Biden condemns antisemitism at Holocaust remembrance

May 7, 202412:31 PM EDT

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that the threat of antisemitism is growing, in remarks honoring the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, as his support for Israel's assault on Gaza divides his Democratic Party.

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Biden condemns antisemitism at Holocaust remembrance

May 7, 202412:31 PM EDT

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that the threat of antisemitism is growing, in remarks honoring the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, as his support for Israel's assault on Gaza divides his Democratic Party.

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In his keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance, Biden aimed to cool a divided and divisive U.S. debate about Jewish security, Zionism, free speech and support for Israel, in the country with the largest Jewish population after Israel.

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Kenneth Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, who helped craft a modern "working definition of antisemitism," said the word is being misused to stifle protected speech about Israel.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would apply the definition Stern helped develop to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws on college campuses. Stern opposes the bill.

"I don't think that you can combat hatred of any type effectively with weak democratic institutions," said Stern. "When we have a government that decides it's going to stop certain things from being said, that creates an opportunity for totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and that's never good for the Jews."

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-condemn-antisemitism-praise-free-speech-holocaust-remembrance-2024-05-07/