Biden condemns ‘despicable’ surge in US antisemitic attacks

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have condemned a recent surge in antisemitic attacks across the United States in the wake of the conflict in Gaza.

The president and vice-president said acts of hate towards Jews had to be stopped and described recent incidents, which included a group of Jewish men being beaten on the streets of Los Angeles, as “despicable”.

Authorities are also investigating a possible hate crime in New York, where a man was charged with attempted arson at a Brooklyn synagogue and school.

“The recent attacks on the Jewish community are despicable, and they must stop. I condemn this hateful behaviour at home and abroad — it’s up to all of us to give hate no safe harbour,” Joe Biden tweeted on Monday night.

Harris added: “The surge in antisemitic attacks against the Jewish community in the U.S. and around the world is despicable—it must be called out, condemned, and stopped. As a country, we must stand united against hate of any kind.”

One man was arrested in connection to last week’s assault outside the sushi restaurant in Los Angeles, which allegedly occurred after a group of pro-Palestinian protesters began to throw objects at Jewish diners.

Police in the city were still working to identify the other suspects.

In New York, a 29-year-old named Ali Alaheri was charged with attempting to intentionally set fire to a yeshiva and synagogue in Brooklyn last week.

He is also accused of attacking a strictly-Orthodox man in a nearby street some hours later, NBC New York reported.

Prosecutors said: “With no provocation or prior interaction, the defendant began punching the victim in the head repeatedly. He took the victim’s cellular telephone, but subsequently dropped it.”