Biden forms task force to fight antisemitism

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.