President Joe Biden warned against what he called a “ferocious surge” of antisemitism in the US and around the world during a Holocaust remembrance event on Tuesday.

He said too many people had been “denying, downplaying, rationalising the horrors of the Holocaust”.

Mr Biden, 81, also condemned those who he said had forgotten the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.

It was some of his most pointed criticism of Hamas since the attack.

“It was Hamas that brutalised Israelis,” Mr Biden said. “It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten.”

The president also criticised what he characterised as lawless behaviour and hateful rhetoric directed at Jewish people by some pro-Palestinian protesters on US university campuses in recent weeks.

He said that “scapegoating and demonising a minority” threatens all minorities.

The speech followed police interventions to dismantle several protest camps at colleges around the country. The demonstrators have faced complaints of intimidation and hate speech, which organisers have denied.

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