Biden and Harris condemn recent anti-Semitic attacks in the country

Blinken travels to the Middle East after ceasefire 3:51

(CNN) -

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the recent attacks on the Jewish community on Monday, after several Jewish people were attacked in cities across the country and abroad, while at the same time tensions escalate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “The recent attacks on the Jewish community are despicable and must stop.

I condemn this hateful behavior at home and abroad: it is up to all of us not to allow for hatred, ”Biden tweeted Monday.

Harris later added: “The increase in anti-Semitic attacks against the Jewish community in the United States and around the world is negligible;

It must be denounced, condemned and stopped.

As a country, we must stand united against hatred of any kind.

The attacks appear to be inspired by the latest round of violence in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and the perpetrators of an incident in Los Angeles were identified as pro-Palestinian men.

These acts have added to a climate of fear in the Jewish community that has been exacerbated by conspiracies propagated by politicians in the United States, said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League. .

"We have recorded a number of acts of vandalism and harassment, and the abuse online ... has been overwhelming," Greenblatt said Sunday on CNN's "Newsroom." "And so when you see wild conspiracy theories about the Jewish people or the Jewish state, it should come as no surprise that there are real-world consequences when Jews are harmed and harmed."

Police departments in two of the largest cities in the United States are investigating anti-Semitic incidents in the past week and preparing for more. The New York Police Department is beefing up its presence in the city's Jewish communities following two anti-Semitic incidents in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood on Saturday night, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday afternoon. And in California, the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating an altercation near Hollywood last week, in which witnesses said Jewish people dining at a restaurant were attacked by a group of pro-Palestinian men driving past. . Los Angeles police are treating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Last week, Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to a ceasefire after more than a week of conflict.

For 11 days, the Israel Defense Forces carried out a devastating aerial bombardment over Gaza, while Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel.

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Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

At least 12 people in Israel, including two children, died as a result of the fire from Palestinian militants, according to the IDF and Israel's emergency service.

An increasingly toxic climate

While recent violence in the Middle East appears to be the factor behind the attacks in New York and Los Angeles, there has been a broader trend in the United States of politicians willing to embrace anti-Semitic tropes and groups with a history of racism.

Then-President Donald Trump refused to condemn white supremacists during the 2020 campaign, telling the far-right Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by." During his presidency, he frequently downplayed the threat from white supremacists and made fueling racial tensions key to his reelection strategy. And when Trump and other members of Congress falsely claimed their elections had been stolen, many people in the Jan. 6 uprising on Capitol Hill displayed symbols of racist groups, white supremacists and extremists.

Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, sparked bipartisan outrage when she tried to link a mask-wearing mandate in the House of Representatives to the Holocaust. During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Greene accused the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, of being a hypocrite for asking members of the Republican party to show that they have all been vaccinated before allowing that its members are in the House of Representatives without masks.

“We can look back to a time in history when people were told to wear a gold star, and they were undoubtedly treated like second-class citizens, to the point where they were put on trains and taken to cameras. gas in Nazi Germany, "Greene said.

"And this is exactly the kind of abuse Nancy Pelosi talks about."

Since then, Greene has insisted on that comparison, stating that "any rational Jewish person" would agree with it.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, called Greene's initial comments "base folly" in a tweet, but the Republican leadership has been silent on the matter until now.

The Georgia congresswoman's anti-Semitic comments are not the only prejudiced sentiments raging in the US Congress.

Representative Scott Perry spread the racist "replacement theory" during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last month.

In 2019, Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, was reprimanded for referring to an anti-Semitic trope while criticizing Republicans' support for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Jews attacked in New York and Los Angeles

Two teenagers aged 18 and 17 were approached in New York by two men who "demanded the victims to repeat anti-Jewish statements," according to a statement from the New York police.

When the victims refused, one of the men subjected the 17-year-old to a "choke hold," the department said, adding that one of the attackers also chased the victims while "brandishing a baseball bat" as they escaped.

The alleged attackers fled in a blue Toyota Camry, according to police.

That same hour, three male occupants of a blue Toyota Camry began "shouting anti-Jewish statements" toward four male victims in front of a nearby synagogue, New York police said in a separate statement.

• New York Police Department increases police presence in Jewish communities due to increase in incidents motivated by hate

Last week, a man was detained after a 29-year-old Jew was beaten, kicked and pepper sprayed Thursday during an incident in New York's Times Square, CNN previously reported.

Between five and six men were involved in the attack, allegedly shouting anti-Semitic phrases, CNN reported.

The New York Police Department Hate Crimes Task Force tweeted that it is investigating the incident and Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has directed the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist in the investigation.

A woman who said she was dining at the restaurant in Los Angeles told CNN that people in cars began throwing bottles at the group and yelling anti-Semitic insults, including the words "dirty Jew."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti condemned the attack and said the city would deal with the incident "with the full force of the law."

"Our police department, along with our sheriff's department, our FBI and other collaborators, is rightly investigating this attack as a hate crime," he said.

- CNN's Ganesh Setty, Nicole Chavez, Brynn Gingras, Kristina Sgueglia, Sarah Moon and Stella Chan contributed to this report.

Conflict Israel and PalestineJoe BidenKamala Harris