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By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Marking Jewish American Heritage Month, Biden unveiled a proposal to update the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include protection for Jews.
After discussing the history and contribution of Jews in America, Biden focused on the pressing problem of antisemitism, and emphasized Hamas atrocities of October 7th as signaling the need to protect Jews.
He said, “Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on October 7th against Israel marked the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, resurfacing, including here in the United States, painful scars from millennia of antisemitism and genocide of Jewish people.”
Biden declared that the US’s commitment to supporting the Jewish State is “ironclad,” and said that Iran’s massive attack against Israel last month, “reminds us of the existential threats that Israel faces by adversaries that want nothing less than to wipe it off the map.”
The President also discussed the pressing need to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and added, “I have said to their families, we will not rest until we bring them home.”
To deal with these problems, Biden announced several proposals, including updating civil rights legislation to include Jews, investigating antisemitism at colleges and universities and increasing funding to heighten security at synagogues and Jewish Centers.
He said, “That is why I released the first-ever United States National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and clarified the civil rights protections for Jews under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
“In addition, the Department of Education has launched investigations into antisemitism on college campuses, the Department of Justice is investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, and the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are focused on enhancing security in Jewish communities,” he added.
“We also secured the largest increase in funding ever for the physical security of nonprofits like synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and Jewish schools,” Biden explained.
“I appointed Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust expert, as the first-ever Ambassador-level Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.”
‘Together, we are sending the message that, in America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail. The venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time.”
