Second gentleman Doug Emhoff had calls with Columbia Jewish leaders amid protests – report

US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who has been one of the main faces of the administration’s fight against antisemitism, held calls with two Jewish leaders at Columbia University as anti-Israel protests spread to campuses across the country, The Hill reports.

According to the report, Emhoff spoke with the director of Orthodox Union-JLIC at Columbia and Barnard College, Rabbi Elie Buechler, and Columbia Barnard Hillel Director Brian Cohen.

“During the calls, the second gentleman recognized that while every American has the right to freedom of speech and to protest peacefully, hate speech and calls for violence against Jews is both antisemitic and unacceptable,” The Hill quotes a White House official as saying.

Emhoff’s conversations with the leaders “focused on the immediate need to address antisemitism on college campuses,” the official said, adding that the second gentleman “emphasized that no student should feel unsafe on campus and offered his support on behalf of the administration.”

Emhoff’s conversations with the leaders “focused on the immediate need to address antisemitism on college campuses,” the official says, adding that the second gentleman “emphasized that no student should feel unsafe on campus and offered his support on behalf of the administration.”