Second gentleman Doug Emhoff emotionally spoke out Wednesday against what he called an “epidemic of hate” against Jews, convening a roundtable discussion of religious leaders and administration officials as antisemitic incidents in the U.S. are at record highs.
As the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president, Emhoff plays a uniquely representative role as the White House responds to the spike in antisemitism.
“I will not remain silent, and I’m proud to be Jewish. I’m proud to live openly as a Jew,” he said. “And I’m not afraid. We cannot live in fear. We refuse to be afraid.”
The U.S. saw the largest number of antisemitic incidents on record last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League, averaging seven per day. More recently, the hate has risen to the surface as rapper Ye made comments that included praising Hitler and after former president Donald Trump drew criticism for his dinner with a white nationalist.
“People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They are literally screaming them,” Emhoff said, calling antisemitism a collection of “tropes, misinformation and falsehoods we are all too familiar with.”
Wednesday’s roundtable is the largest event yet held at the White House focused exclusively on hate against Jews, though Emhoff has brought Jewish traditions, holidays and issues to the forefront since his wife Kamala Harris became vice president.
He most recently traveled to Iowa during the midterm elections and visited a kosher deli, meeting with a rabbi there. And he and Vice President Harris stopped at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh this summer, where a gunman killed 11 Jewish Americans. They’ve both met Holocaust survivors, who Emhoff said he stays in touch with.
Seated beside him on Wednesday were top Biden advisers — Susan Rice of the Domestic Policy Council and Keisha Lance Bottoms, who oversees public engagement.
Doug Emhoff, center, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks during a roundtable discussion with Jewish leaders about the rise in antisemitism and efforts to fight hate in the United States in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Around the table were Jewish leaders from across the country and all movements of Judaism, including United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the American Jewish Committee, Jewish on Campus, the National Council of Jewish Women, Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League.
Before starting the discussion, Emhoff said antisemitism is dangerous and cannot be normalized: “There’s no both sides-ism on this one.”
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism called it a conspiracy theory, and said Wednesday’s roundtable should be the first step to beginning a process to combat the national issue.
Lipstadt said antisemitic people don’t hate Jews “because they did something. They hate Jews because they’re Jews.”
The ambassador said she has traveled to ten countries to convey her message, but now there is a “serious problem” at home in the United States, at “the highest level of our government.”
“Many people have failed to take antisemitism seriously. For too long, Jew hatred has been belittled or discounted because Jews have erroneously been considered white and privileged,” Lipstadt continued. “This is a very real threat to Jews.”
The second gentleman Wednesday reflected on what his role would mean to his ancestors — who fled Austria and landed at Ellis Island, who eventually settled in Brooklyn, where he was born.
“What would they think about this kid from Brooklyn, sitting before you today in the White House, as the first second gentleman of the United States?” he said.
“I understand the weight of this responsibility. I do,” he added, promising the conversation would continue after Wednesday, though he did not lay out concrete actions expected from the roundtable.
