White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declared her opposition to antisemitism one day after she was criticized for deflecting a question about an uptick in attacks on Jewish people by condemning hate crimes against Muslims.
“I want to make something clear at the top because I understand how important moral clarity is, especially at this time,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said during the daily White House press briefing.
“When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or identity, when Israel is signaled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism full stop, period. This is important to the president, it’s important to me personally and to everyone in the administration.
“We must all do our part and forcefully, forcefully speak out against antisemitism, and we must ensure there is no place for hate in America,” she continued. “Not against Jews, not against Muslims, not against Arab Americans, not against Palestinian Americans. Not against anyone.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre’s comments come after she was widely panned for pivoting on a question about antisemitism to talk about attacks on Muslims during Monday’s briefing.
A reporter asked Ms. Jean-Pierre about the president’s level of concern about the potential increase in antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks in Israel earlier this month. She responded by saying there was a “disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks” against Muslims, Arab Americans and Palestinian Americans.
“What a weak answer. And why are you looking in the book? What’s the approved answer?” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Florida Democrat, wrote on X. “The simple answer is yes, you are concerned about the rise of antisemitism. Of course, we are also worried about hatred against Muslim Americans. Must do better.”
Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, there have been 107 recorded antisemitic incidents across the U.S., according to the Anti-Defamation League. The same report found that there were 347 messages on Telegram from extremists calling for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists in just the first 18 hours after Hamas’ surprise attack — up approximately 488% from just the day before.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, blasted Ms. Jean-Pierre’s answer.
“Of course, all hate crimes are bad, but the question was about antisemitism,” he wrote on X.
He said the Anti-Defamation League has “tracked a massive increase in antisemitic incidents in the past two weeks — on top of the historic levels of anti-Jewish hate we’ve already been seeing.”