(NewsNation) — The Biden administration announced several new actions to counter antisemitism in the United States on Tuesday, hours before the president was set to give a speech at a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on Capitol Hill.
“This year’s remembrance is particularly sobering, as it comes seven months after the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” a statement from the White House said.
The Capitol event, hosted by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, will also feature remarks from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Actions laid out Tuesday build on President Joe Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that was released last year. Initiatives include every school district and college in the country getting a “Dear Colleague Letter” from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights outlining new guidance for protecting Jewish students.
The Department of Homeland Security is set to work with “interagency partners” to build an online campus safety resources guide, and also “develop and share best practices for community-based targeted violence and terrorism prevention.”
In addition, the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism at the State Department will convene technology firms to identify best practices to address antisemitic content online, the White House said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday that the president will honor the memory of the 6 million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust during his remarks at the Tuesday ceremony.
“And we recommit to heeding the lessons of this dark chapter. Never again,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden will speak to the “horrors” of the Hamas attack, Jean-Pierre said, and how antisemitism is on the rise globally and at home.
“And he will speak to how since Oct.7, we’ve seen an alarming rise in antisemitism in the U.S. and our cities, our communities and on our campuses,” she added, referring to recent pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place at college campuses nationwide.
Demonstrators — many of whom have put up tent encampments on campus — are urging colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel and are calling for a cease-fire. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Protesters have said, though, that those being antisemitic do not represent them and pointed out that many Jewish students are joining them in their cause. Some student demonstrators held signs saying “Jews for Free Palestine” or “Jews for Palestine,” while pictures on social media circulated of Passover seders being held at the encampments.
In addition, Palestinian and Muslim students have reported feeling unsafe and being victims of racist hate as well.
Jean-Pierre said Biden on Tuesday would “reaffirm” the right to free speech, “but there is no place on any campus or anywhere for antisemitism.”
“There is no place for hate speech or threats of violence against the Jewish people,” Jean-Pierre said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.