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White House strategy for combating antisemitism: "The most ambitious and comprehensive" - Walla! news

2023-05-26T04:59:52.099Z

Highlights: The president announced the administration's plan to combat antisemitism, which includes about 100 sections. Many Jewish organizations welcomed the initiative, but there is also criticism: "Anti-Zionism was not mentioned as a major component" In 2022, there was a 36% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the previous year, after an already high rate of incidents in 2021. This is the highest number of incidents since ADL surveillance began in 1979 — 3,697 cases. "The poison of anti-Semitism will not be the story of our time," Biden said.


The president announced the administration's plan to combat antisemitism, which includes about 100 sections in the areas of raising awareness, protecting communities, and combating the normativity of anti-Jewish racism. Many Jewish organizations welcomed the initiative, but there is also criticism: "Anti-Zionism was not mentioned as a major component."


A young man was accused of shooting Jews in a shooting in Los Angeles motivated by anti-Semitism. Federal Attorney Martin Estrada and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. February 18, 2023 (Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his administration's strategy to combat antisemitism, a plan formulated for months by domestic policy adviser Susan Rice and Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and himself Jewish. Biden said in a recorded video while presenting the program that it was "the administration's most ambitious and comprehensive initiative to combat antisemitism, including 100 new actions the administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its danger to American democracy."

The plan, Biden said, includes four areas of focus. It will aspire, in addition to raising awareness and education against anti-Semitism, to contribute to the protection of Jewish communities, to end the tendency of recent years to view antisemitism as a normative issue, and to work to build solidarity between different groups. To this end, Congress will mobilize fundraising, technology companies will expand monitoring of expressions of antisemitism, and education at the civil level will be deepened. "In America, evil will not prevail. The poison of anti-Semitism will not be the story of our time," Biden said.

One of the planners, Doug Emhoff, the vice president's husband and himself Jewish, at a reception for Jewish Heritage Week, May 16, 2023 (Photo: Reuters)

"Evil will not prevail." US President Joe Biden (Photo by Reuters)

Biden's 60-page plan coincides with an unprecedented rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States. In 2022, there was a 36% increase in antisemitic incidents compared to the previous year, after an already high rate of incidents in 2021. This is the highest number of incidents since ADL surveillance began in 1979 — 3,697 cases.

Several Jewish organizations welcomed the initiative. Nathan Diamant, Executive Director of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Communities of the United States, said, "We are grateful to President Biden for this important initiative and for the seriousness and dedication of Emhoff and Rice." He said: "We look forward to a more thorough review of the plan in the coming days, and to work with the administration to aggressively implement its practical parts."

An antisemitic tweet by Kanye West (Photo: screenshot, Twitter)

The scene of an antisemitic attack at a synagogue in San Diego, in which one woman was killed (Photo: Reuters)

Representatives of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations said in a statement: "We welcome the publication of the White House's National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. The program involves more than two dozen federal agencies in its comprehensive strategy. The Conference of Presidents worked with the White House to formulate a comprehensive federal plan to combat antisemitism.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder noted that the United States joins a growing number of European governments in implementing strategies to support Jewish communities. Lauder said, "The next step will be a comprehensive execution of these plans, and the World Jewish Congress will work to support the next phase of the strategy. We need concrete action, not just words."

We need action, not just words. World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder (Photo: Walla! NEWS, Sivan Faraj)

But the plan was met with criticism from StopAntisemitism, which said Biden's plan was flawed. This is because it does not fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. According to the organization, while the program recognizes that Jews are the target of antisemitic attacks because of their connection to Israel, it does not define anti-Zionism as a central form of antisemitism. The organization expressed dissatisfaction with linking anti-Semitism with "Islamophobia and similar forms of prejudice and discrimination." According to the organization, these matters, which are worthy goals in themselves, should have nothing to do with the current strategy to combat anti-Semitism.

Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said: "The definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance is necessary because it recognizes that criticism of Israel is antisemitic when it undermines, demonizes and demonizes Israel, and uses double standards against it."

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  • United States
  • antisemitism
  • Joe Biden
  • Kamala Harris
  • Ron Lauder

Source: walla

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