President Joe Biden revealed the White House’s new project to combat anti-Semitism, marking the first time in history that a U.S. President has initiated such a project. And, without mentioning his name, the new project is clearly meant as a response to what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia six years ago when Donald Trump was the President and he failed to condemn Nazis who openly marched in the city chanting anti-Semitic slogans.
The demonstrators also carried tiki torches as they chanted “Jews will not Replace us,” whatever that was supposed to mean. Some said it was related to a claim that American Jews were “importing” Latin American immigrants to take away jobs from white Americans.
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And what did President Trump do at the time to denounce Nazis and racist hatred? Well, the grandfather of Jewish children and the father of a woman who converted to Judaism could only bring himself to say, “there were good people on all sides.”
In his announcement about the new plan, President Biden cited the Charlottesville incident saying, “they spewed the same anti-Semitic bile and hate that were heard across Europe in the 1930s. What happened in Charlottesville—the horror of that moment, the violence that followed, and the threat it represented for American democracy— drove me to run for President.”
The new plan has more than 100 steps the Biden Administration says it will take to combat the recent rise in the incidents of antisemitism in America. The White House said it formulated the plan in consultation with more than 1,000 people from the Jewish community.
The program stands on four pillars. Pillar 1: Increase awareness and understanding of antisemitism, including its threat to America, and broaden appreciation of Jewish American heritage, Pillar 2: Improve safety and security for Jewish communities, Pillar 3: Reverse the normalization of antisemitism and counter anti-Semitic discrimination, Pillar 4: Build cross-community solidarity and collective action to counter hate.
“Together, we must acknowledge and confront the reality that antisemitism is rising, both at home and abroad,” said President Joe Biden. “Loud voices are normalizing this venom, but we must never allow it to become normal. Antisemitism threatens not only the Jewish community but all Americans. People who peddle these anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and fuel racial, ethnic, and religious hatred against Jews also target other communities—including Black and brown Americans; Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; LGBTQI+ individuals; Muslim Americans; women and girls; and so many others. Our intelligence agencies have determined that domestic terrorism rooted in white supremacy—including antisemitism—is the greatest terrorist threat to our Homeland today.”
