President Joe Biden is set to offer a forceful condemnation of antisemitism in a keynote address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday
“You can expect the president to make clear that during these sacred days of remembrance, we honor the memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. “And we recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter: Never again.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., are also set to speak at the event.
The speech will take place the day after Yom HaShoah — the Hebrew phrase for Holocaust Remembrance Day — Israel’s day to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust. It's the first observance of the holiday since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 — the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust — and sparked the war in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
"He will speak to the horrors of Oct. 7, when Hamas unleashed the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust, Jean-Pierre said of Biden. "And he will speak to how, since Oct. 7, we’ve seen an alarming rise in antisemitism in the U.S., in our cities, our communities and on our campuses. "
The speech comes amid a rise of antisemitism nationwide in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. A recent report from the Anti-Defamation League showed that incidents of antisemitism reached an all-time high in 2023, with a spike coming in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. It also comes amid a rash of protests on college campuses nationwide in recent weeks that have resulted in more than 2,300 arrests after some have seen confrontations with police.
The president last week denounced the violence at some of the campus protests, while lawmakers have scrambled to try and address a rise in antisemitism.
"There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students," Biden said Thursday. "There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong. There is no place for racism in America. It’s all wrong. It’s un-American."
It also comes after the White House issued a condemnation after former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee and Biden's likely opponent in November, called the Democrat's administration the "Gestapo," the secret police of Nazi Germany, at a donor retreat over the weekend.
Biden's administration and reelection bid separately condemned Trump's comments.
"Trump is once again making despicable and insulting comments about the Holocaust, while in the same breath attacking law enforcement, celebrating political violence, and threatening our democracy," said Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer.
"Instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascists, lunching with Neo Nazis, and fanning debunked conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officer their lives, President Biden is bringing the American people together around our shared democratic values and the rule of law — an approach that has delivered the biggest violent crime reduction in 50 years," White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said.
The House earlier this week passed a bill aimed at addressing anti-Jewish hate, which some critics opposed due to concerns over free speech. The Senate is looking to take up the bill, which passed the House 320-91 and has bipartisan support in the upper chamber, quickly, despite some opposition.
House Republicans announced an expanded probe into antisemitism on college campuses.
Biden, who has deep ties to the Jewish community dating back to his time representing Delaware in the Senate, visited Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, in 2022, where he met with surviviors of the Shoah and took part in a wreath laying ceremony.
Every president dating back to the museum's opening in 1993 has delivered a keynote at a Days of Remembrance ceremony.
"The combined presence of these leaders is an important statement to our nation at this very challenging moment of alarming antisemitism and Holocaust denial," the museum's website reads.