In response to an increase in incidents of anti-Semitic violence and an increase in anti-Semitic attitudes among Americans, the White House on Thursday unveiled the nation’s first-ever anti-antisemitism policy.
Leading American religious advocacy organizations observed that the White House’s approach will appease detractors who are concerned about equating criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism. By not basing the plan primarily on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition, the White House achieved this. Although Israel is not specifically included in its definition of antisemitism, it is in many of its listed instances.
At the unveiling of the plan, second gentleman Douglas Emhoff remarked, “At its core, antisemitism divides us, erodes our trust in government, institutions, and one another.” Our American principles of freedom, community, and decency are undermined as our democracy is threatened. Extremists have committed lethal acts of violence against Jews as a result of anti-Semitism’s simple, inaccurate, and harmful narratives.
Jewish author Emhoff revealed unsettling events that have occurred recently in American society, including young children discovering swastikas written on their desks and parents of young children being accosted with insults during school drop-offs. The Anti-Defamation League estimates that there were around 3,700 anti-Semitic incidents in the US in 2022. In about one-third of the instances, there was vandalism or violence.
Despite making up just 2.4% of the country’s population, the White House said that 63% of recorded hate crimes with a religious motivation target members of the Jewish community. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates that 4% of all recorded hate crimes in the United States are directed towards Jews.
In addition, 85% of Americans now accept at least one anti-Jewish stereotype, up from 61% in 2019, according to a research by the ADL, which worked with the White House to develop the new policy.
global repercussions
According to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, antisemitism also affects the world.
The plan “reaffirms the United States’ commitment to combat antisemitism globally, including attempts to delegitimize or isolate the state of Israel at the U.N.,” she said in a statement.
Prominent American Jewish and Muslim organizations have backed the four-pillar plan, which aims to reverse the normalization of antisemitism and build cross-community solidarity. It also aims to increase awareness of antisemitism and why it matters.
“We applaud President Biden’s commitment to addressing the threat of antisemitism, a dangerous and pervasive form of bigotry that has grown even more pervasive in recent years, largely as a result of the rise of extremist, far-right political leaders,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement.
The rest of his statement read: “We also anticipate the White House’s strategic initiatives to combat other types of intolerance, including Islamophobia. We also appreciate the White House’s use of language that makes it clear that these national strategies shouldn’t be used to violate the First Amendment’s protections for free speech or to mix up bigotry with activism for human rights, including support for Palestinian freedom and rights.
Additionally, T’ruah, a Jewish human rights group that collaborated with the White House, applauded the administration for choosing not to utilize the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism as the term of reference.
greater battle
The head of the group, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, said in a statement: “We are glad to see the administration taking the threat of antisemitism seriously, and we welcome the announcement of a national plan that situates the fight against antisemitism within the larger fight against white nationalism, violent extremism, rising authoritarianism, and hate in all its forms.”
“The administration made the right decision by not codifying a definition of antisemitism, which would have only made it harder to recognize and respond to antisemitic attacks in context, and which would have opened the door to infringement of First Amendment rights,” the statement said. It also said that “there is a long road ahead, and we look forward to continuing to work with the White House to stop antisemitism and other forms of bigotry.”
Emhoff said that antisemitism had an impact on his own family’s history. He said that during the start of the 20th century, his great-grandparents fled persecution in what is now Poland. Their great-grandson became the first Jew to marry a president or vice president of the United States after they escaped to America 120 years ago.
He remarked, “We must not lose sight of the pleasure that comes from recognizing our cultures, our faiths, and our contributions to this wonderful country. There are more things that bring us together than apart.
