by Family Research Council, New American Prophet, ©2023
(Oct. 25, 2023) — There are times when the Biden administration expresses categorical, unequivocal support for Israel’s war of survival against the Iran-backed terror group Hamas. “Enough is enough should have been the case with Hamas two weeks ago,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday. “It would be good to hear the entire world speaking clearly and with one voice about the actions that Hamas took.” But then there are times when the Biden administration demonstrates all the moral assurance of a blind man on a tightrope.
An exchange of this latter sort occurred on Monday, when White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to a reporter’s question about President Biden’s “level of concern right now about the potential rise of anti-Semitism in light of everything that’s going on in Israel.”
“Look, we have not seen any credible threats,” replied Jean-Pierre. “I know there’s been always [sic] questions about credible threats. And so, just want to make sure that that’s out there.”
Having disposed of anti-Semitism in 27 words, Jean-Pierre pivoted: “But, look, Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks. And certainly President Biden understands that many of our Muslim, Arab Americans, and Palestinian American loved ones and neighbors are worried about the hate being directed at their communities. And that is something you heard the president speak to in his address just last Thursday.”
Jean-Pierre spent three more paragraphs morally equating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, noting that President Biden has directed the Department of Homeland Security “to prioritize prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could harm the Jewish, the Muslim, Arab Americans or any other communities.” She added that Biden “ran on … bringing people together … protecting the soul of the nation,” which means “we’re going to continue to denounce any sort of hate.”
Sadly, there have been vile acts provoked by anti-Muslim motives as a result of the Hamas attack. On October 14, an Illinois landlord stabbed two Palestinian American tenants, a six-year-old boy (26 times) and his mother (12 times); the boy died.
But anti-Muslim violence does not negate or mitigate anti-Jewish violence — which is actually a larger problem. Citing FBI data from 2021, Klein granted that Muslims were victims of a “disproportionate number” of “anti-religious hate crimes,” being the targets of about 10% of anti-religious crimes, although Muslims comprise only 1% of the population. But he noted that Jews (2% of the population) are the victims of 51% of anti-religious crimes.
Nor is anti-Muslim violence equivalent to the rising threat of anti-Semitism. Over the past two weeks, people in America have displayed swastikas, glorified terrorists who murdered Jews, argued that Israel has no right to exist, tore down posters of Israeli kidnapping victims, beaten and taunted Jews, and fantasized about killing Jews. Pro-Hamas demonstrators have grown increasingly aggressive, even entering congressional office buildings and clashing with police. Even before Hamas’s October 7 terror attack, the Biden administration in May saw a need for a multi-department “National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.” Yet Jean-Pierre overlooked all of this to conclude, “We have not seen any credible threats of anti-Semitism.”
Jean-Pierre’s statement at the press briefing was not an outlier. National Review Online Editor Philip Klein identified the same trend in the president’s social media posts. “Notice how Biden’s post about Islamophobia does not mention anti-Semitism, but the one on anti-Semitism mentions Islamophobia,” said Klein, with images of two tweets side-by-side.
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