President Joe Biden used his Oval Office speech to warn the nation — and his Muslim and Jewish supporters — against mutual hatred as Israel prepares to smash a Muslim terror group.
“We must without equivocation, denounce antisemitism: We must also without equivocation denounce Islamophobia,” he said in his address to the nation, adding:
And to all you hurting, those of you hurting, I want you to know I see you. You belong. And I want to say this to you — you’re all American, you’re all American.
Biden is preparing to run for reelection and needs to minimize disagreements within his increasingly diverse coalition.
“In moments like these, when fear and suspicion, anger and rage run hard, we have to work harder than ever to hold on to the values that make us who we are,” he said as he called for sectarian unity amid his policy of accelerating diversity via immigration:
We’re a nation of religious freedom, freedom of expression. We all have a right to debate and disagree without fear of being targeted in schools or workplaces or in our communities. We must renounce violence and vitriol, see each other not as enemies but as fellow Americans.
Biden sidelined the causes of the rising domestic hatred — chiefly, the government’s immigration policy that has fuelled diversity and birthed identity-based “woke” politics — as he blamed unidentified “hate.”
However, he used the term “Islamophobia” to suggest that public concerns about the civic duties of the Islamic religion are a “phobia,” which is commonly defined as “an extreme, irrational fear of a specific object or situation.”
Because NYU is as antisemitic as most of other US universities. https://t.co/Qwyi1VOrEi
— Sam Ash (@samash_72) October 18, 2023
Biden also spoke in the passive voice, downplaying the responsibility of Hamas Islamic fighters for the murders of more than 1,000 Jews:
In recent years, too much hate has [been] given too much oxygen, fueling racism, the rise of antisemitism, Islamic-phobia, right here in America.
It is also intensified in the wake of recent events that led to the horrific threats and attacks that both shock us and break our hearts.
On October 7, terror attacks have triggered deep scars and terrible memories in the Jewish community. Today, Jewish families are worried about being targeted in school, wearing symbols on their faith, walking down the street, or going about on their daily lives.
After addressing Jewish concerns, he pivoted to Muslim concerns — but without identifying the Israel counterattacks in the Gaza strip, or the opinion polls that blame Hamas for the murders, and without identifying the 9/11 attackers:
I know many of you in the Muslim American community, the Arab American, the Palestinian American community, and so many others, are outraged and [are] saying to yourself, “Here we go again with Islamophobia and distrust we saw after 9/11.”
He quickly moved on from the 9/11 attack to the October 14 attack by a landlord on a Muslim family:
Just last week, a mother was brutally stabbed. A little boy here in the United States, a little boy who just turned six years old, was murdered in their home outside of Chicago. His name was Wadea, Wadea, proud American, proud Palestinian-American family. We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens. We must without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also without equivocation denounce Islamophobia.
“The attack came amid an increase in antisemitic and Islamaphobic incidents around the country since Hamas went on a killing rampage in Israel on Oct. 7,” ABC News reported.
Biden’s Department of Homeland Security is also warning of attacks by hotheads against both Jews and Muslims:
As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, we have seen an increase in reports of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions. Lone offenders, motivated by a range of violent ideologies, pose the most likely threat.
Biden continued:
When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when America experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged as well. While we sought and got justice, we made mistakes. So I caution the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.
Israel’s attack against the Hamas terror group in Gaza may take months to complete.
Two UC Berkeley students assault a Jewish student during Monday’s pro Palestinian rally.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 20, 2023
Rally goers were heard chanting- “we don’t want no 2 state, we want 48” – referring to a time when Israel did not exist. pic.twitter.com/hWH1O3myKX
