Biden to condemn current antisemitism in Holocaust remembrance amid college protests and Gaza war
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will strongly condemn anti-Semitism at a ceremony on Tuesday to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust at a time when the Hamas attack on Israel and the Gaza war controversy have fueled new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric against Jews .
Biden’s comments at the Capitol will play out as pro-Palestinian protests — some involving anti-Semitic chants and threats against Jewish students and supporters of Israel — rock college campuses across the country.
Biden has struggled to balance his support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack — the deadliest day for Jews worldwide since the Holocaust — with his efforts to limit the war against the militant group in Gaza.
“You can expect the president to make it clear that during these holy days of remembrance, we honor the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “And we pledge once again to heed the lessons of this dark chapter. Never again.”
Jean-Pierre said Biden would address the “horrors” of the Hamas attack, and how anti-Semitism is rising globally and at home.
“And he will talk about how since October 7, we have seen an alarming increase in anti-Semitism in the US and our cities, our communities and on our campuses,” she added.
Biden was expected to avoid the upcoming presidential election in his speech. But his speech comes as former President Donald Trump has criticized the sitting president for not doing more to combat anti-Semitism — while ignoring his own long history of rhetoric that invokes the language of Nazi Germany and plays on stereotypes of Jews in politics.
The Capitol event, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, will also include remarks from House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The campus protests posed a political challenge to Biden, whose coalition has historically relied on younger voters, many of whom are critical of his public support for Israel.
Jean-Pierre said Biden would “reaffirm” the right to free speech. “But there is no place for anti-Semitism on any campus or anywhere,” she added. “There is no place for hate speech or threats of violence against the Jewish people.”
Along with Biden’s speech, his administration announced new steps to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses and beyond. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sent every school district and college in the country a letter with examples of anti-Semitism and other hatred that could lead to federal civil rights investigations.
The Department of Homeland Security was educating schools and community groups about available resources and funding to promote campus safety and address threats. And the State Department’s special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism met with tech companies on how to combat the rise in hateful conflicts online.
On Monday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish wife of a nationally elected U.S. leader, met with Jewish students at the White House about the administration’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism. He heard students describe their own experiences with hate, including threats of violence and hate speech, his office said.
Trump’s campaign on Monday released a video on Yom Hashoah, Israel’s Holocaust memorial day, that aimed to contrast the 2024 presidential candidates’ responses to anti-Semitism.
The video shows footage of Trump visiting Israel and speeches he has given in which he pledged to support the Jewish people and fight anti-Semitism, while showing footage of the protests on campuses and clips of Biden responding to protesters angry about his government’s support for Israel in the war against Hamas. .
One of the clips shows Biden saying, “They have a point,” but the next sentence in which Biden said, “We need to get a lot more care in Gaza” is missing.
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said in response that “President Biden stands against anti-Semitism and is committed to the safety of the Jewish community, and the safety of Israel – Donald Trump is not.”
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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.