The White House unveils its strategy to fight anti-Semitism

WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday released a comprehensive plan to combat anti-Semitism across the United States, which includes elements such as addressing the lack of Holocaust education, security in Jewish institutions and the proliferation of conspiracy theories on the Internet.

The strategy is based on four pillars: increasing awareness and understanding of antisemitism, improving the safety of Jewish communities, reversing the normalization of antisemitism, and strengthening solidarity among religious groups.

“We must say loud and clear that anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and violence have no place in America,” President Joe Biden said in a video clip at an event announcing the plan. which he says is “the most ambitious and comprehensive American government-led effort to combat anti-Semitism in American history.”

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish wife of a vice president, said at the event that anti-Semitism has divided American society.

“He threatens our democracy while undermining our American values ​​of freedom, community and decency,” he said. “And anti-Semitism delivers simplistic, false, and dangerous narratives that have led extremists to perpetrate deadly violence against Jews.”

To raise awareness of anti-Semitism, outgoing White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice said that next year the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC will launch “the world’s first anti-Semitism research center.” United States-Based Holocaust Education”. She also said the National Endowment for the Humanities will expand its investment in K-12 education about Jewish history and added that federal agencies are “committed to incorporating information about anti-Semitic bias and discrimination in their training programs on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility”.

Biden Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said that to improve security at synagogues and Jewish institutions, the administration has increased funding to improve the physical security of those buildings and has asked Congress to additional resources. The Department of Homeland Security will also reach out to Jewish communities to “ensure that they receive and use all training and resources that are available to them,” she said.

In an effort to prevent anti-Semitism from going mainstream, Sherwood-Randall said the White House plan calls on tech companies to establish a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech on their platforms and ensure that their algorithms do not convey hate speech and extremes. content to users.

Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, called the plan “a historic moment in the modern struggle against what is called the world’s oldest hatred”. She noted that they were bringing the strategy into the same building that once housed the State and War Departments and “a form of Jew-hatred took shape as official policy as State Department officials erected self-denials. -saying paper walls in this country to keep us from entering our borders.”

As part of the plan, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center will conduct an annual threat assessment “on anti-Semitic drivers of transnational violent extremism that may be shared with technology companies and other non-state partners.” government,” said the White House, which released a declassified version of its first toll on Thursday.