U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism

On May 25, 2023, members from the Biden administration unveiled The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. President Biden called his administration's plan the “most ambitious and comprehensive U.S. government-led effort to fight antisemitism in American history.”

The plan offers four core pillars designed to address the leading threats to Jews today. The first pillar is aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of antisemitism. This component contains an increased emphasis on Holocaust education, and President Biden requested that Congress approve his $73 million budget, which will be used to bolster the Department of Education's civics and history courses.

The plan's second pillar seeks to improve the security and safety of Jewish communities through increased security funding and promotion of better dialogue between law enforcement and Jewish community leaders. The third pillar strives to reverse the “normalization” of antisemitism, particularly on social media platforms. The administration proposes that social media companies create clear terms of service that have no tolerance for any form of hate speech targeted at Jewish people. The fourth component of the plan encourages solidarity among members of different faiths, minorities, and sexual orientations, who have all been the targets of discrimination. Over the course of the 60-page report, the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism goes into further detail about how each of these pillars will have a positive effect on Jewish life in the United States.

The strategy was met with both praise and criticism from Jewish community leaders. Louis D. Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin declared the plan “demonstrates that [the Biden administration] take[s] anti-Semitism seriously. . .that it's not just a Jewish problem, but one that needs to be addressed by the entire society.” Others like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt are pleased that the Biden administration initiative specifically addresses antisemitism from online sources and on college campuses – and that it recognizes threats from both the far left and far right. More than thirty Jewish organizations, including AIPAC, B'nai B'rith International, and the JCC Association of North America, voiced their support of the Biden administration's plan as they remarked in a joint statement: “In an era of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world, we appreciate the clarity and urgency demonstrated by the White House in releasing its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.”

Criticism of the plan included “muddying the water” of a single standard to define antisemitism by not only forcefully embracing the IHRA working definition of antisemitism (widely accepted by more than 40 countries), but also “welcome[ing] and appreciate[ing] the Nexus Document and note[ing] other such efforts.” Chief operating officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Mark Weitzman, referred to the ambiguity of definitions as,“divert[ing] attention away from finding the problem and into debating definitions.” Criticism of the Nexus Document includes the claim that it allows individuals to conceal antisemitism through anti-Zionist tropes without facing any consequences. More than 175 Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America, and the World Jewish Congress, crafted a letter to members of the U.N. contending that any inclusion of antisemitic definitions other than IHRA would harm efforts to combat antisemitism. Groups like StopAntisemitism.org were particularly critical of the Biden administration's inclusion of the Nexus Document as they feel it “flies in the face of the plan’s assertion that 'If we cannot name, identify, and admit a problem, we cannot begin to solve it.” Brandeis Center founder Kenneth L. Marcus offered a mixed assessment of the plan, remarking that “It will come as a relief to some that the strategy forcefully embraces IHRA, and yet it’s disappointing that they nevertheless acknowledge and commend Nexus. Much of the language of the document is far more consistent with IHRA than with Nexus….It’s just unfortunate that they muddle what would otherwise have been a very good discussion of definitions by praising a definition inconsistent with their approach.”

One other point of criticism aimed at the Biden administration's handling of antisemitism comes from a recent “dear colleague” letter published by U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. While the letter itself aims to reinforce the importance of Executive Order 13899 signed by President Trump which “reaffirms the long-standing principle that anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the letter is not an official announcement of a regulation aimed at protecting Jewish students like the administration has promised. Some seem skeptical of whether the White House intends to issue a major regulation at all, as one critic argues that this “dear colleague” letter “retreats from the White House’s longstanding commitment to issue regulations strengthening the civil rights protections of Jewish students.”