President Joe Biden on Monday expressed concern over the rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and globally and vowed to combat the crisis.
Addressing guests attending a Hanukkah reception at the White House, Biden said “silence is complicity” and said it was essential that the country condemn hate, violence and anti-Semitism.
“This year’s Hanukkah comes amid a sharp rise in blatant anti-Semitism at home and around the world,” the president said. “I recognize your fear, your pain, your concern that this rejection and poison is becoming too normal.”
The President said: “I will not be silent. America will not remain silent.”
The celebration comes during a series of anti-Semitic episodes. Former President Donald Trump hosted a white supremacist and Holocaust denier at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Rapper Ye expressed his admiration for Adolf Hitler in an interview. NBA star Kyrie Irving appeared on social media to promote an anti-Semitic film. Neo-Nazi trolls are fighting for their return to Twitter as new CEO Elon Musk gives an “apology” to suspended accounts.
Biden said, “Today, we must all say loud and clear: Anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and violence in this country have no place in America.”
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, reported 2,717 episodes of anti-Semitic attack, harassment or vandalism last year, a 34% increase from the previous year and the most since the New York City-based organization Have started keeping in numbers. record in 1979.
