Amid the wave of antisemitism that has swept American college campuses and Jewish communities since October, Jews in the United States have looked to allies to take a stand on their behalf. They’ve begged university presidents to support Jewish students. They’ve cheered lawmakers who held hearings spotlighting the troubling trends. 

And now, some Jewish community advocates are asking President Joe Biden to again join the chorus of Americans condemning antisemitism. 

Biden offered a clear voice against antisemitism in the weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel. Days after the attacks, he convened a solemn meeting of Jewish American leaders in Washington. Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke about their pain after the attack, and they vowed to support Israel and work hard to confront antisemitism in the United States. 

But in recent weeks, as Biden has shifted to campaign mode and focused on other issues, he has not spoken about antisemitism. Some in the Jewish community lamented that Biden didn’t mention antisemitism in his State of the Union address.

“They absolutely recognize how heinous the surge of antisemitism is. But I’ll also say, it has been a little bit frustrating that we’ve not seen a wider and more aggressive level of action,” said Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union. 

Last May, the Biden administration released the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. Sources close to the White House point out that the strategy is still being implemented, with new milestones hit each month. But are the mandates of a plan created prior to Oct. 7 forceful enough to respond adequately to the unprecedented wave of antisemitism that has occurred over the last six months?

Much of the ongoing work has not been publicized.

“The work definitely continues,” said Dan Granot, director of government relations at the Anti-Defamation League. He said he is on the phone with officials in the Biden administration several times a week. Usually those conversations are with mid-level policy staff, who are tasked with implementing the actions in the antisemitism strategy, rather than high-profile officials. 

Last month, the Council of American Jewish Museums convened a gathering with support from the Biden administration to educate museum professionals about antisemitism. The ADL has recently partnered with the Department of Education and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to offer webinars to the public about how to identify antisemitism and how to report it if they witness it in the workplace. The Education Department has also opened dozens of civil rights investigations into allegations of antisemitism at universities and K-12 schools, although none of the cases have yet been resolved. 

“It might not feel as robust as it felt in the immediate aftermath of October 7, when we were being called down to D.C. for meetings with administration officials every week, if not more frequently. But it feels, still, very extensive and very robust,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “Maybe they should more directly communicate how much has actually been done.” 

The White House deputy communications director, Herbie Ziskend, told Jewish Insider that Biden “has acted to combat the scourge of antisemitism, including by releasing the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism.”

“Following the horrifying Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and a dangerous surge in antisemitism in the U.S. and globally, the president and top administration officials have consistently and forcefully spoken out against antisemitism, hate and bigotry,” Ziskend continued. “And we will continue to do so because as the president has made clear, silence is complicity.” Biden has not publicly spoken about antisemitism since a February speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he touted his administration’s work fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia. 

The Biden administration has recently sent representatives to address audiences at Jewish events. Last month, officials from the White House, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State Department provided an update on the antisemitism national strategy to an audience at the ADL’s annual conference. In a keynote address, Attorney General Merrick Garland shared a personal story about family members who fled the Holocaust. 

“Our democracy promises that all people will be protected in the exercise of their civil rights, in their freedom to worship and think as they please, and in the peaceful expression of their opinions, beliefs, and ideas,” he said. “Working to fulfill that promise is the Justice Department’s sacred responsibility.” 

Some conversations between executives at Jewish organizations and high-level White House officials are taking place, but the meetings are not publicized, in contrast to a steady stream of press releases and public statements issued by the White House late last year touting similar discussions. As Israel’s war against Hamas has continued for six months and Biden’s approach to the conflict has shifted, some distance has arisen between the administration and Jewish organizations over Israel policy. 

In late March, top leaders from the Jewish Federations of North America met with senior National Security Council staff. The JFNA leaders expressed concern that Biden’s increasingly critical rhetoric around Israel’s war in Gaza could lead to antisemitism in the U.S, The Wall Street Journal reported. (A JFNA spokesperson told JI the meeting was “confidential” and declined to share additional details.)

White House officials also plan to meet this week with the leadership of Agudath Israel, which represents the Haredi Jewish community in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the plans. 

Emhoff made a handful of public appearances at Jewish events early this year, including a speech to the Jewish War Veterans and a meeting in February with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also funds the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. 

Beyond Emhoff’s events and some recent Jewish community listening sessions at the Department of Education, there is “not much more,” said an executive at one major Jewish organization. Those close to the White House argue that Biden has revealed his care for the Jewish community since Oct. 7, and now community members should trust that his heart is in the right place.

“I was in the room on Oct. 11 at the White House with the president, when he had his first meeting with the Jewish community, and it was very clear then and it is still very clear how deeply personal this is to him,” Spitalnick said. “I think it’s important for us not to lose that perspective, even as the war continues, and the inevitable public conversations around it shift to whatever the current crisis.” 

For the president, who is now taking on more campaign travel and gearing up for a busy election year — and the many constituencies he must try to woo to win reelection — his attention has shifted elsewhere. For many American Jews, their focus on the antisemitism crisis remains.