Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

White House Chief of Staff Vows Fight on ‘Anti-Semitism’ Scourge

The Obama administration is pledged to stem the “rising tide” of anti-Semitism, the White House chief of staff said.

“We will not waver in our commitment to defeat the scourge of anti-Semitism,” Denis McDonough said at an event Tuesday evening convened by the American Jewish Committee and Washington-area Jewish groups to show solidarity with France and its Jews after deadly attacks last week by Islamists.

“This is not an issue for any single community or nation to deal with by itself,” McDonough said at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington. “From the president on down, you have my commitment that we will wage this fight together.”

The White House has come under fire for not sending a senior official to the solidarity march in Paris over the weekend.

In separate attacks last week, three jihadists killed 17 people at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and at a kosher supermarket in Paris, as well as a police officer.

Also speaking at the Washington event, which drew 700 people, was the French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud.

“We are at war against terrorism, against radical Islam,” he said. “Journalists and Jews are on the front line of democracy.”

He also said that France was committed to protecting its Jewish population.

“We want the Jews of France to remain in France,” he said.

Some Israeli leaders in the wake of the attacks have urged French Jews to leave.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.