At Hanukkah reception, Biden to condemn rising antisemitism

File: US President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Sept. 6, 2022, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
File: US President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Sept. 6, 2022, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

US President Joe Biden will condemn growing antisemitism in remarks for a Hanukkah reception at the White House that will include a menorah lighting and blessing today.

The Democratic president will tell guests at the Monday night event that silence is complicity, according to White House officials, and will add that it’s imperative that hate, violence and antisemitism are condemned.

The holiday celebration comes during a spate of antisemitic episodes. Former US president Donald Trump hosted a Holocaust-denying white supremacist at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The rapper Kanye West expressed love for Adolf Hitler in an interview. Basketball star Kyrie Irving appeared to promote an antisemitic film on social media. Neo-Nazi trolls are clamoring to return to Twitter as new CEO Elon Musk grants “amnesty” to suspended accounts.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group, tracked 2,717 antisemitic instances of assault, harassment and vandalism last year, a 34% increase over the previous year and the highest number since the New York City-based group began tracking them in 1979.

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