President Joe Biden (AP/Evan Vucci)
“Is Biden punishing the Orthodox community for supporting Trump?”
By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News
President Joe Biden was slammed by Orthodox Jewish leaders who claimed he excluded them from an event on antisemitism at the White House last week, prompting speculation that the snub was over their support of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Biden condemned hate crimes against Jews at the “United We Stand” summit, yet some Jewish leaders said they were not admitted on purpose, the New York Post reported.
Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce CEO Duvi Honig told The Post it was like hosting a wedding and excluding the bride and the groom.
Despite having an endorsement from New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, Honig did not hear back after contacting three Biden staffers.
“The question is, is [Biden] punishing the Orthodox community for supporting [former President Donald] Trump? Regardless, my concern is as we’re going into the high holy holidays, would people read that Orthodox Jew attacks aren’t recognized by the White House? Because that encourages people to continue to be more aggressive” Honig said.
“The White House used hate. They used us, our blood — they used our DNA of Jews being persecuted and attacked daily as an excuse to make an event and didn’t include Orthodox Jews, who were the number one [target of] hate and antisemitism,” Honig told the Post.
Nathan Diament of the Orthodox Union was the only Orthodox Jew admitted to the event, which included hundreds of community representatives from minority groups.
“One person trickled in!” Honig said.
He further blasted the White House for not inviting community leaders from the New York area, which is the epicenter of attacks against visibly Jewish people.
“Our community’s leaders from the various large communities of Orthodox sectors where daily attacks accrue were missing [from] the summit and not invited.”
At the event, Biden said the “antisemitic bile” uttered by white supremacists during the Charlottesville rally in 2017 inspired him to run for president.
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