Joe Biden To Discuss ‘Scourge Of Antisemitism’ Amid Campus Protests
US President Joe Biden will address rising antisemitism at a Holocaust event, amid tensions on university campuses over the war in Gaza.
His speech follows police interventions to dismantle several protest camps around the country.
The demonstrators have faced complaints of intimidation and hate speech, which organisers have denied.
At the same time they say they have been subject to Islamophobic and racist remarks by counter-demonstrators.
Mr Biden will discuss “our moral duty to combat the rising scourge of antisemitism”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
At the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual remembrance event on Tuesday, the president will talk about how the Israel-Hamas conflict had led to “an alarming rise in antisemitism in the US – in our cities, our communities and on our campuses”, Ms Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday.
She described fighting antisemitism as “the core of who this president is”.
Ahead of the speech, the White House announced new measures aimed at countering antisemitism, expanding on a national strategy first published in June. They include the creation of online resources “to ensure that colleges and universities do a better job of protecting both Jewish students and all of their students”, as well as new guidance for schools.
Since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas militants and subsequent Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Jewish students in the US have reported an increase in antisemitic incidents. According to the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish advocacy group, antisemitic incidents spiked nationally in the final three months of 2023, and rose 321% on university campuses.
One Jewish student at Columbia University – where a protest encampment sparked a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations – previously told BBC that she had been called a “murderer” and told to “go back to Poland”.
Joe Biden To Discuss ‘Scourge Of Antisemitism’ Amid Campus Protests Photo Courtesy
While the protesters have said they were demonstrating peacefully for a ceasefire in Gaza, several encampments in university buildings have been shut down by police over concerns about escalating violence. Others have been allowed to continue on the proviso they remain peaceful.
On Thursday, Mr Biden rejected claims that the protest were nonviolent.
“Destroying property is not a peaceful protest; it’s against the law,” he said.
“Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations – none of this is a peaceful protest.
“Threatening people, intimidating people, instilling fear in people is not peaceful protest; it’s against the law.”
He added: “There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”
In the six months since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, the Biden administration has attempted to balance support for Israel with addressing growing domestic dissent over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
But while progressives have accused Mr Biden of not doing enough to end the fighting, he has faced criticism from Republicans for publicly seeking to limit Israel’s actions and not speaking about the protests sooner.
Alongside Mr Biden’s keynote speech on Tuesday, both Republican and Democratic congressional leaders – as well as four Holocaust survivors – will speak at the memorial ceremony, which will be held in Emancipation Hall at the US Capitol in Washington DC.
