Biden-Harris admin touts plans to combat 'Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate' as anti-semitism rises in US

On Monday, the Biden-Harris administration announced, “New Actions To Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate,” despite skyrocketing anti-semitism in the US.

The strategy was mostly a rehash of efforts already underway to combat hate crimes that have been in the works for years, with the White House "highlighting some actions taken as part of its forthcoming National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Hatred Against Arabs in the United States." Some accused the Biden-Harris administration of releasing the plans solely as a means of trying to regain the support of anti-Israel voters.

Part of the forthcoming strategy includes the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Counterterrorism Center completing an unclassified assessment of violent threats facing Muslim and Arab communities in the United States.

The administration touted over $100 million in grants since 2021 to law enforcement and prosecution agencies, community-based organizations, and civil rights groups to address hate crimes, under legislation that has been around for decades.

The White House mentioned the law enforcement agencies’ transition to the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which has been underway since January 2021, and has shown that Jews are the most targeted minority group by hate crimes and that anti-semitism has skyrocketed. According to FBI data released in September, Jews were targeted in 1,832 hate crimes in 2023, far more than any other religious group and a 63 percent increase over 2022.

The Biden-Harris administration also touted the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the FBI, which have provided over $150 million to law enforcement agencies and state Uniform Crime Programs to support their transitions to NIBRS since 2015, during the Trump administration.

The White House attempted to take a victory lap on the DOJ Civil Rights Division prosecuting hate crimes, including hate crimes directed at students on campus, but failed to note that the majority of those incidents in the 2023-2024 school year were targeting Jews.

The administration took credit for a program in place since the aftermath of 9/11 to distribute funds as part of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.  

The White House also boasted about Biden in 2021 rescinding the Trump administration’s travel ban from countries that are known supporters of terror including, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Yemen, despite terrorists from those countries having been found attempting to cross into the US illegally.

The Biden-Harris administration failed to effectively address spiking anti-semitism in the wake of the Oct 7 massacre. The response was botched so badly that after inviting the Hamas-aligned Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to join the task force on anti-semitism, the group was scrubbed from the White House website after the director of the organization said the Oct. 7 atrocities made him “happy.”