Emhoff will discuss antisemitism and gender equity at World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland

Emhoff will discuss antisemitism and gender equity at World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland


FILE – Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, participates in a panel with Jewish leaders about the rise in anti-Semitism and efforts to combat hate in the United States in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington in December part. 7, 2022. Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, is committed to combating anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate in the Swiss Alps. Employees tell the Associated Press that Emhoff will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, is taking his stand against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate to the snow-capped Swiss Alps.

Emhoff will make his first appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week to speak about combating religious and other forms of hate and promoting gender equality and women’s rights, the White House said Tuesday. He will also discuss the issues in meetings with foreign government officials and private sector executives.

Emhoff is scheduled to arrive in Switzerland on Thursday. On his agenda is a panel with CEOs on combating hate, which will be moderated by Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan.

He will also participate in a conversation with Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of The Female Quotient, which works with organizations seeking to eliminate the gender gap in the workplace.

Emhoff has focused on both issues in his role as the husband of the first vice president, for which he is known as the second gentleman of the United States. He is also the first Jewish spouse of a U.S. president or vice president.

The World Economic Forum, which opens Tuesday and runs through Friday, is an annual gathering of business, political and other elites in the Alpine snows of Davos. More than 2,800 participants are expected, including academics, artists and leaders of international organizations.

Emhoff recently said that “things are tough for us as Jews right now.”

“The words keep coming: ‘I feel so alone and hated,’” he said at a Union for Reform Judaism event in Washington in December 2023. “This thing that we are all experiencing as American Jews is something that we cannot allow to take away our love of Judaism. Don’t hide now.”

Emhoff was outspoken about the rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and abroad before Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took hundreds hostage in an ambush in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The second gentleman and Jewish leaders met at the White House in December 2022 to discuss anti-Semitism after a famous rapper, an NBA star and other prominent figures spread a surge in anti-Jewish vitriol. The meeting helped develop a 100-point strategy that the Biden administration released in May 2023 to combat hatred against Jews. A similar draft to combat hatred against Islam or Muslims is expected later this year.

Emhoff spoke about the pain of anti-Semitism during a trip to Poland and Germany in January 2023, including a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, at a United Nations event and other locations. He has also denounced a rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses that followed Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.

In addition, Emhoff regularly speaks about closing the gender gap and promoting women in leadership positions.



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