VIDEO: Joe Biden Addresses The World Jewish Congress

November 15th, 2016

Awake Goy

Biden pointed out that the organization was created in 1936, “amid the gathering darkness of a metastasizing cancer of anti-Semitism,” to warn of the perils of Nazism in Hitler’s Germany.

Unfortunately such calls were not heeded, Biden noted, as “ordinary men and women answered the hate filled call of violence on Kristallnacht, a night that was only the opening assault against the Jewish people. A mere prelude to the genocidal horrors that were to come.”

“We must confront anti-Semitism whenever it occurs,” Biden declared. “We must continue our work to defeat the stubborn evil of anti-Semitism that still affects too much of our world. We have to speak out every time anti-Semitism rears it’s ugly head, regardless of when, regardless of where it is, regardless of where it happens.”

Introductory remarks were delivered by Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. Other speakers included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (a previous recipient of the Theodore Herzl Award himself), and actor Kirk Douglas, who was presented with the Teddy Kollek Award for the Advancement of Jewish Culture. Douglas’ son, actor Michael Douglas, spoke in his stead.

Douglas praised Biden for “the exemplary job that he’s done on behalf of all the Americans over these past eight years, and his lifetime of service to this country.” Kissinger, a friend of Biden since the latter’s earliest days as a Senator, noted the Vice President’s “deep conviction” and “hope for a world in which justice is well developed and principles of freedom are strongly maintained.”

Lauder addressed the elephant in the room, saying he wished President-Elect Donald Trump all the best. With perhaps a touch of irony, Lauder noted that America is “a most extraordinary country.” Lauder said that the World Jewish Congress is continually working to fight anti-Semitism and advocates for a two-solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He extolled Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, for championing the idea that Jews could not be dependent on foreign governments for their survival, and for understanding that “the good life Jews were forced to live [in Europe] could not last.” According to Lauder, Herzl was a rare individual with the courage to transform dreams, such as the creation of a Jewish state in Israel, into reality.

Biden praised the late Nobel prize laureate and Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel, quoting his statement that “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

The vice president described Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as a close personal friend, saying the Israeli premier was the first to call him when his son Beau passed away in 2015.

“Netanyahu spent a long time with me on the phone, and then called again, and again,” Biden recalled, fighting back tears.

Biden turned to the subject of President-Elect Donald Trump, whose presidential campaign he described as one of the most divisive in modern American history.

“A number of my friends in the community are anxious about what it will mean for America’s commitment to Israel,” Biden said. “I stand here to tell you that I have no doubt whatsoever that in the Trump administration there will be no diminution of support as a consequence of this transition.”

Biden assured his audience that “even if the new administration were inclined to reduce the commitment, which it is not, Congress would never let it happen. The American people would never let it happen.”

Biden’s comments were made as anti-Trump protesters choked the streets only a block from the hotel, wielding signs bearing slogans such as “It’s Us vs. Them” and calling for Trump’s downfall under the watchful eyes of police officers and helicopters. The atmosphere, charged with outrage, hatred, and grief at the results of the election, suggested that the divisiveness of the election far outlasted its conclusion.

The Vice President told his audience that with regarding to fighting injustice “our work is never done.” Biden quoted the late Tom Lantos, Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, who said that “The veneer of civilization is paper thin, and we are the guardians, and we can never rest.”