Jacob Olidort, Ph.D.
June 26, 2023
Antisemitism as advocacy
The Biden administration deserves credit for elevating the issue of antisemitism in American public discourse. For example, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff has made it a key focus area, representing the United States at Auschwitz on this year’s anniversary of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and hosting a 2022 roundtable with key stakeholders.
So far, so good.
The Biden administration is not the first administration to address antisemitism. In 2019, the Trump administration issued Executive Order 13899, which included antisemitism as a form of discrimination covered by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Earlier, the George W. Bush administration created the position of State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
It’s a miracle that the modern American presidency commemorates the Holocaust and is committed to fighting antisemitism. American Jews whose loved ones perished in the Holocaust remember a world in which this was not the case.
Thus, the Biden administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released last month, would appear to be a welcome development. In fact, it is deeply problematic.
One need only look at the words used in the 60-page strategy document: “Charlottesville” appears four times in President Joe Biden’s two-page cover letter, including in the first sentence. “Judaism” appears seven times and “Zionism” does not appear at all. The acronym “LGBTQI+” appears seven times, “gender” seven times, “equity” 10 times, and “Islamophobia” 21 times.