President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, new actions to counter the "abhorrent rise of antisemitism" in the United States. President Biden made the announcement from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As part of the new actions, President Biden will direct the Department of Education to send a "Dear Colleague Letter" to every school district and college in the country to provide examples of antisemitic discrimination. The Biden administration will also have the Department of Homeland Security build an online campus safety resources guide and "develop and share best practices for community-based targeted violence and terrorism prevention to reduce these assaults and attacks."
The announcement comes as several universities, including USC and Columbia, have canceled commencement activities due to unrest caused by pro-Palestinian protesters.
President Biden made "never again" the theme of his address. The president discussed the importance of recounting the crimes of the Holocaust and the events that led to it as the world watched with indifference. President Biden addressed the atrocities of the Oct. 7 attack committed against Israel, marking the deadliest attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust, and how too many people are downplaying both events.
“Now, here we are, not 75 years later, but just 7.5 months later, and people are already forgetting, already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror," he said. "It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten nor have you, and we will not forget.”
President Biden also addressed the "unacceptable acts of antisemitism" on campuses and across the country.
The comments come nearly a week after President Biden gave his most extensive comments to date on the college protests.
“Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7, including Hamas' appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize communities," Biden said on Tuesday. "It is despicable and it must stop."