On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, U.S. President Joe Biden warned of the alarming rise in antisemitism following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, as well as efforts by some to downplay what happened that day.
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Biden, who launched the first U.S. national strategy to combat antisemitism in May 2023, said on Friday that the need to remember the Holocaust and the "scourge of antisemitism" was more pressing than ever after the Hamas attack which left 1,200 dead, the greatest loss of life in a single day since the creation of Israel in 1948.
"In the wake of the Hamas massacre, we have seen an alarming rise in despicable antisemitism at home and abroad, bringing back the painful scars of millennia of hatred and genocide against Hamas. Jewish people. This is unacceptable,” Biden said in a statement.
“We cannot remember everything that Jewish survivors of the Holocaust went through and remain silent when Jews are attacked and targeted again today,” he said, calling for a forceful response against Holocaust denial and "efforts to downplay the horrors that Hamas perpetrated on October 7, particularly its appalling and unforgivable use of rape and sexual violence to terrorize victims."
Biden added that his administration continues to condemn and combat antisemitism, while working to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas, and urged Americans to do their part to combat hatred in all its forms.
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Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embrace during former's Israel visit following outbreak of war
(Photo: AP)
"It is our shared moral responsibility to oppose antisemitism and hate-fueled violence at home and abroad, and to deliver on the promise 'Never Again,'" the U.S. president said.
Affirming that Jews and Israelis are “close to our hearts,” Biden said his administration “is committed to perpetuating the lessons of the Holocaust, to fighting antisemitism and all forms of violence fueled by hatred... “And we remember the enduring strength, spirit and resistance of the Jewish people, even in the darkest times."