Biden's Disgraceful Plan to Combat Antisemitism

Last month, President Biden announced a comprehensive plan to combat U.S. antisemitism. Unfortunately, this plan caters too much to left-wing interests and fails to address major sources of antisemitism.

Biden’s statement highlighted right-wing antisemitism but did not mention its left-wing counterpart. Indeed, after intense lobbying by Israeli critics, it refused to endorse the internationally accepted definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as the sole arbiter of antisemitism, even though Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Biden’s special envoy on antisemitism, has voiced support for this definition. The definition includes the following as antisemitic acts:

• Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor
• Applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation
• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis
• Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis

As a result, under the Biden declaration’s framework, claiming Israel enforces an apartheid system or Zionism is a colonial enterprise or supporting the BDS movement would not be considered antisemitic. Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar can sleep well, as can the anti-Zionist forces that dominate college campuses.

Appeasing these leftist critics even more, the plan included efforts to limit Islamophobia in housing discrimination and delegated the problematic Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to “launch a tour to educate religious communities about steps they can take to protect their houses of worship from hate incidents.” This follows a familiar pattern: condemnations of antisemitism can’t be allowed to stand alone. Recall when Congress was compelled to issue a statement after Omar claimed US support for Israel “is all about the Benjamins.” The Democrats were unwilling to criticize her by name. Instead, they issued a general statement coupling the condemnation of antisemitism with a condemnation of Islamophobia.

The organization J Street, which is often criticized as being anti-Zionist, was effusive in its praise of Biden’s initiative, particularly his refusal to endorse the internationally accepted definition. Its president, Jeremy Ben Ami, explained in an email why it was important to reject the primacy of this definition:

Unfortunately, some in our community – and their allies in the Israeli government – have sought to single-mindedly focus discussion about antisemitism on the question of whether and when criticism of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights constitutes antisemitism.

This is a debate that distracts focus from the truly pressing threat posed to our community and others by Trump, his allies and their white nationalist followers.

But shifting the blame to white supremacists ignores the biggest threats to Jews’ safety. When antisemitic assaults spike in NYC, then-Mayor DeBlasio pointed to an ADL report that identified “67 white supremacist propaganda distribution incidents in New York State, 10 of which were anti-Semitic in nature.” But as Armin Rosen pointed out, these spurious suggestions were made “despite clear evidence that ... many of the attacks are being carried out by people of color with no ties to the politics of white supremacy.”

Ben Ami criticized the internationally accepted definition because it unduly emphasizes anti-Zionist excesses. But these excesses are central to the campus harassment and demonizing of Jewish students who are unwilling to condemn Israel. Most troubling, these antisemitic campus actions are being increasingly institutionalized through the efforts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) officers. For example, Seth Mandel cites the situation at the City University of New York (CUNY). He points to the pervasive evidence of a hostile environment Jewish students face that led to state investigations. Amid such complaints, CUNY’s chancellor in 2021 hired a new chief diversity officer, Saly Abd Alla, and put her in charge of investigating anti-Semitism. Mandel notes:

Abd Alla was a firm supporter of BDS while working as civil-rights director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a powerful anti-Zionist pressure group. The “anti-discrimination portal” she oversees now at CUNY links to the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism, which absolves BDS of Jew-hatred and undermines the more accepted definition of anti-Semitism put forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

Mandel then goes on to list numerous other campuses, including USC, Yale, Stanford, and George Washington University, where DEI personnel promote policies that harm Jewish students and Jewish interests.

Given Biden’s capitulation to left-wing demands, which understate or ignore the most dangerous sources of antisemitism facing American Jews, national efforts to counter antisemitism will have a harder time succeeding.