President Barack Obama, left, sits with filmmaker Steven Spielberg, center, and Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, right, at the Righteous Among the Nations Award Ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. Obama attended a ceremony for four people who were being honored posthumously for risking their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. He also became the first sitting president to speak at the embassy. AP
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says it cannot be denied that antisemitism is on the rise and calls an attack on any faith and attack on all faiths.
Obama spoke Wednesday evening at the Israeli Embassy in Washington as four people were being honored posthumously for risking their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. He became the first sitting president to speak at the embassy.
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Obama says that too often, especially in times of change, people are too willing to give in to a base desire to blame someone else, someone different, for their own struggles. He says all nations that take pride in tolerance must speak out when Jews and other members of religious minorities are attacked.
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