Capitol attention span White House agrees Jew-hatred’s bad. Now what?

A high-profile White House roundtable on antisemitism last week was followed on Monday with the establishment of an inter-agency group to coordinate US government efforts “to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination.”

“As President Biden has made clear: antisemitism has no place in America. All Americans should forcefully reject antisemitism — including Holocaust denial — wherever it exists,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement announcing the move.

The statement said the group’s first order of business would be to developing a national strategy for combating Jew-hatred. It made no additional references to “Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NBC News on Monday that “our fight has only become more fervent” concerning antisemitism. 

“The resources we’ve invested in it have become greater. Our dedication to addressing targeted violence against any group has become more and more intense. Unfortunately, the need for it has increased as well,” added Mayorkas, a Latino Jew whose mother is a Shoah survivor.

America is facing an “epidemic of hate,” said Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, as he chaired the roundtable with Jewish leaders in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last Wednesday.

“Let me be clear — words matter. People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud, they are screaming them,” said Emhoff, the Jewish husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. “We cannot normalize this. We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts. We must not stay silent. There is no either-or. There are no two sides. Everyone must be against this.”

The roundtable comes after former President Donald Trump hosted antisemitic rapper Kanye West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago home. Both guests have professed admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Twitter has been flooded with antisemitic content since CEO Elon Musk’s takeover, and Black Hebrew Israelites have been marching through Brooklyn, claiming today’s Jews are fake. Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City last month were up were up 125% over last November’s figures.

The discussion came a day after a bipartisan, bicameral group of 125 lawmakers, led by the chairmen of congressional task forces for combating antisemitism, called on the Biden administration to adopt a “whole of government” policy regarding the problem, including the creation of an interagency task force.

The congressional letter urged officials from a spectrum of agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the State Department, the White House, the Department of Education and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum — to take action.

Aaron Keyak, State Department Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, said in a phone interview that last week’s event was not the result of any one incident or the recent series of controversies, but an acknowledgment of a broader problem.

State Department antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, senior Biden aide on public engagement Keisha Lance Bottoms, and White House Jewish liaison Shelley Greenspan participated in the discussion, as did representatives from around a dozen Jewish organizations, including Agudath Israel of America; Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations; American Jewish Committee; Orthodox Union; Jewish on Campus; National Council of Jewish Women; Hillel; Secure Community Network; Religious Action Center; Anti-Defamation League; Integrity First for America; United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; and American Friends of Lubavitch.

“There was sense that this administration was really hearing us,” Elana Broitman, Jewish Federations of North America’s senior vice president for public affairs, told JNS. “There a lot of note-taking.”

She said that the letter to Biden, which her organization worked to support, combined with Wednesday’s White House discussion, “are building blocks we can work off of.”

According to Broitman, the Jewish organizational representatives in attendance were “all fairly united in our concerns and our wish lists.” That included a broad feeling of distress about the rise in antisemitism on college campuses.

Julia Jassey, CEO of Jewish on Campus, was the only college student invited to the discussion. She told JNS that she had relayed that “many Jewish students are faced with the decision of whether to hide parts of their identity that they’re proud of. Or do they accept antisemitism in their college experience?”

She said she emphasized the importance of uplifting student voices and increasing access to education “to prevent a future rise of antisemitism.” Jassey urged “educating not just on antisemitism, but on Jewish identity and the importance of who the Jewish people are.”

Broitman said her wish list for the White House included stronger Department of Education oversight not just on college campuses, but in high schools and below, where antisemitism is increasingly fomenting. 

She said other groups also pointed to increasing government funding for nonprofit security, increasing implementation of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and addressing Jew hatred and bias against Israel at the United Nations.

While both Democrats and Republicans have often been slow to criticize antisemitic actions on their respective sides of the aisle, Jassey indicated Wednesday’s conversation avoided finger-pointing.

“My impression from the administration today is that they take antisemitism seriously, bar none. I think this went beyond a partisan issue. It didn’t enter the conversation,” Jassey said. 

As to what comes next, Broitman told JNS that “that this is not the end of the conversation. We know that this doesn’t go away. So I didn’t leave with the feeling like it was one and done.”

Keyak said the roundtable was merely a first step by the Biden administration, and that “we’re going to work together based off the recommendations of the various Jewish leaders, and then figure out what’s the best path forward.”