Remarks by President Biden and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff at Roundtable with Jewish Community Leaders

And you all — I know you’re here with my senior staff.  You all represent a voice that America has to hear.  America is not — can’t be silent.

You know, we not only reject terrorism, but it goes beyond that.  It goes beyond rejecting terrorism. 

You know, I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu for — I don’t know how many times this — but this — again this morning.  And already we’re — we’re surging additional military assistance to the Israeli Defense Force, including ammunition interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome.  And we have moved a U.S. Carrier fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean, and we’re sending more fighter jets there into that region and made it clear — made it clear to the Iranians, “Be careful.” 

We want to make it real clear: We’re working on every aspect of the hostage crisis in Israel, including deploying experts to advise and assist with recovery efforts. 

Now, the press are going to shout to me — and many of you are — that, you know, “What are you doing to bring these — get these folks home?”  If I told you, I wouldn’t be able to get them home. 

Folks, there’s a lot we’re doing — a lot we’re doing.  I have not given up hope on bringing these folks home.  But the idea that I’m going to stand here before you and tell you what I’m doing is bizarre.  So, I hope you understand how bizarre I think it would be to try to answer that question.

In the days ahead, we’re going to continue to work closely with our partners in Israel and around the world to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend its citizens, its cities, and to respond to these attacks. 

As I said yesterday, my commitment to Israel’s security and the safety of the Jewish people is unshakeable.  The United States has Israel’s back.  And I have yours as well, both at home and abroad.

You know, you can see the pain in some your faces as I walked into this room.  You okay, kiddo?

Well, your fear for family, friends back in Israel.  You worry about kids being targeted in school about — about going about their daily lives.  You’re hurt by the downplaying of Hamas’s atrocities and blaming Israel.  This is unconscionable. 

And I have asked members of my team, including Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and Attorney General Garland, to work intensively with our Jewish community partners, so — so many of you here — to set up security around Jewish life in America — identify, prevent, and disrupt emerging threats that occur. 

You know, we’re also going to continue to condemn and combat antisemitism at every single turn — at every turn.  You know, the past few days have been a solemn reminder that hate never goes away. 

If you’ll hold on a second, I used to — I used to think you could defeat hate, that you could make it — all it does is go underground.  It just goes underground.  It doesn’t go away.  It only hides until it’s given a little oxygen — a little bit of oxygen.

And that’s why I’ve secured the largest-ever increase in funding for the physical security for nonprofits, including synagogues, Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools.  And in May, I released the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism with the input from many of you in this room.  Many of you in this room helped write that.

It’s the most ambitious, comprehensive effort to combat antisemitism in American history — in all of American history.  And we’re aggressively implementing it. 

But — but we must all do our part and forcefully speak out against antisemitism and push back against the attempts to deny or distort the facts.  To make clear, there is no place for hate in America — not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against anybody.   

And we mourn the act — an act that you and so many leaders have, across the country, been showing us what thousands of years of Jewish history has shown us: the enduring strength — and I mean this sincerely — the enduring strength and spirit of the Jewish community. 

If you’ll excuse a point of personal privilege — they used to say in the Senate — that’s why I took my kids — every one, when they turned 14 years old, one at a time, I put them on a plane and took them to Dachau.  I wanted them to see that you could not not know what was going on walking through those gates.  You could not fail to understand as a country what was going on.  And that’s a fact. 

It had a profound impact on my children and my grandchildren.  Some thought taking a 14-year-old grandchild was a mistake, but I took them one at a time.  I’ve got three more to go.  And, folks, it’s important.

You know, the miracle of Israel is Israel.  It’s Israel itself — the hope it inspires, the light it represents to the world. 

And, folks, I was asked to — in one of my very frank conversations with Bibi and with Herzog.  Said, “Why do I feel so deeply about this?”  It’s not about the region.  I truly believe, were there no Israel, no Jew in the world would be ultimately safe.  It’s the only ultimate guarantee.  The only ultimate guarantee.  The only ultimate guarantee.

And, folks, because of you — and I mean this sincerely — because you’re speaking up, because of the intensity and the intellect and the brilliance you bring to this cause, I think we have a chance to end this in a way that is — that makes it very difficult for it to be repeated.

I want to thank you for your leadership.  And, as I said, there’s a lot to talk about.  And — but I’m really, quite frankly, concerned as to — it’s hard to talk about this without detail.  And it’s contrary to our interests to let out the detail of what we’re going on. 

I mean, this is just around the clock, as you understand — you fully understand.  But, you know, I’ve known Bibi for over 40 years in a very frank relationship.  I know him well.  And the one thing that I did say that it is really important that Israel, with all the anger and frustration and just — I don’t know how to explain it — that exists is that they operate by the rules of war — the rules of war.  And there are rules of war.

And — and I believe Israel is doing everything in its power to — to pull the country together, stay on the same page, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure Israel succeeds and, God willing, to bring home those Americans who are in harm’s way.

I’m going to let you all have the private conversation you’ve been having, which you should continue to have.  But I just came to basically — I really mean it from the bottom of my heart; I give you my word as a Biden — thank you.  Thank you for the intensity of your support.  It matters.  It matters that Americans see what’s happening.

I mean, I — I’ve been doing this a long time.  I never really thought that I would see and have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.  I never thought I’d ever — anyway.  I —

But there are countries in the region that are trying to be of some help, including Arab nations that are trying to be of some help.  So, anyway.

Q    Mr. President, where do you draw strength and inspiration in these troubling times?

THE PRESIDENT:  From my faith.  From my faith — my faith that — that at the core of every human being is a spark of humanity and decency, and it’s got to be touched.  It’s got to be spoken to.  That’s what you do.  That’s why you’re here. 

It’s not about, you know, revenge.  It’s about — it’s about decency, just basically decent — just basic decency.  Treating people with a sense of — I don’t know quite how to say it.  But I know we can overcome this.  I know we can overcome this.

Look, I don’t know anything about the kind of loss that’s talking — but I know a little bit of what it’s like to feel loss of those people you adore.  Get a phone call saying they’re gone.  I get that part.  Not the same, but I get that part.

And what I’ve learned is that as we — as we persevere, we can grow.  And the day will come when the memory of that person or those persons will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye.  It will happen.  It will happen, but, God, it takes a long time sometimes. 

And when it’s borne out of something that has been anything from a mistake to a vicious, vicious intent, you know, it varies in degrees.  I’m not saying I know the same, but I just — look, I mean, I’ll never forget — well, I won’t go into that.

Anyway, I just think that if we stay true to our values, pursue with every inch and every bit of our energy to get this right, we can bury this again and bring people back — bring people home and bring them togeth- — I think we can — I think we can change the Middle East.  But then again, I have been referred to as a congenital optimist.

And I’m not going to answer any questions from you guys right now, but my — my team here knows, when — when the press is gone, they’ll talk more directly to you.  But even then, they’re not going to be able to tell you all that we’re doing and all that’s going on.  So —

MR. DIAMENT:  Not a question, sir, but we — may we please say thank you.  Eighty years ago this week — eighty years ago this week, a group of 400 rabbis came to Washington hoping to meet with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and appeal to him to act to rescue the Jews who were being persecuted in Europe, and they were refused a meeting with President Roosevelt.  They were refused entry to the White House. 

And the fact that we are here today and you have spoken as the President of the United States so clearly in support of Israel, so clearly in support of the Jewish people, and so — and welcomed leaders and representatives of the Jewish community into the White House for this discussion shows what a dramatic distance we’ve traveled in these United States, how we as the Jewish community are blessed to live today in these United States.  And we thank you for your leadership and your moral clarity.  (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you. 

4:50 P.M. EDT