Seth Mandel
Commentary Magazine, May 7, 2024
‘There is a war on open Jewish expression right here in the United States. It routinely takes violent forms. And it is currently being driven primarily by members of Biden’s party and political coalition, some of whom are members of the United States Congress.”
President Biden spoke late this morning at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on anti-Semitism, and while he missed the opportunity to deliver a still-needed rebuke to his own party, Biden did manage to avoid repeating the two biggest mistakes he’s made on this issue: the false equivalence and the “legitimate grievance” trap.
Last month, for example, he demonstrated both blunders in the same answer to a question about the anti-Semitic protesters at various U.S. college campuses: “I condemn the anti-semitic protests… I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
There, in one breath, the president gave equivalent condemnation of those committing anti-Jewish violence and those who lack sufficient empathy for the violent anti-Semitic protesters. Underlying it all is the idea that the protesters have a legitimate grievance with their victims.
It was the closest the president has come to his own “there are very fine people on both sides” moment.
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