Biden laments the “absolutely despicable” rise in anti-Semitism and accuses anti-Israel protesters of “forgetting” the October 7 Hamas attack

politics

From Steven Nelson

WASHINGTON – President Biden delivered his most forceful pro-Israel speech in months on Tuesday, criticizing the “absolutely despicable” rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and rebuking pro-Hamas protesters on college campuses for encouraging the massacre by terrorists Hundreds had “forgotten” on October 7th and had triggered a war in the Middle East.

The 81-year-old president pledged his “ironclad” support to the Jewish state at a DC Holocaust Museum event at the US Capitol – shortly before reports emerged that his administration was halting the delivery of precision bombs to deter an Israeli offensive against Rafah. the last major area under Hamas control.

“We have seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitism in America and around the world – vicious propaganda on social media, Jews forced to hide their yarmulkes under baseball caps, tucking their Jewish stars into their shirts,” Biden said in in his 15-minute address, five days after he briefly addressed nationwide campus protests with documented cases of anti-Semitism after an initial 10-day silence.

“On university campuses, Jewish students were blocked, harassed and attacked on their way to class with anti-Semitic posters and slogans calling for the destruction of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state,” he continued.

“Too many people are in denial, downplaying, rationalizing and ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas’ horrific use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. “This is absolutely despicable and must stop.”

Biden, dubbed “Genocide Joe” by many anti-Israel protesters, has for months increasingly accused Israel of doing too little to prevent the killing of civilians and aid workers in Gaza.

Biden resorted to more forceful pro-Israel rhetoric that he used early in the conflict, accusing Hamas of starting the seven-month-old war.

“The terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, driven by the ancient desire to wipe the Jewish people from the face of the earth,” he said. “Over 1,200 innocent people – babies, parents, grandparents – were slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually abused.

“Thousands more bear wounds, bullets and shrapnel as a reminder of the terrible day they endured. Hundreds were taken hostage, including Holocaust survivors. Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror – that it was Hamas that brutalized the Israelis, that it was Hamas that took and continued holding hostages. I haven’t forgotten it, and neither have you, and we won’t forget it.”

Biden added: “My commitment to the security of the Jewish people and the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.”

The US leader visited Israel just days after Hamas’s surprise attacks in southern Israel and in October condemned the terror group’s data on Gaza fatalities as propaganda – before appearing in February to hail those figures as he pressed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu increased.

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip says nearly 35,000 people have died in a territory of 2 million people.

Biden said publicly in February that Israel’s operation in Gaza was “excessive” and warned Netanyahu in a phone call on Monday against entering Rafah, where U.S. officials believe more than a million Gazans live.

Polls show Biden’s re-election is in jeopardy due to backlash from key Democratic constituencies such as younger voters, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans – while Netanyahu has rejected Biden’s mounting criticism.

“If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu said in a defiant speech Sunday at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

“Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were completely defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid. Today we once again face enemies who are bent on our destruction.

“I say to world leaders: No amount of pressure, no decision from an international forum will stop Israel from defending itself… We will defeat our genocidal enemies. ‘Never again’ now means.”