Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

At Aspen Ideas Festival, White House panel bypasses mention of Israel

“To not mention Israel when discussing antisemitism is not only irresponsible, but dangerous,” tweeted the nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism.

Aspen Ideas Festival. Credit: www.aspenideas.org.
Aspen Ideas Festival. Credit: www.aspenideas.org.

At an Aspen Ideas Festival panel on June 27, moderated by journalist Katie Couric, two people close to the White House discussed the Biden administration’s new U.S. National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. Neither Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish and married to Vice President Kamala Harris, nor Liz Sherwood-Randall, White House homeland security advisor, mentioned Israel during the hour-long panel, Jewish Insider reported.

Israel appears in the strategy, but it and “the ways that anti-Zionism can translate into antisemitism” have “been absent from White House public messaging on the document,” added Jewish Insider.

The annual festival in Aspen, Colo., is being held this year from June 24 to June 30. The program nominates individuals worldwide for their accomplishments and dedication to improving their communities and making advances in their field of work, according to its website.

“To not mention Israel when discussing antisemitism is not only irresponsible, but dangerous,” tweeted the nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism. “Approximately half of the world’s Jews live in Israel. [And more than] 90% of Jews globally are Zionists.”

Many reservists were called up in the middle of the night for the surprise exercise, part of the military’s post-Oct. 7 testing of readiness.
The U.S. president said he would be willing to accept a 20-year freeze on Tehran’s nuclear program, but only with proper guarantees.
American forces hunted for Abu-Bilal al-Minuki for months over his killing of Christians, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
Those who mark “Nakba Day” are ignoring the real cause of the mass Arab migration in 1948, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
Skirmishes to Israel’s north continue despite the announcement of a 45-day extension of the ceasefire.
“The name of the arch-terrorist Izz al-Din al-Haddad came up again and again” when speaking with the freed abductees, the IDF chief said.