Presidential Document2024-09813
Jewish American Heritage Month, 2024
Primary source
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Published
May 3, 2024
Signed
April 30, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 87 (Friday, May 3, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 87 (Friday, May 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 36655-36656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09813]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 87 / Friday, May 3, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 36655]]
Proclamation 10736 of April 30, 2024
Jewish American Heritage Month, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
For centuries, the perseverance, hope, and unshakeable
faith of the Jewish people have inspired people around
the world. During Jewish American Heritage Month, we
celebrate the immeasurable impact of Jewish values,
contributions, and culture on our Nation's character
and recommit to realizing the promise of America for
all Jewish Americans.
In 1654, a small band of 23 Jewish refugees fled
persecution abroad and sailed into the port of modern-
day New York City. They fought for religious freedom,
helping define one of the bedrock principles upon which
our Nation was built. Jewish American culture has been
inextricably woven into the fabric of our country.
Jewish American suffragists, activists, and leaders
marched for civil rights, women's rights, and voting
rights. Jewish American scientists, doctors, and
engineers have made scientific breakthroughs that
define America as a land of possibilities. They have
served our Nation in uniform, on the Nation's highest
courts, and at the highest levels of my Administration.
As public servants, artists, entertainers, journalists,
and poets, they have helped write the story of America,
making it--as Emma Lazarus' poem on the Statue of
Liberty states--a home for the ``huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.''
As we celebrate the Jewish American community's
contributions this month, we also honor their
resilience in the face of a long and painful history of
persecution. Hamas' brutal terrorist attack on October
7th against Israel marked the deadliest day for Jews
since the Holocaust, resurfacing, including here in the
United States, painful scars from millennia of
antisemitism and genocide of Jewish people. Jews across
the country and around the world are still coping with
the trauma and horror of that day and the months since.
Our hearts are with all the victims, survivors,
families, and friends whose loved ones were killed,
wounded, displaced, or taken hostage--including women
and girls whom Hamas has subjected to appalling acts of
rape and sexual violence.
As I said after Hamas' terror attack, 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. The recent attack by Iran, firing a
barrage of hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel,
reminds us of the existential threats that Israel faces
by adversaries that want nothing less than to wipe it
off the map. Together with our allies and partners, the
United States defended Israel, and we helped defeat
this attack.
At the same time, my Administration is working around
the clock to free the hostages who have been held by
Hamas for over half a year; as I have said to their
families, we will not rest until we bring them home. We
are also leading international efforts to deliver
urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza and an
immediate ceasefire as part of a deal that releases
hostages and lays the groundwork for an enduring two-
state solution.
Here at home, too many Jews live with deep pain and
fear from the ferocious surge of antisemitism--in our
communities; at schools, places of worship, and
colleges; and across social media. These acts are
despicable and echo the worst chapters of human
history. They remind us that hate never goes
[[Page 36656]]
away--it only hides until it is given oxygen. It is our
shared moral responsibility to forcefully stand up to
antisemitism and to make clear that hate can have no
safe harbor in America.
That is why I released the first-ever United States
National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and clarified
the civil rights protections for Jews under Title VI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition, the
Department of Education has launched investigations
into antisemitism on college campuses, the Department
of Justice is investigating and prosecuting hate
crimes, and the Department of Homeland Security and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation are focused on
enhancing security in Jewish communities. We also
secured the largest increase in funding ever for the
physical security of nonprofits like synagogues, Jewish
Community Centers, and Jewish schools. I appointed
Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust expert, as the first-ever
Ambassador-level Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat
Antisemitism. Together, we are sending the message
that, in America, evil will not win. Hate will not
prevail. The venom and violence of antisemitism will
not be the story of our time.
This Jewish American Heritage Month, we honor Jewish
Americans, who have never given up on the promise of
our Nation. We celebrate the contributions, culture,
and values that they have passed down from generation
to generation and that have shaped who we are as
Americans. We remember that the power lies within each
of us to rise together against hate, to see each other
as fellow human beings, and to ensure that the Jewish
community is afforded the safety, security, and dignity
they deserve as they continue to shine their light in
America and around the world.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2024 as
Jewish American Heritage Month. I call upon all
Americans to learn more about the heritage and
contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this
month with appropriate programs, activities, and
ceremonies.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-09813
Filed 5-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 3, 2024.
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