Second gentleman Doug Emhoff to Jewish youth: ‘We have your back’

MILFORD, Pa. — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff advised Jewish youth that the Biden White House has “got your back” throughout a go to to his previous summer season camp Thursday because the U.S. suffers an uptick in antisemitic incidents and waning Democratic assist for Israel.

Speaking to a small circle of campers, Mr. Emhoff stated it’s terrible to see growing studies of hate crimes towards Jewish folks and antisemitic rhetoric on-line, each domestically and overseas.

“I know it’s horrible, I know it hurts sometimes, but we got your back,” Mr. Emhoff stated at Cedar Lake Camp, a summer season program for Jewish youngsters and teenagers in northeastern Pennsylvania, roughly 60 miles from New York City within the foothills of the Pocono Mountains. “I’m going to continue to be a leader in this fight along with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Mr. Emhoff, who’s the primary Jewish partner of a president or vice chairman, grew up in New Jersey and attended the camp from 1975 to 1978.

He took a visit down reminiscence lane just a few weeks after Democratic leaders labored to tamp down fees that segments of their occasion are anti-Israel and courting antisemitism.

Several liberal House members boycotted an handle to Congress by Israeli President Isaac Herzog final month, and tensions reached new heights when President Biden criticized judicial reforms pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing authorities.

Mr. Biden’s uncomfortable place was compounded by Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal calling Israel a “racist state” as she tried to calm pro-Palestinian protesters at a Chicago convention final month. The Washington state Democrat walked again the feedback, however senior Democrats scrambled to distance themselves from the comment and the White House stated it welcomed her apology.

Mr. Emhoff acquired a hero’s welcome on the campgrounds nestled in Pike County, Pennsylvania, the place Republican voters outnumbered Democrats 20,758 to 14,286 as of final November.

While fairly rural in locations, the county seat of Milford is dotted by vintage outlets and serves as a getaway spot for liberal New Yorkers.

Mr. Emhoff reminisced about seeing the identical associates summer season after summer season and studying to swim within the central lake of the camp, joking it appeared like “an ocean” when he was youthful.

“This is so surreal,” he stated. “I love this lake so much, I still think about it.”

The second gentleman is racking up journey miles as his spouse, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Mr. Biden carry out the again half of their time period and equipment up for a 2024 election combat.

Mr. Emhoff visited New Zealand to cheer on the U.S. nationwide soccer group on the Women’s World Cup and, on his method again, grew to become the highest-profile U.S. official to go to Samoa. He will head to Rhode Island on Friday to ship remarks at a reception for considered one of Mr. Biden’s political-fundraising teams.

The second gentleman has made combating antisemitism, specifically, considered one of his key points. He visited the Auschwitz focus camp in Poland in January to satisfy with Holocaust survivors and take part in a memorial service.

The Anti-Defamation League recorded 3,697 antisemitic incidents within the U.S. in 2022, a 36% improve from the two,717 incidents it tabulated in 2021, and the best quantity for the reason that league began to trace incidents in 1979.

Mr. Emhoff stated Mr. Biden and his spouse “really encouraged me to lean into” the combat towards antisemitism, including he wished it wasn’t mandatory.

He has addressed antisemitism in a speech to the U.N. and met with international envoys to debate methods to fight the issue.

Mr. Emhoff additionally took a starring position in Seder and Hanukkah celebrations on the White House and vice presidential residence.

He stated a very powerful factor for Jewish youth to recollect is, “Be yourself.”

“Chest back, chin up, and be proud of who you are. Live openly and freely and with joy as young Jewish people,” he stated.

Washington’s makes an attempt to fight the issue have devolved into political infighting at instances.

GOP leaders final month held a vote condemning antisemitism and making it clear that Israel isn’t a “racist state” because it tried to make use of the Jayapal incident to make inroads with Jewish voters who’ve tended to again Democrats.

Democrats have deflected fees of antisemitism by highlighting right-wing incidents such because the 2018 mass taking pictures on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 folks.

The gunman, Robert Bowers, had been energetic on white nationalist web sites and posted antisemitic theories on-line. A jury on Wednesday voted to present the gunman the dying penalty.

Mr. Biden usually factors to the violent, right-wing rally in Charlottesville throughout the first 12 months of President Donald Trump’s time period as one of many forces that motivated him to run towards Mr. Trump in 2020.

“The cross-claims about which side fuels more antisemitism misses the truth that antisemitism today hits American Jews from the right and the left,” stated Pamela S. Nadell, the director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University. “Antisemitism from the right is particularly dangerous because all too often white nationalists use violence to achieve their aims. The Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, where the protestors chanted, ‘Jews will not replace us,’ and the man who murdered eleven Jews at worship in a Pittsburgh synagogue are only two examples.”

And when the left “delegitimizes Israel, convinced that the resolution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the destruction of the only state for Jews in the world, it has crossed the line to antisemitism,” she stated. “When it targets American Jews for supporting Israel, as occurred in May 2021 at a restaurant in Los Angeles, the left demonstrates that antisemites on the right are not the only ones using violence against Jews.”

Ms. Nadell stated the political infighting issues far lower than concrete actions to fight antisemitism.

In May, Mr. Biden launched a plan for combating antisemitism that features over 100 actions to extend consciousness about antisemitism, enhance anti-bias coaching within the workforce and bolster safety in Jewish communities.

Yet the doc sparked controversy by embracing each the working definition of antisemitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) — usually seen as the worldwide customary — and saying it “welcomes and appreciates the Nexus Document,” which says treating Israel in another way than different nations shouldn’t essentially be thought-about antisemitic.

Sam Markstein, the nationwide political director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, stated Mr. Biden “failed to define the problem [of antisemitism] because of pressure from the anti-Israel left.”

“While Mr. Emhoff, in a non-policy role, can raise awareness, without a clear policy commitment from the White House his summer camp visit is unlikely to amount to much,” he stated.

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Mr. Emhoff’s workplace pointed to efforts to construct an actual legacy on the difficulty, together with his willingness to name out antisemitic statements by public figures like rapper Ye, who as soon as dined with Mr. Trump.

A research by Pew Research of the 2020 presidential cycle reveals Democrats preserve a definite edge with American Jewish voters.

It discovered that fifty% of Jews described their political beliefs as liberal, or triple the share who stated they had been politically conservative (16%).

“While Jews overall are a strongly Democratic and liberal cohort, there is one segment of the Jewish population that is notably more inclined toward conservatism and the GOP,” the Pew research from 2021 stated. “Three-quarters of Orthodox Jews identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, more than three times the share who identify with or lean toward the Democrats (20%).”

Mr. Markstein stated the GOP is seeing progress as Democrats tussle with Israel and its conservative authorities. A Fox News exit ballot after the midterms discovered 33% of American Jews who voted within the 2022 contests opted for Republicans, in comparison with 30% in 2020 and 24% in 2016.

A majority of Jewish voters opted for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Florida Democratic challenger Charlie Crist within the 2022 governor’s races in these states.