 8, 2024 at 1:20 am
At some point we will learn of how many of these protesters are affiliated with groups not part of the university or college community. We will learn exactly who they are affiliated! Arrest records will offer a glimpse into those campus outsiders whose purpose was to incite violence.
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 6:57 am
There are dual motivations guiding the protestors: those who want the war and destruction to stop, and those who want the destruction of Israel. Dont think it matters whether they are students, if they are exercising their right to free speech in a lawful manner and not preventing the operation of the particular school.
Even if they are not citizens, I’d suggest they’re still protected by the First Amendment so long as they dont exceed its’ limits.
And yes, if they can stir the pot long enough we get four more years of Trump. Arab Americans have been a Democratic leaning group, so if they want to punish Biden that is their right.
He should be punished because somehow it’s his fault Hamas launched a murderous invasion of Israel, slaughtered 1200 people, took hostages including the very old and small children, and then hid in their tunnels (and in their luxury apartments in Qatar) leaving their own citizens to bear the brunt of Israel’s effort to root them out. I’m guessing the college kids dont mention Hamas, or Islamic Jihad or the Hezbollah/Iranian puppets who killed 294 US Marines in Lebanon.
My Take
May 11, 2024 at 2:35 pm
who killed 294 US Marines in Lebanon.
===========
A terrible tragedy. for the US
But part of the blame has to fall on who put them there.
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 6:50 am
Slo Joe walking that Demo tightrope. Trying to keep both sides happy. He needs every vote he can get. What will his bribe be this time for votes?
Ocean Joe
May 8, 2024 at 7:03 am
IB, let me help you. It’s tiresome being a know it all, but I will do it again for you.
He will hand out goodies, that’s what Democrats always do. Just like your folks always give out tax cuts to the wealthy who do not need them, running up the debt and deficit. Trickle down doesn’t work, it just makes the rich richer and contributes to the wealth divide. So given the choice, the Dems manage to help the most people by tailoring government assistance directly to those who need it instead of funneling benefits to the rich pretending those benefits will ultimately help the poor while knowing all along they wont.
My guess will be free tents for the protesters.
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 7:28 am
The Demos take in nearly 8 million illegals. That’s where much of my hard earned tax money goes.
Impeach Biden
May 8, 2024 at 9:28 am
Question? How long did Joe’s handlers let him read yesterday? Of course he can’t talk without a teleprompter, cue cards, cheer sheets, and prearranged questions from hand picked so called journalists.
Red widow
May 8, 2024 at 10:03 am
Discrimination hurts. It starves you.it bleeds you out, it infects you morally and physically
Comments are closed.