There have definitely been antisemitic incidents, and pretending otherwise is tribalist hagiography.
If Biden said “No, I am not going to condemn antisemitic protests” to a fucking journo, what the fuck do you think the result would be? “I condemn antisemitic protests and I condemn those who don’t understand the Palestinian plight” is about as reasonable an off-the-cuff answer as he could be expected to give.
He should have said “What antisemitic protests? The protests are overwhelmingly peaceful and many Jews have been participating. I won’t listen to you mischaracterize an entire movement.”
But he basically spread the lie that antisemitic protests are a problem, when you know it’s not. Antisemitic “incidents”, as you say, occur regularly in our country regardless of the protests.
There have definitely been antisemitic incidents, and pretending otherwise is tribalist hagiography.
If Biden said “No, I am not going to condemn antisemitic protests” to a fucking journo, what the fuck do you think the result would be? “I condemn antisemitic protests and I condemn those who don’t understand the Palestinian plight” is about as reasonable an off-the-cuff answer as he could be expected to give.
He should have said “What antisemitic protests? The protests are overwhelmingly peaceful and many Jews have been participating. I won’t listen to you mischaracterize an entire movement.”
But he basically spread the lie that antisemitic protests are a problem, when you know it’s not. Antisemitic “incidents”, as you say, occur regularly in our country regardless of the protests.