WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, is taking his advocacy against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hatred to the snow-capped Swiss Alps.
Emhoff will make her first appearance this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to talk about combating faith-based and other forms of hatred and promoting gender equality and women’s rights, aides told The Associated Press.
He will also discuss the issues in meetings with foreign government officials and private sector leaders. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because Emhoff’s travel plans had not been officially announced.
Emhoff arrives in Switzerland on Thursday. His agenda includes a roundtable with CEOs on combating hate, to be hosted by Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan.
He will also participate in a conversation with Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of The Female Quotient, which works with organizations working to close the gender gap in the workplace.
Emhoff has focused on both issues in his role as husband of the first female vice president, for which he is known as the second gentleman of the United States. He is also the first Jewish wife of an American president or vice president.
The World Economic Forum, which starts Tuesday and runs through Friday, is an annual gathering of business, political and other elites in the Alpine snows of Davos, Switzerland. More than 2,800 attendees are expected, including academics, artists and leaders of international organizations.
Emhoff recently said that “it’s hard for us right now” as Jews.
“The words keep coming up: ‘I feel so alone and hated,’” he said in December 2023 at a Union for Reform Judaism event in Washington. “This that we all experience as American Jews is something that we cannot let our love of being Jewish take away from us. Don’t hide now.”
Emhoff was outspoken about the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States and abroad before Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took hundreds hostage in an Oct. 7, 2023, ambush of southern Israel.
The second gentleman and Jewish leaders met at the White House in December 2022 to discuss anti-Semitism after a wave of anti-Jewish vitriol spread by a famous rapper, an NBA star and other prominent people. The meeting contributed to the creation of a 100-point strategy that the Biden administration issued in May 2023 to combat hatred against Jews. A similar blueprint to tackle hatred of Islam or Muslims is expected later this year.
Emhoff has spoken about the pain of anti-Semitism during a January 2023 trip to Poland and Germany, including a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at a United Nations event and in other contexts. He has also denounced the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.
As the husband of America’s first female vice president, Emhoff also regularly speaks about closing gender gaps and supporting women in leadership positions.