President Biden delivers remarks during a reception to celebrate the Jewish New Year with Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on Sept. 30, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
The Biden administration announced Monday a new interagency group charged with developing a national strategy to combat antisemitism amid a rising tide of vitriolic rhetoric spewed by high-profile public figures.
The big picture: The formation of the new group comes on the heels of calls to crack down on hate crimes and antisemitic violence across the U.S., with several lawmakers denouncing links to white nationalists and Holocaust deniers.
Details: The new interagency group, led by Domestic Policy Council staff and National Security Council staff, will aim to better coordinate and expand federal efforts to counter antisemitism, as well as Islamophobia and other forms of bias.
- The task force will work with community leaders, government officials, lawmakers and activists to develop a "whole-of-society" strategy focused on antisemitism, including the ways it takes shape on and offline, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Zoom out: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D), who is Jewish, warned of a "dramatic resurgence" of antisemitism at a conference Monday after slamming former President Trump for dining with antisemitic rapper Ye and the white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate last month.
- "When a former president of the United States welcomes at his own dinner table several vicious antisemites," Schumer said, "and then rather than apologizing afterwards he lectures American Jewish leaders for insufficient loyalty, it is incumbent on all of us to speak out."
- Shortly after the dinner, President Biden similarly urged American political leaders to publicly reject antisemitism "wherever it hides."
- New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who spoke at the same conference Schumer attended, said in remarks Monday that perpetrators of hate crimes should not be granted the option of plea bargaining.
- Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2021, according to the Anti-Defamation League.