Washington
CNN
—
President Joe Biden on Tuesday linked the horrors of the Holocaust to Hamas' attacks on Israel and called for combating the “violent groundswell” of anti-Semitism, saying there is no place for such hatred in the United States.
Biden's speech was a somber but passionate moment of reflection during a tense and pivotal period leading up to his re-election bid. The October 7 attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza have proven to be one of the most politically difficult periods of President Biden's tenure, with anti-Semitism opposed to American values. It's especially personal for longtime supporters of Israel.
“We should give no safe haven to hate against anyone,” Biden said.
But Biden's staunch support for Israel's war against Hamas, which has now led to the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians, has caused deep rifts in the coalition that sent him to the White House in 2020. . The support for Israel's campaign and the administration's protests on college campuses for Biden has spread across the United States, highlighting potential political troubles with the young voters the president needs to win a second term.
In his keynote address Tuesday at the Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual memorial service on Capitol Hill, Biden spoke about the horrors Jews experienced under the Nazi regime, what happened in Israel last year, and the aftermath. He tried to make a direct link to the rise in anti-Semitism. Hamas attack.
“This ancient hatred of Jews did not begin with the Holocaust. It did not end with the Holocaust, nor did it end after victory in World War II. This hatred of too many people around the world It remains close to our hearts and requires continued vigilance and candor from us,” Biden said.
He continued, “Now we're here, not 75 years later, but only seven and a half months later, and people are already starting to forget. They're already starting to forget that Hamas unleashed this horror. You're forgetting…I haven't forgotten, you haven't, and we won't either.''
Biden said anti-Semitism in the U.S. has risen “at high speed” in the aftermath of Oct. 7, from propaganda on social media to harassment and attacks on Jewish students on campus. It pointed out.
“Too many people deny, downplay, justify and ignore the Holocaust and the horrors of October 7th, including the horrific use of sexual violence by Hamas as an act of torture and terrorism. “It's absolutely despicable and it has to stop,” he said aloud.
The president spoke out strongly against the escalating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the days following the Hamas attack on Israel, and in an Oct. 19 Oval Office speech said Americans should not “stand by and remain silent. I can't do that.'' However, in the seven months since the war began, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic incidents have increased significantly.
The latest data from the Anti-Defamation League, which has tracked anti-Semitic incidents in the United States since 1979, shows a 140% increase in incidents from 2022 to 2023, with a “dramatic” increase after Oct. 7. is said to have been seen. A 2024 study on anti-Semitic attitudes in America found that young Americans are “more likely to endorse anti-Semitic tropes.”
Biden had a direct message to American Jews on Tuesday.
“I understand your fear, your hurt, your pain. As President, let me reassure you: You are not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will,” he said. Ta.
He is the story of Tom Lantos, who escaped from a Nazi labor camp during the Holocaust with the help of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who used his diplomatic cover to hide and rescue around 100,000 Jews. He told the story in detail. Lantos became a top adviser to Biden, then in his first term in the Senate, and later became the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress.
The president quoted Lantos as saying, “The surface of civilization is paper-thin. We are its guardians and we can never rest.”
“My fellow Americans, we must be guardians,” Biden added.
Although the president has categorically condemned anti-Semitism, the Gaza war is a politically risky topic for Biden and the White House, who are also trying to show empathy for the situation Palestinians currently face in Gaza. It has become.
The president has faced protests at nearly every public event outside the White House in recent months for supporting Israel's war against Hamas, and since the days of the Oct. 7 attack, the president's commitment to war has The response has come under intense scrutiny.
The president and his administration may now be facing a new turning point in the war. The speech came as the Israeli military called on residents of eastern Rafah, Gaza City, to “evacuate immediately” and questioned whether an attack on the city, which Israel has long threatened to carry out, would soon take place. is occurring. The Biden administration has issued a strong warning.
More than a million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah during the nearly seven-month war, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel razed much of northern Gaza. Mr. Biden and his top officials have repeatedly stressed that they want to see from the Israeli side a clear plan to protect civilians before troops move into the region. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Biden “made this clear again” in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that no such plan exists in the U.S. It is not clear whether it was presented.
Biden on Tuesday reiterated his “ironclad” commitment to Israel's right to exist as an independent Jewish state “even if we disagree.”
Hamas announced on Monday that it had agreed to a cease-fire proposal brokered by the Qatari and Egyptian governments, but the proposal appears to be a significant departure from one formed with Israeli input. The Israeli government was considering Hamas's proposal on Monday, but operations in Rafah continued.
The speech also came as the administration stepped up its response to pro-Palestinian protests over the war that have spread to universities across the country, with images of tension and some violence. More than 2,000 people have been arrested on university campuses since April 18th.
On Tuesday, Biden reaffirmed the right to free speech but harshly condemned anti-Semitism, hate speech and threats of violence “against Jews and others.”
Biden's speech on the subject last week appeared to signal a shift in the administration's response to protests. The next day, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sent a letter to college and university presidents condemning the “abhorrent” incidents of anti-Semitism on campuses and highlighting available resources. This is a move aimed at further strengthening the government's public response to protests.
He cited specific reports from Jewish students of being physically assaulted and harassed while walking on campus, anti-Semitic remarks such as “Jewish students should go back to Poland,” and abusive language. He cited the presence of a swastika on the door of his dormitory room.
And on Monday, the day before Biden's speech, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff hosted a roundtable with a number of Jewish students at the White House. The first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president and a leading advocate on the issue, Mr. Emhoff has made tackling anti-Semitism a cornerstone of his own portfolio and is a top Jewish campus leader. are in contact with them.
Tuesday's speech came alongside a series of new actions the Biden administration is taking to strengthen the national strategy to counter anti-Semitism, the White House said in a fact sheet.
The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has sent a letter to every school district and university in the country listing specific examples of anti-Semitic discrimination that can be investigated under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. There are currently 141 public investigations underway with universities under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial aid.
The Department of Homeland Security is working to “build an online campus safety resource guide” to provide “financial, educational, and technical assistance” to campuses. The fact sheet states that DHS also develops and shares “best practices for community-based targeted violence and terrorism prevention.”
The State Department's Office of the Special Envoy to Oversee and Combat Anti-Semitism will “convene technology companies to identify best practices for combating anti-Semitic content online,” the fact sheet said.
Biden's speech came the day after Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). To commemorate the day, the Biden campaign released a long list of former President Donald Trump's anti-Semitic statements and actions, including Trump's comment about Adolf Hitler that he “did some good things.” It also included reports that it was. And, like many of Biden's recent speeches, the speech was not written with a focus on drawing political contrasts with Trump, senior administration officials said.
Still, Mr. Biden's unwavering support for Israel's military offensive in Gaza is eroding some of the support he needs among younger voters in the months before the general election. According to a poll by the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, only 18% of young voters approve of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
CNN’s Dana Bash and MJ Lee contributed to this report.
This article has been updated with additional reporting.