Seven months after Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, President Joe Biden will be tasked with delivering one of the most high-stakes, closely watched speeches when he addresses the Holocaust memorial ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
His remarks also fall squarely seven months from an Election Day where Biden is trying put together a coalition of young, Black, Muslim and progressive voters that sent him to the White House. But many no longer see eye-to eye with his stance in the Israel-Hamas war.
With Biden at the Holocaust commemoration will be Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana who dashed for Columbia University two weeks ago as anti-Gaza war protests and record antisemitism began unsettling college campuses. President Biden’s charge will be two-fold: Assuage the fears of Jewish American voters and offer reassurance to them while acknowledging the sense of betrayal felt by his base as he continues to support Israel with military aid.
In his address, Biden will talk about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that led to the “deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust” and a surge in antisemitism, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
The president will speak to the “horrors of October 7th,” and how “we’ve seen an alarming rise in antisemitism in the US and our cities, our communities, and our on our campuses,” said Jean-Pierre.
The speech will be delivered during the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, which occurs the day after Israel’s Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day to commemorate the six million Jews murdered by Nazis during World War II.
