US Vice President Joe Biden
US Vice President Joe BidenIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Vice President Joe Biden addressed a crowd of thousands at the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Centennial Summit & Gala, in Washington, DC, saying the organization has “become America’s conscience.”

“It is an honor to have worked with Abe and his predecessors for the last 40 years,” said Biden. “It’s because of you we are a better, more humane, more decent community.”

Biden’s speech was one of the highlights of ADL’s summit, where more than 1,000 Jewish community leaders, members of staff and others gathered in Washington for three days of workshops and presentations from experts on an array of issues of importance to the League’s work, including immigration reform, anti-Semitism in the U.S. and abroad, civil liberties, religious freedom, extremism, terrorism and hate crimes. 

Recalling the words of President John F. Kennedy -- who in a speech on ADL’s 50th anniversary praised the organization’s “tireless pursuit of equality of treatment for all Americans” -- Vice President Biden commended ADL for reaching its 100-year milestone "with a solid reputation and record of advancing equality, defending democratic ideals and fighting against prejudice and bigotry."

“Fifty years later … and I mean this sincerely:  You have become America’s conscience,” Vice President Biden said. “You have become the conscience of this country, no matter what the issue.  You have been a pillar of the Jewish community, but you reach out and you have reached out your embrace for all communities.”