American 2nd Gentleman Douglas Emhoff to meet Jewish students at White House for Holocaust Remembrance Day

Douglas Emhoff, the Second Gentleman of the United States, will meet Jewish college students on Monday at the White House to mark the Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Joe Biden, is one of the most prominent Jewish persons in the United States. In recent days, he has taken a lead role in addressing antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 attack of Hamas on Israel. He is the first Jewish spouse of any US president or vice president.

While Emhoff’s meeting is primarily related to Holocaust, it will also address recent campus protests in which several slogans, chants, and placards have been flagged as antisemitic.

The Holocaust refers to the systematic killing of more than 6 million Jews in Europe during World War II by Nazi Germany. As per the Hebrew calendar, the Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on May 6 this year.

‘We must continue to fight antisemitism and hate’: Emhoff

Ahead of his meeting with Jewish students, Emhoff said that we must continue to fight antisemitism and hate at a time when these things are surging.

In a statement to Politico, Emhoff said, “At a time when antisemitism is surging, including threats of violence against Jews, we are reminded that we must never allow history to repeat itself. We must continue to fight antisemitism and hate and educate others on the horrors of the past.”

In recent weeks, Emhoff has held two rounds of conversations with Jewish students who have felt threatened from the protests.

Lately, a wave of anti-Israel protests has taken over college campuses in the United States. Multiple accounts of Jewish students feeling threatened or intimidated have also surfaced.

Politico reported that the six students whom Emhoff will be meeting are grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. He will also meet Holocaust survivors, including Tova Friedman, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Emhoff taking central role in addressing antisemitism

In recent weeks, Emhoff has taken an increasingly central role in the Joe Biden’s administration in addressing antisemitism, according to Politico.

Emhoff had been flagging the developments in US campuses well-before the ongoing wave of protests began. In November, he said that what was happening in campuses was a “crisis of antisemitism”.

Emhoff further said, “There seems to be a conflation of not being able to separate the actions of the Israeli government and Jewish people and taking out feelings that they have about the actions of the Israeli government on all Jews, irrespective of how those Jews may also feel about the actions of the Israeli government.”

Recently, Emhoff said that protests are a right but calls for violence against Jews in those protests cross a line.

“We’re in favor of the right to protest. But when that crosses into violence — when that crosses into calls for genocide, calls for Jews to be murdered — that’s completely unacceptable and must be stopped,” said Emhoff, as per NBC News.