President Joe Biden denounced what he characterized as a “ferocious surge” of antisemitism across the U.S. and reiterated his strong support of Israel in a speech at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

“This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust,” Biden said in a keynote address for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance commemoration. “It didn’t end with the Holocaust, either.”

The speech, held annually to memorialize the 6 million jews killed during the Holocaust, comes during a time of heightened political tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, with pro-Palestinian protests roiling the country’s campuses and the president’s own party divided over his response to Israel’s conduct.

Before the speech, several people addressed the audience, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

“We remember what happened then and now,” said Johnson, a Republican who has been a vocal critic of the college protests. “Today we are witnessing American universities quickly becoming hostile places for Jewish students and faculty. The very campuses which were once the envy of the international academy have succumbed to an antisemitic virus.”

“Now is a time for moral clarity and we must put an end to this madness,” Johnson said.

Below are some key takeaways from Biden’s remarks.

Biden Reiterated His Support of Israel 

Despite voicing disagreement at times over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military strategy, the rising civilian death toll in Gaza and a potential Israeli offensive in Rafah, Biden once again made his commitment to Israel’s security plain and clear.

“My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree,” he said.

In a Monday call between Biden and Netanyahu, Biden warned that strikes on Rafah could put “more than a million innocent people at greater risk,” according to national security spokesman John Kirby. The warning was ultimately ignored when Israeli officials confirmed Monday that its forces hit targets in the area, where it says the last remaining Hamas battalions are located.

Biden Spoke Out Strongly Against Antisemitism

Biden said there has been a “ferocious surge” of antisemitism in the U.S. since the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. He said many people have downplayed the events of the Holocaust and the fall attack, and added that “demonizing” any minority threatens every minority.

“Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later and people are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror,” he said. “It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis, it was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages.”

Research from Jewish civil rights groups suggest that there has indeed been a significant uptick in antisemitic harassment since the start of the war. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 73% of Jewish college students surveyed experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism during the 2023-24 school year. Additionally, the number of students surveyed who felt comfortable with others knowing they were Jewish dropped from 63% to 38% after Oct. 7.

Biden Addresses the Pro-Palestinian Protests Head On

Biden has been relatively quiet in terms of directly addressing the pro-Palestinian protests dividing America’s college campuses, a move that had frustrated both Republicans and members of his own party. The protests, in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators have called on universities to disclose and divest of their links to Israel, have in some instances featured antisemitic rhetoric and harassment of Jewish students. (At times the harassment has come from outsiders not affiliated with campus.)

In recent weeks the protests have grown and all but paralyzed some of the country’s most elite campuses, leading to arrests and canceled graduation ceremonies.

Biden said Jewish students on college campuses have been blocked, harassed and attacked while walking to class.

“In America we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard,” he said. “But there is no place on any campus in America … for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

He added, “violent attacks, destroying property is not a peaceful protest, it’s against the law.”

Biden Steered Clear of Mentioning Palestinian Suffering 

One thing that was notably not mentioned in Biden’s speech: The humanitarian crisis or the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. In the past, Biden has expressed sympathy for their plight, and has even urged Netanyahu to be measured in his response to the Oct. 7 attack, wary of the political dynamic and of the conflict unfurling across the Middle East.