In one of the most important speeches of his presidency, Joe Biden hit a home run.
His forceful and sweeping remarks at an event marking Holocaust Remembrance Day captured the horrors of Nazi Germany, the Hamas terror attack and the echoes of both that are ringing loudly on American college campuses.
“This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust — it didn’t end with the Holocaust, either, or even after our victory in World War II,” Biden said at the Capitol.
“This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.”
In one of several references to the slaughter on Oct. 7, he said, “Here we are — not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later — and people are already forgetting. They’re already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror.”
He denounced the “ferocious surge” of antisemitism in the US, saying too many people are “denying, downplaying, rationalizing and ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 — including Hamas’ appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize. It’s absolutely despicable — and it must stop.”
Bravo!
The speech was well written and well delivered as Biden largely avoided his usual stumbles and mumbles.
It’s also remarkable that he has such strong feelings about the rancid antisemitism unfolding in America, given how quiet he has been despite a clamor for him to denounce it.
Yet a speech, even an excellent one, is just a speech unless it is backed up with actions and policy.
And therein lies the disconnect between what Biden says and what he’s actually doing, and not doing.
Many of his actions over the last six months actually undercut the sentiments he expressed Tuesday.
And the conflicting pattern continues as he foolishly appears determined to stop Israel from eliminating the remnants of Hamas with its assault on Rafah.
This is a crucial time in Israel’s history.
Iran, by activating Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, is generating the most serious threat to Israel’s existence in decades.
Yet instead of the world rallying to help crush the threat, the wolves in Europe and America smell blood and see a chance to neuter if not destroy the Jewish state.
While Biden’s heart may be with Israel, he has too often sought a balance of interests, as if good and evil are equally deserving.
And so with one hand, he offers Israel military support, and with the other he condemns its methods in Gaza and denounces its democratically elected government, the only one in the region.
He promises Palestinians a state, over Israeli objections and without any plan for security, guaranteeing the current war will not be the last.
Similarly, the antisemitism he decries has been roiling college campuses for months, yet he waited until the Holocaust event to wholeheartedly denounce it.
And his Department of Justice, which has been a bulldog at his beck and call when it comes to prosecuting his political opponents, is AWOL in the face of a clear conspiracy to harass Jews and foment hatred across the country.
In defiance of a necessary strategy, he stubbornly refuses to tighten the screws on Iran, giving the mullahs more money and more freedom to torment Israel and our other regional allies.
Israel stands alone
Nearly a quarter of the globe’s population is Muslim, and Muslims are the majority in nearly 50 nations.
Israel stands alone and its survival in such a nasty neighborhood would be questionable without America’s backing.
But by feuding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, abstaining as the United Nations Security Council passed a poisonous resolution and even withholding an arms shipment that Congress authorized, the president casts doubt on his commitment to Israel and gives hope to those advocating genocide of the Jews.
Weakness is one thing, but the president’s latest move takes the cake for double dealing.
Reports say Americans knew Arab mediators in Egypt had sweetened a cease-fire offering to Hamas, but didn’t tell Israel.
Enemies emboldened
Netanyahu’s government first learned of the secret offer only when Hamas said it accepted the terms, The Times of Israel and others reported.
The outcome of this drip-drip-drip of appeasement is predictable: Israel’s enemies, in the Mideast and in the United States, are emboldened.
Although Biden clearly aims to placate many young voters critical of Israel, including Muslim Americans in swing states, the effect is like feeding a crocodile a small piece of meat.
Each bite is followed by a demand for more.
As a result, Biden is hurting Israel without helping himself politically.
There is a larger issue at work, too, and that is the way the often-violent protests have spilled out of campuses and into the streets of American cities.
By attacking police and historic monuments, and snarling traffic, the keffiyeh-wearing pro-Hamas mobs are creating widespread disorder and fear.
No incumbent can benefit from those images being played in homes and on smartphones.
The disorder helps Donald Trump make the case that Biden is a weak president who cannot keep Americans safe or lead a fragmented world.
That impression of weakness is confirmed by the president’s failure to gain the release of American citizens held hostage by Hamas.
He says repeatedly he won’t rest until they’re free, but Hamas has paid no price for taking and holding them. He only puts pressure on Israel.
Netanyahu and his war cabinet, clearly regarding the cat-and-mouse peace talks as a stalling tactic, are finally making their first big military foray into Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold.
If there are living hostages of any nationality, they are likely there.
And Hamas senior commanders, along with four battalions of terrorists, are there, too.
Because it could mark Hamas’ last stand, it’s a given the terror leaders declared their acceptance of the nonexistent cease-fire deal as a ruse to head off the Israeli attack.
As a public relations gambit, it worked for several hours and gave the usual haters ammunition to blast Israel as the obstacle to peace.
All the more reason why Israel is determined to finish the job.
If Biden won’t help, he can stay out of the way and let Israel do what it must.
That’s the least an ally should do.
Show haters Oct. 7 horrors
Naomi Laulus offers advice to college presidents, writing: “With the Hamas puppets corralled in their encampments, colleges should prop up huge screens and announce to the jihadist wannabes that they are airing the terrorists’ unfiltered filming of their Oct. 7 atrocities, including rapes, mutilations, and babies in ovens.”
“They should explain that just like the Nazis, Hamas terrorists filmed these atrocities because they took pride in their acts.”
“And then they should blast the volume so no one can avoid the horror.”
Degree has lost its luster
Count reader Robert Daddario as unimpressed by the campus rabble’s grasp of facts.
He writes: “From now on, whenever I hear the words ‘college-educated voters,’ I’ll think, ‘the indoctrinated ignorant!’ ”
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