Biden releases first US national strategy to counter antisemitism

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism, a statement by White House said.

"This strategy includes over 100 new actions the Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and build cross-community solidarity," the statement said.

The US has experienced an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents along with other forms of hate-motivated crimes.

American Jews are the victims of 63% of the religiously-motivated hate crimes, and antisemitism fuels all other forms of hatred, discrimination and bias, according to the statement.

Biden established the Interagency Policy Committee on Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and National Security Council.

As its first order of business, Biden tasked the group with producing the first-ever US national strategy to counter antisemitism in the US.

The national strategy proposes a "whole-of-society" plan that both meets the current escalation of hatred and lays the foundation for reducing antisemitism over time.

The strategy also calls for improving safety and security for Jewish communities, countering the normalization of antisemitism and antisemitic discrimination.