When White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded a question Monday about the Biden administration’s concerns over rising anti-Semitism, the answer said more than Democrats want Americans to know.
It was in her body language. It was in her words.
And, most of all, it was in what she didn’t say.
The question came midway through the day’s White House news briefing, as the transcript shows, when Jean-Pierre was asked very specifically about President Joe Biden’s “level of concern right now about the potential rise of anti-Semitism in light of everything that’s going on in Israel?”
There are a couple of things worth noticing here.
First, Jean-Pierre’s body language during the question betrayed an indifference bordering on disrespect.
There was a noticeable grimace at the word “anti-Semitism” and her head started nodding before the question was even finished. She looked like a sullen teenager getting asked about her homework.
Check out the video here:
“What is [Biden’s] level of concern right now about a potential rise of antisemitism?”
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: “Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks” pic.twitter.com/q1WYkpbKmn
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 23, 2023
Second, it doesn’t take a trained observer to note the words “anti-Semitism” and “Israel” are fairly prominent in there. It’s also fairly obvious the word “Muslim” is not.
But guess where Jean-Pierre decided to put the focus of her answer?
“So, a couple of things,” she said. “Look, we have not seen any credible threats. I know there’s been always questions about credible threats. And so, just want to make sure that that’s out there.
“But, look, Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks. And certainly President Biden understands that many of our Muslim, Arab — Arab — Arab Americans and Palestinian American loved ones and neighbors are worried about the hate being directed at their communities. And that is something you heard the President speak to in his — in his address just last — last Thursday.”
She finally got around to mentioning the word “Jewish” in the next sentence, but only in the context of “emerging threats that could harm the Jewish, the Muslim, Arab Americans or — or any other communities.”
In other words, in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,000 Israeli Jews by Islamist savages — in scenes that recall some of the darkest days of the Holocaust — and at a time when Americans have watched leftists pour into the streets of major cities and on college campuses to celebrate and defend the perpetrators of that massacre, the Biden White House sees no “credible threat” to Jews. And, frankly, can’t even be bothered to mention them without talking about Muslims and Arab Americans at the same time.
As for the potential for hate crimes or threats against Muslims being “disproportionate,” as KJP put it (using Democrats’ favorite buzzword), last year, President Joe Biden himself noted Justice Department statistics that showed anti-Semitic hate crimes made up more than 50 percent of hate crimes recorded by the federal government.
In March, CNN reported that hate crimes driven by anti-Semitism were at their highest point in the half-century since the 1970s.
For perspective, Jews make up about 2.4 percent of the adult population in the U.S., according to Pew Research. When 2 percent of the population is the target of more than 50 percent of crimes driven by religion — and the number keeps rising — it’s fair to say there’s a credible threat.
Posted to the social media platform X by the Republican National Committee’s RNCResearch account, the video drew plenty of reactions, from amazement to disgust:
Wow. Just wow
— batshelmelech (@gracezilbersh) October 23, 2023
Despicable
— SazzygirlinCali (@RjbRocklin) October 23, 2023
How is that even an answer. It’s something a child would say.
Parent: you should not bully your sister.
Child: well, other people bully her more than I do.
Makes no sense— Creature of Habit2 (@CreatureHabit2) October 24, 2023
I’d crowdsource a reporter to ask her why she hates Jews.
— Slim Wiggy (@SlimWiggy) October 23, 2023
Maybe they need to repeat the question?
— Michael Mullikin (@Lakerat2022) October 23, 2023
One social media user — whose account indicates a considerable sympathy for the Palestinian cause and a dislike of Israel — pointed out that “Arabs are Semite,” as though to argue that’s how KJP took the question.
Even if that’s technically true, it’s nonsense on stilts to claim that anyone in the United States in October 2023 doesn’t understand that the word “anti-Semitism” is a description of anti-Jewish attitudes and behaviors.
And KJP has to understand the world well. After all, it’s the more radical elements of the Democratic Party that are the most anti-Semitic voices in American politics today — shrews like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, for instance.
Even Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida pointed out how insipid Jean-Pierre’s response was, and provided the kind of boilerplate answer KJP could have offered without even trying:
What a weak answer. And why are you looking in the book? What’s the approved answer? The simple answer is yes, you are concerned about the rise of antisemitism. Of course we are also worried about hatred against Muslim Americans. Must do better. https://t.co/RdYhPTFpHa
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) October 23, 2023
She didn’t say that, though. And the point is, she didn’t try. She didn’t even make the kind of half-hearted response that would indicated the administration was at least giving half-hearted consideration to the question.
The sad fact is, the Democratic Party, which has long benefited from the support of Jewish voters and the donations of Jewish backers, is the political platform for anti-Semitism in the U.S. today.
And Democrats don’t want the rest of America to know it. Given Biden’s political weaknesses, they can’t afford to.
When KJP didn’t answer the obvious intent of that reporter’s question on Monday, when she diverted attention to a completely different issue, to a different religion, and to a different ethnic group, she made the Biden White House priorities clear.
And it’s what she didn’t say that said it all.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
