Indian Treaty Room
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
4:29 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Please, everybody, sit down.
THE SECOND GENTLEMAN: Thank you. Please be seated. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you so much for joining us today. I want to start by just saying the Vice President and I are outraged at these horrific terrorist attacks in Israel perpetrated by Hamas. We are outraged.
With our broken hearts, we are sending our love, our strength, and our unwavering support to the people of Israel.
I am honored to be with all of you today as an American, as a patriot who loves this country, but also as a Jew. And like all Jews, I feel a deep, visceral connection to Israel and its people.
We witnessed a mass murder of innocent civilians. It was a terrorist assault, and there is never any justification for terrorism. There are no two sides to this issue.
The images that we saw will be seared in our brains forever: rockets falling on cities, people dragged from their homes and shot dead, children sheltering from bullets, bodies lining the streets. And all the while, we see videos of these terrorists cheering on these atrocities.
The toll on Israel and the Jewish community is hard to imagine, but we can imagine it because it's happening. And I know many of you have sent texts and calls this weekend checking on loved ones. And I know too many of you received heartbreaking replies. And we know today that at least 22 Americans won't be coming home.
I know you're all hurting. The entire Jewish community is hurting. I'm hurting. We grieve with you. We stand with you.
But thank God we have the steady leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during this unthinkable time in our history. Their moral compass, their calm and empathy are what we need in this time of crisis. And we saw that yesterday when President Biden, with Vice President Harris and Secretary Blinken by his side, powerfully addressed the nation and made clear to the world that Israel has the United States' unwavering support.
Our President and Vice President are making sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. We are grateful for their leadership and support for Israel at this exceptionally difficult time.
We also acknowledge and address how these events will impact us as Jews, which is why we're here to have this discussion. And I know many of us feel a deep fear that these attacks will unfortunately and already have led to a rise in hate and antisemitism. We're already seeing it.
And that's why this discussion and the work you and your organizations do is so vitally important.
Almost a year ago, I sat right in this spot in this very room, and many of you were here with me that day. And, then, we called attention to the epidemic of hate that we're facing. And following that meeting, we took action.
And in May, the Biden-Harris administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. The plan includes over 100 meaningful actions we are taking right now to fight back against antisemitism and hate.
And each of you played a role in crafting this strategy. We couldn't have done this without you. So, thank you for the work that you've done, that you're continuing to do.
And, as we're going to discuss later, myself and the Biden-Harris administration officials are working with federal, state, and local leaders to implement this plan across the country. We are going to continue to bring people together, and, importantly, we're going to build coalitions to fight back against hate.
We cannot do this alone. The story of the Jewish people has always been one of perseverance and resilience. In dark times, we come together and we fight back, and we also seek to build a better world.
Last year, before my trip to Poland and Germany, President Biden took me into the Oval Office. He told me how his father had taught him about the horrors of the Holocaust and how he later traveled to Dachau with his children and grandchildren to teach them those same lessons.
So, I know firsthand how important it is to President Biden to preserve our Jewish history and to make sure that hate has no safe harbor in America and the world. As an American Jew, I am so grateful that, in this moment of tumult and pain, we have Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.
