Biden to establish interagency group, national strategy to counter antisemitism

President Biden is set to establish an inter-agency group to increase and coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter ‘antisemitism, Islamaphobia and other related forms of bias and discrimination.’

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday evening said the inter-agency group will be led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and the White House National Security Council.

‘As President Biden has made clear: antisemitism has no place in America,’ Jean-Pierre said Monday. ‘All Americans should forcefully reject antisemitism—including Holocaust denial—wherever it exists.’

President Biden has tasked the group with developing a ‘national strategy to counter antisemitism.’

Jean-Pierre said the strategy will ‘raise understanding about antisemitism and the threat it poses to the Jewish community and all Americans.’

The strategy is also set to address antisemitic harassment and abuse both online and offline, and will seek to prevent antisemitic attacks and incidents.

The group will encourage ‘whole-of-society’ efforts to counter antisemitism and ‘build a more inclusive nation.’

‘We look forward to working with advocates, civil rights leaders, civil society, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to continue countering the scourge of antisemitism,’ Jean-Pierre said.

The announcement comes after the White House condemned former President Trump for hosting Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago last month. 

Fuentes, a white nationalist, has a history of making racist remarks and engaging in Holocaust revisionism — though he has claimed that he does not deny the Holocaust. Ye has also faced criticism for making antisemitic remarks. 

‘Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-Lago,’ White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. 

‘Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned,’ Bates said.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News last month, said he did not know Fuentes, and said had Fuentes expressed his views during their ‘very quick dinner,’ it ‘wouldn’t have been accepted.’

‘I had never heard of the man — I had no idea what his views were, and they weren’t expressed at the table in our very quick dinner, or it wouldn’t have been accepted,’ Trump said.

The former president, who announced his 2024 presidential campaign earlier this month, told Fox News Digital that ‘there’s nobody that has proven to be more of a friend of Israel than Donald Trump.’