President Biden on Monday condemned a rise in antisemitism as “vile and venom” during a Hanukkah holiday reception at the White House.

“This year’s Hanukkah arrives in the midst of rising and emboldened of antisemitism — at home and, quite frankly, around the world. I recognize your fear, your hurt, your worry that this vile and venom is becoming too normal,” Biden said in the Grand Foyer of the White House.  

“As your president, I want to make this clear. … Silence is complicity. We must not remain silent. And I made no bones about it from the very beginning: I will not be silent. America will not be silent,” Biden said.  

Biden spoke to the gathered crowd from a podium between a Christmas tree and a new menorah, which first lady Jill Biden introduced as the first permanent White House menorah and the first Jewish artifact added permanently to the presidential collection.