Biden condemns antisemitism after swastika found at State Department

President Biden on Wednesday condemned antisemitism, saying it has no place in his administration following an incident at the State Department this week involving a swastika.

“Let me be clear: Anti-Semitism has no place in the State Department, in my Administration, or anywhere in the world. It’s up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor and stand up to bigotry wherever we find it,” Biden said in a statement.

The president’s remarks come after a swastika was found carved into an elevator at the State Department. The agency removed the graffiti and is investigating the matter.

Let me be clear: Anti-Semitism has no place in the State Department, in my Administration, or anywhere in the world. It’s up to all of us to give hate no safe harbor and stand up to bigotry wherever we find it. https://t.co/RCkwArRjL2

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 28, 2021

State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter said in a briefing with reporters that the graffiti, which is synonymous with the antisemitism of Hitler’s Germany and the genocide carried out against 6 million Jews during the country’s Nazi regime, was discovered late Monday evening.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on diplomatic travel, also shared a message with all State Department employees condemning the incident, calling it “completely abhorrent.”

Blinken is Jewish and has family who survived the Holocaust.