Biden praised after unveiling national strategy for combating antisemitism

US President Joe Biden has unveiled the country’s first national strategy for combating antisemitism.

Biden called the plan the “most ambitious and comprehensive U.S. government-led effort to fight antisemitism in American history” as it was launched on Thursday.

“It sends a clear and forceful message,” the president  added. “In America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail. The venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time.”

Amongst the strategy’s main goals was an increase in awareness of the impact of anti-Jewish racism, both to the community itself and the wider impact on American society as a whole.

The document includes 100 calls to action for lawmakers and others across US society to take in order to combat antisemitism. 

Hoping to improving security, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will meet with Jewish communities to ensure they’re using all the available federal training and resources.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will launch the first-ever U.S.-based Holocaust education research centre in 2024, it was confirmed.

There will be increased teaching of the positive contribution of Jews to American society.

The FBI and National Counterterrorism Centre will conduct an annual threat assessment “on antisemitic drivers of transnational violent extremism that can be shared with technology companies and other nongovernmental partners.

The strategy follows increasing evidence of growing antisemitism in the States. 

American Jews account for just 2.4% of the U.S. population but are the victims of 63% of reported religiously motivated hate crimes, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The White House has also stressed the rising antisemitism poses a threat not just to America’s Jews, but to wider sections of the country.

“Antisemitic conspiracy theories fuel other forms of hatred, discrimination, and bias — including discrimination against other religious minorities, racism, sexism, and anti-LGBTQI+ hate,” the White House said. 

“Antisemitism seeks to divide Americans from one another, erodes trust in government and nongovernmental institutions, and undermines our democracy.” 

Ahead of the publication of the strategy, there had been claims from some organisations critical of the Biden administration that it was seeking to overlook the importance of the IHRA definition of antisemitism for its strategy.

But it was confirmed that the strategy had embraced the IHRA definition, as many Jewish organisations had campaigned for. 

But the strategy also noted the “Nexus Document” , backed by some left-wing Jewish groups, which stressed “criticism of Zionism and Israel” should not always be labelled antisemitic.

“There are several definitions of antisemitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of antisemitism,” the strategy states.

“The most prominent is the non-legally binding ‘working definition’ of antisemitism adopted in 2016 by the 31-member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which the United States has embraced. ”

Some communal figures in American said the debate over IHRA in the run-up to the publication of the strategy was becoming a distraction to the overall aim of the initiative. 

The White House confirmed the overall goal of the national strategy was “on actions to counter antisemitism.”

Among those to welcome the Biden announcement of the national strategy was Holocaust expert Deborah Lipstadt ,appointed as the first ambassador-level special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism around the world by Biden in 2022.

She called the plan a “historic moment in the modern fight against what’s known as the world’s oldest hatred.” 

Dianne Lob and William Daroff, the chair and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, similarly said they “wholeheartedly applaud the Biden administration’s continuing embrace of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.”

But groups known to be critical of Biden attempted to suggest the decision not to exclusively recognise the IHRA definition had undermined the document.

“This decision seriously weakens the White House strategy. It is yet another instance of Biden caving to the anti-Israel radicals,” said Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brook.

Dan Pollak, director of government relations for the Zionist Organisation of America, also said he was “disappointed” in the Biden administration, arguing the Nexus Document “gives a free pass to Jew-Haters who single out Israel.”