Jewish groups wrote to President Joe Biden on Friday as he failed to speak out against a wave of antisemitic violence across the nation, as pro-Palestinian activists targeted a synagogue, attacked pro-Israel protesters, and assaulted innocent bystanders.
On Sunday, a synagogue near Chicago was vandalized, and a “Freedom for Palestine” poster was found on the grounds. On Tuesday, a mob of pro-Palestinian thugs attacked a group of diners in Los Angeles, in what police are investigating as a hate crime. And on Thursday, pro-Palestinian protesters attacked Jews in Times Square and on 47th Street in New York City.
Biden criticized inter-communal violence between Jews and Arabs in Israel, twice, during a press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (the bulk of which was carried out by Arabs, as reflected in criminal indictments by Israeli police).
But he said nothing about the ongoing antisemitic attacks in the United States, reflecting the silence of other Democratic leaders.
Earlier Friday, as reported by Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jewish groups asked that Biden speak out:
Biden has yet to address the incidents, and did not mention them on Thursday when he welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The attacks have included assaults on Jews by pro-Palestinian protesters.
“Use your bully pulpit to call out antisemitism,” said the letter sent Friday jointly by the Jewish Federations of North America, the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, Hadassah and the Orthodox Union. “Harness the authority of the Presidency and the United States Government to speak out loudly and clearly against antisemitism.”
Kampeas noted that the Jewish groups asked Biden to retain President Donald Trump’s widely-hailed executive order on antisemitism, which classified Jews on college campuses a protected class for the purposes of civil rights legislation.
He also noted that Biden had campaigned in 2020 on the claim of a spike in antisemitism under Trump.
Indeed, Biden launched his campaign based on the Charlottesville “very fine people” hoax, the false claim that Trump had referred to neo-Nazis who staged antisemitic marches in August 2017 as “very fine people.” In fact, Trump condemned them.
Earlier this week, Biden signed a new law aimed at stopping hate crimes against Asian Americans, which he mentioned in his conference with President Moon, noting that he was ashamed of what he called a history of anti-Asian bias in the United States.
President Trump spoke out against antisemitic attacks in his first joint address to Congress, and in subsequent addresses.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it). His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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