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Joe Biden to rabbis facing security threats, on Rosh Hashanah call: ‘I have your back’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Speaking after dozens of synagogues were targeted by false bombs threats, President Joe Biden offered rabbis assurances ahead of the High Holidays that he is committed to Jewish security.
“This month, as you attend a shul for the High Holidays. I know you’re concerned about security,” Biden told 1,200 rabbis from all major denominations who signed on for a traditional pre-holiday phone call Thursday evening. “As your president. I want to make clear to you and to all your congregations I have your back. I am committed to the safety of the Jewish people.”
At least 50 synagogues have been targeted in recent months by fake bomb threats that unleash police response, often at times when the congregations are streaming services online. Security experts are concerned that calls on the holidays, when sanctuaries are packed, could trigger panic.
This pre-holiday call, a tradition dating to at least the George W. Bush administration, was organized by rabbinical umbrella groups representing Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist denominations. It tasted over an hour, although Biden did not stay for questions, of which four were asked, each by a rabbi of a different denomination.
For the first time on such a call, Biden and a top White House official, Neera Tanden, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, gave a progress report on the strategy to combat antisemitism Biden unveiled in May.
“My administration has already started aggressively implementing,” he said. “We published security guides for synagogues across the country. We launched a national campaign to combat antisemitism at school colleges and universities. We delivered trainings on religious workplace accommodations and so much more.”
Tanden, speaking later in the call, added detail. Agencies have a May 2024 deadline to complete their assigned tasks, she said. “More than two dozen agencies are producing deliverables,” she said.
She mentioned as examples:
A letter from Department of Housing and Urban Development “to 200 federally funded housing programs asking them to identify an antisemitism in housing.”
Research and projects on antisemitism solicited by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The resource guides for houses of worship, published by the Department of Justice and Homeland Security.
Letters from the Department of Education to schools and universities reminding them of their obligation under the 1964 civil rights act to address discrimination claims, with references to more recent enhancements under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump that extend the protections to Jews.
“There’s been a rising concern on campus [about] antisemitism and the strategy really propels passion on the part of the Department of Ed’s Office of Civil Rights to really be aggressive, as aggressive on antisemitism as we are when we look at and investigate other issues of discrimination,” she said.
Tanden appeared to be addressing concerns that the Biden administration would focus particularly on right-wing antisemitism; a number off Jewish organizations have said that the alleged harassment of Jewish students on campuses, which they say often comes from left wing and pro-Palestinian groups, should also be a priority.
Biden took no questions, but his remarks were redolent of a 2024 reelection campaign likely against his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Biden once again said he was prompted to run for president because of the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Trump’s failure to unequivocally condemn it. He also referred to controversies over the effort by conservative groups and parents to remove books from schools and libraries that they deem inappropriate, including some books about the Holocaust and racism.
“Books are being banned, if you can believe that in the United States of America, books are being banned in our schools and history is being erased,” he said.
He mentioned his nomination earlier this month of Jack Lew, a former Treasury secretary, to be ambassador to Israel. “I’m so proud to continue our support [of Israel] by nominating Jack Lew, an Orthodox Jew, to be ambassador,” he said.
Biden included a pledge of support for Israel in the call and did not mention his tense relationship with the current government over its efforts to overhaul Israel’s court system and over its expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
“I want to reaffirm America’s unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state,” he said. “My support for Israel’s security remains long standing and unwavering, including its right to defend itself against attacks.”
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.