text to speech freepbx

📢 START HERE: Introducing SmartUpgrade

Installing aws polly tts (better picotts alternative), you can now use aws polly with freepbx text to speech.

Access your instance via SSH and execute the following command to run the installation script:

*** Please note that SmartUpgrade is a utility unique to AWS FreePBX from TheWebMachine Networks. If you got here by searching the internet and are not using AWS FreePBX from TheWebMachine Networks, you can still use our install-pollytts script and AWS Polly for TTS by running the following command from the root console of your FreePBX server. You do still need to have a valid AWS Account in order to use AWS Polly:

Towards the end of the installation, you will be asked for the following information:

AWS Access Key ID

AWS Secret Access Key You can generate these keys from the AWS IAM Management Console:  https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home

AWS Region Code Use the region closest to your server for optimal performance; will default to ‘us-east-1’ if not specified. Here’s a list of proper region codes:  https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-regions-availability-zones.html#concepts-available-regions

AWS Polly Voice ID Will default to ‘Joanna’ (en-US) if not specified. Use a Voice ID from this page:  https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/voicelist.html

Once the script is finished, you’ll want to add the ‘ polly ’ engine via Settings > Text to Speech Engines and specify ‘ /usr/bin/node ’ as the Engine Path :

Please be advised of the following limitations when using the AWS Polly engine to create TTS elements:

You CANNOT use single quotes/apostrophe (’) including contractions (use dont instead of don’t), double quotes ("), or carriage returns/newlines in your spoken text. Any of these (and possibly other special chars) will break the playback and you will get either only a partial audio file or no audio at all. Polly will automatically pronounce contractions without an apostrophe (like dont) correctly

You CANNOT use SSML at this time because the FreePBX TTS module does not support it. We are working with Sangoma to rebuild the entire TTS module to "modernize" it and bring additional capabilities like this...but we are a long way from that goal

AWS Polly has a 3000-character limit per API request. If you send more than this in a single TTS element, you will get no audio. If you need to provide spoken word longer than 3000-chars, simply break it down into multiple TTS elements and string them together in sequence within your dialplan (Part1 Destination -> Part2; Part2 Destination -> Part3, etc)

NOTE : You CAN use Asterisk Channel Variables in your TTS elements, which can greatly expand the variability of the elements you create. You can use variables like ${CALLERID(name)} to say the Caller's name or you can ensure you just speak the Caller's first name using the CUT function like this: ${CUT(CALLERID(name), ,1)} (there is a space between the two comas, which is the delimiter)

That’s it! Now you may create new TTS elements in Applications > Text to Speech and select ‘ polly ’ as the engine to use. FINAL NOTES ABOUT AWS POLLY :

AWS gives customers 5 million characters per month for free for the first 12 months, starting from your first request. You pay for usage beyond that ($4 per million chars). The way the TTS module is currently written, your TTS audio files are preserved in /var/lib/asterisk/sounds/tts/ after the first time they are encoded. So long as that TTS element text field remains unchanged AND you are NOT using Asterisk Channel Variables in the elements (which are dynamically generated during each call), no additional requests will be made to Polly for that TTS element. AWS Polly Pricing:  https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/

If you ever want to change which AWS Polly voice you are using, simply run install-pollytts again and select a new voice. You'll be asked if you want to delete all existing TTS audio to regenerate elements in the new voice

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TeleConnx and Deepgram Bring Speech-to-Text to Asterisk/FreePBX

With over 1M servers worldwide and adding more than 1.3M new endpoints each year,  Sangoma -sponsored  Asterisk  is the #1 open source communications toolkit in the world, serving a diverse mix of end users across SMB, enterprise, and government adopters, and use cases ranging from call centers to telephony systems. Today we are thrilled to announce our exciting new partnership with  TeleConnx  to seamlessly integrate Deepgram’s real-time speech-to-text API into Asterisk-based PBX phone systems, available for testing and purchase  here .

This revolutionary solution is set to transform the way businesses manage and process phone calls, delivering unrivaled speed and accuracy in automated, intelligent voice interactions. Instead of complex phone key-driven menus that lead to a frustrating experience, an interactive voice-powered system can get people to the right place fast through simple call routing in Asterisk. Powered by Deepgram, the new  TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text system unlocks a world where your phone system is smarter, more efficient, and more valuable than ever before.

"It’s been a wonderful experience working with Teleconnx powered with Deepgram. The team is so professional and experienced, having great customer support. Instant programmable solutions with a number of options. After upgrading to Deepgram we have experienced massive progress in daily sales, stats have gone up 25% from Google [STT] and paying 5 times less. Quality is extraordinary with Teleconnx's well-programmed integration with Deepgram, where we get 95% accuracy." 

– Salman Babar, Managing Member at Transcom Networks

With  TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text, you will experience lightning-fast and incredibly precise transcriptions that ensure your voice interactions remain smooth and uninterrupted. This is made possible by Deepgram’s industry-leading, real-time speech recognition technology–faster and more accurate than the competition–that  TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text incorporates to provide the fastest speech-to-text integration on the market. Capable of handling hundreds of simultaneous calls, it is perfect for businesses of all sizes looking to boost productivity and enhance their customer experience.

Moreover,  TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text helps your organization optimize its call handling process, automate routine tasks, and reduce response times. This leads to greater customer satisfaction, allowing your team to focus on more critical and value-added tasks. Additionally, transcribed phone calls are an often underutilized treasure trove of information, enabling you to gain valuable insights about customer behavior, preferences, and needs, paving the way for more targeted and effective communication strategies.

TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text is a game-changer for any organization looking to stay ahead of the pack in today's fast-paced, customer-first world. By upgrading your phone system today and unlocking the power of Deepgram’s industry-leading, real-time speech recognition technology, you can finally realize the true potential of your telecommunication infrastructure and propel your business to new heights. Don't miss the opportunity to experience the power and efficiency of  TeleConnx  Speech-to-Text. It's time to upgrade your phone system today and reap the rewards of unparalleled speed, accuracy, and seamless voice interactions.

We're excited about the possibilities that this partnership can bring to your customers and would love to hear from you.  Contact us  to talk to one of our product experts for more information today, or enjoy a free 30-day trial and be up and running in minutes by following this simple  3-step installation  process. We welcome your feedback, too! Please share it with us at  https://deepgram.hellonext.co/b/feedback . We can't wait to  hear  about what you want to build.

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Get conversational intelligence with transcription and understanding on the world's best speech AI platform.

Text to speech for asterisk using Google Translate

This script makes use of Google's translate text to speech service in order to render text to speech and play it back to the user. It supports a variety of different languages (See README for a complete list), local caching of the voice data and also supports 8kHz or 16kHz sample rates to provide the best possible sound quality along with the use of wideband codecs.

This TTS service is 'unofficial' and not supported by Google, it can be terminated at any point with no warning. People looking for TTS solutions to base their projects/products on should look for alternative, officially supported services.

Dependencies

perl : The Perl Programming Language perl-libwww : The World-Wide Web library for Perl perl-LWP-Protocol-https : For HTTPS support sox : Sound eXchange, sound processing program mpg123 : MPEG Audio Player and decoder format_sln : Raw slinear module for asterisk Internet access in order to contact google and get the voice data.

To install copy googletts.agi to your agi-bin directory. Usually this is /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin/ To make sure check your /etc/asterisk/asterisk.conf file.

agi(googletts.agi,text,[language],[intkey]) : This will invoke the Google TTS engine, render the text string to speech and play it back to the user. If 'intkey' is set the script will wait for user input. Any given interrupt keys will cause the playback to immediately terminate and the dialplan to proceed to the matching extension (for use in IVR). The script contacts google's TTS service in order to get the voice data which then stores in a local cache (by default /tmp/) for future use. Parameters like default language, use of cache and cache dir can be set up by the user.

Asterisk dialplan example:

The google TTS script for asterisk is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2

Lefteris Zafiris ([email protected])

The latest version is available in either zip or tar format.

You can also clone the project with Git by running:

Speech recognition for Asterisk Text translation using Google Translate API for Asterisk Speech synthesis using Microsoft Translator API for Asterisk Asterisk Flite text to speech module Asterisk e-Speak text to speech module

News | USC’s Daily Trojan publishes text of…

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News | USC’s Daily Trojan publishes text of valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s canceled speech – redacted

Turmoil over the commencement activities began last month following the selection of tabassum as valedictorian. her pro-palestine views led to complaints from some critics who contended that some of her postings on social media were antisemitic — claims she has denied..

Asna Tabassum, in a nod to how her planned address was silenced by the university, shared her speech with the Daily Trojan on Friday, where it was published in the school newspaper — redacted.

“President Folt, Provost Guzman, faculty, staff, families and fellow Class of 2024:

It is my honor to stand before you today as your Valedictorian. I am filled with gratitude to have the privilege of ….”

The rest of the text is blacked out.

According to the Trojan, the Class of 2024 valedictorian shared the speech “she hoped to deliver during the now-canceled May 10 main stage commencement ceremony with Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan. …..”

On Friday, Tabassum was expected to attend the university’s smaller graduation ceremony for engineering students, of which she is one.

According to Annenberg Media’s Instagram message: Tabassum would have given her now-canceled valedictory speech Friday at 8 a.m. at what would have been the university’s traditional mainstage graduation, which traditionally draws more than 60,000 attendees.

The annual USC graduation tradition grew complicated amid bitter division over the cancelled speech, a wave of campus pro-Palestine protests, a school closed to outsiders for days and an attempted encampment that led to 93 arrests.

According to Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan: “This speech is published as was written and shared by Tabassum. Annenberg Media and the Daily Trojan did not write, edit or change the speech or its presentation.”

A week after Tabassum was chosen as USC’s 2024 valedictorian, Provost Andrew Guzman said she would not speak at commencement, citing safety concerns and “intensity of feelings” fueled by “social media and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.”

Turmoil over the commencement activities began last month following the selection of Tabassum as valedictorian. Her pro-Palestine views led to complaints from some critics who contended that some of her postings on social media were antisemitic — claims she has denied.

The university responded by announcing that Tabassum would not be permitted to make a speech at the main stage commencement ceremony — a move the university’s provost insisted was done solely over safety concerns.

That decision, however, prompted an uproar of its own, with groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations calling it an act of cowardice aimed at silencing a pro-Palestinian viewpoint.

The demonstrations spread to other Southern California campuses from nearby UCLA and Cal State L.A. to Long Beach State on the coast, CSU Fullerton and UC Irvine in Orange County and UC Riverside in the Inland Empire.

In lieu of the traditional on-campus commencement, USC pulled together a university-wide “Trojan Family Graduation Celebration,” next door at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday evening. More than 18,000 people attended, according to the university.

Staff writers John Orona, Clara Harter, Linh Tat and City News Service contributed to this report 

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TTS Engine Path

Hello World,

I recently downloaded (SNG7-PBX16-64bit-2204-1.iso) and installed FreePBX 16.0.21.3 with all the defaults. I updated all the modules afterward.

However, I notice none of the “Text to Speech Engine” has an “Engine Path”. I have been trying to Google for this issue, but nothing really helps, other than only be able to locate flite is using /usr/bin/flite.

I see a bit of using Amazon/Google/Watson but it is a bit complicated for now. I was hoping to test out other TTS that suppose to come with the install.

you can compare yourself. . .

flite doesn’t cut it in 2022 . amazon, google cloud, and ibm (also micosoft azure) all need a ‘free’ account set up which is indeed a little ‘complicated’ and down line ‘not so free’

https://gtts.readthedocs.io/en/latest/cli.html

/usr/local/bin/gtts-cli

Yea, flite doesn’t really cut it…

I was hoping for a better out-of-the-box experience with FreePBX… I do know a bit of Linux, but again, none of the commands I know works. No apt, apt-get, pip, ipkg,opkg…

And that still begs the question… What are the default engine paths for all those TTS engines (e.g. text2wave, swift, pico, polly) listed in the default installation?

The ‘Distro’ is RedHat based, You apparently qre Debian based, there is a world of difference between essentially the same 'things

You need to learn a new dialect or follow an open source install into an OS of your choice, many recipes in the above linked wiki .

yep, the ‘yellowdog update manager’ perfect fit in 2022

OK, still not much luck finding out how to install gTTS or figuring out the paths for the other TTS Engines.

https://gtts.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

it needs python3, so install that and pip3 if you don’t alrwady have them, then use pip3 not pip from that link to make sure you are using python3

OK… I guess my linux skill is a bit outdated with RH distro…

Tried yum install python3

=-=-=-=-=-=-

Found another post suggesting a yum install python34 which seems to work. However, when I do a python --version it is still showing Python 2.7.5 .

Sorry. I am just not impressed with FreePBX distro at the moment…

Maybe once you get a little more current with your skills you will become more impressed at all that the FreePBX distro can do.

Sure. But at least can someone show me the commands or what needs to be done?

As dicko said, yum is old and outdated, but that’s the only command that seems to work. There is no dnf come with the distro either. I am not sure what else to try.

Even if my RH(?) skill is more current, I am still not impressed with the out-of-the-box experience with this distro. Starting with the missing path for TTS Engines… which gets me into this rabbit hole.

This is really making people jumping through hoops…

This is just great… sigh

There aren’t any TTS engines that come with FreePBX Distro… you have to install them yourself. I guess that’s what is confusing you.

E.g. to install Cepstral (Swift) - Cepstral - Download IVR/Telephony system TTS software

Follow their instructions to install it on your PBX and then go to the TTS Engines module in FreePBX to tell it where the swift binary is.

Or if you write a script to send text to Amazon Polly or Azure TTS engine and get the result back, you can point to that script.

Or install an open source engine, which seems to be what you are doing, but it’s probably the most difficult way and requires you to have a bit more linux skill.

ps: also just found a script written for Polly… check it out https://www.thewebmachine.net/wiki/freepbx-general/installing-aws-polly-tts-better-picotts-alternative

OK, the installation works, but pretty useless because it requires purchasing a license to work. Unless I am missing something.

found a script written for Polly… check it out https://www.thewebmachine.net/wiki/freepbx-general/installing-aws-polly-tts-better-picotts-alternative

OK, this is a bit more adventurous. Learned AWS along the way too. Installation seems to do its job. Added /usr/bin/node under polly in TTS Engines. But it is not working.

Oh boy, this is no smooth sailing… I have checked polly.js with the correct KeyId, AccessKey, region ‘ca-central-1’ and VoiceId ‘Joanna’ Gosh, what am I getting into.

Gosh. Finally, get polly to work… from bits and pieces of AWS document, the policy is called “AmazonPollyFullAccess”, once added to the user permission, it finally works.

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House passes bill to expand definition of antisemitism amid growing campus protests over Gaza war

Pro-Palestinian protesters camp out in tents at Columbia University on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in New York. With the death toll mounting in the war in Gaza, protesters nationwide are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus. (AP Photo)

FILE -President of Columbia University Nemat Shafik testifies before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on “Columbia in Crisis: Columbia University’s Response to Antisemitism” on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Columbia University president Nemat (Minouche) Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having worked at some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions.(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed legislation Wednesday that would establish a broader definition of antisemitism for the Department of Education to enforce anti-discrimination laws, the latest response from lawmakers to a nationwide student protest movement over the Israel-Hamas war.

The proposal, which passed 320-91 with some bipartisan support, would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal anti-discrimination law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin. It now goes to the Senate where its fate is uncertain.

Action on the bill was just the latest reverberation in Congress from the protest movement that has swept university campuses. Republicans in Congress have denounced the protests and demanded action to stop them, thrusting university officials into the center of the charged political debate over Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war was launched in October, after Hamas staged a deadly terrorist attack against Israeli civilians.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include the “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” Critics say the move would have a chilling effect on free speech throughout college campuses.

“Speech that is critical of Israel alone does not constitute unlawful discrimination,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said during a hearing Tuesday. “By encompassing purely political speech about Israel into Title VI’s ambit, the bill sweeps too broadly.”

Advocates of the proposal say it would provide a much-needed, consistent framework for the Department of Education to police and investigate the rising cases of discrimination and harassment targeted toward Jewish students.

“It is long past time that Congress act to protect Jewish Americans from the scourge of antisemitism on campuses around the country,” Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., said Tuesday.

The expanded definition of antisemitism was first adopted in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental group that includes the United States and European Union states, and has been embraced by the State Department under the past three presidential administrations, including Joe Biden’s

Previous bipartisan efforts to codify it into law have failed. But the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza have reignited efforts to target incidents of antisemitism on college campuses.

Separately, Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that several House committees will be tasked with a wide probe that ultimately threatens to withhold federal research grants and other government support for universities, placing another pressure point on campus administrators who are struggling to manage pro-Palestinian encampments, allegations of discrimination against Jewish students and questions of how they are integrating free speech and campus safety.

The House investigation follows several high-profile hearings that helped precipitate the resignations of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. And House Republicans promised more scrutiny, saying they were calling on the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to testify next month.

The House Oversight Committee took it one step further Wednesday, sending a small delegation of Republican members to an encampment at nearby George Washington University in the District of Columbia. GOP lawmakers spent the short visit criticizing the protests and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s refusal to send in the Metropolitan Police Department to disperse the demonstrators.

Bowser on Monday confirmed that the city and the district’s police department had declined the university’s request to intervene. “We did not have any violence to interrupt on the GW campus,” Bowser said, adding that police chief Pamela Smith made the ultimate decision. “This is Washington, D.C., and we are, by design, a place where people come to address the government and their grievances with the government.”

It all comes at a time when college campuses and the federal government are struggling to define exactly where political speech crosses into antisemitism. Dozens of U.S. universities and schools face civil rights investigations by the Education Department over allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Among the questions campus leaders have struggled to answer is whether phrases like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered under the definition of antisemitism.

The proposed definition faced strong opposition from several Democratic lawmakers, Jewish organizations as well as free speech advocates.

In a letter sent to lawmakers Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union urged members to vote against the legislation, saying federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment.

“H.R. 6090 is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism,” the letter stated.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the centrist pro-Israel group J Street, said his organization opposes the bipartisan proposal because he sees it as an “unserious” effort led by Republicans “to continually force votes that divide the Democratic caucus on an issue that shouldn’t be turned into a political football.”

Associated Press writers Ashraf Khalil, Collin Binkley and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

Putin starts new six-year term with challenge to the West

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Peru authorities investigate president as brother arrested

Peruvian authorities said on Friday that they had launched an investigation into President Dina Boluarte for disbanding a special police force that had been investigating her brother, who was detained earlier in the day.

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Transcript: Read Biden’s Remarks at a Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony

Here is the president’s complete speech, which lasted about 16 minutes.

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By The New York Times

• May 7, 2024

President Biden delivered these remarks on Tuesday at the Capitol for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance.

Thank you, Stu, for that introduction, for your leadership of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. You’re a true scholar and statesman and a dear friend. Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, members of Congress and especially the survivors of the Holocaust. If my mother were here, she’d look at you and say, “God love you all. God love you all.”

Abe Foxman and all of the survivors who embody absolute courage and dignity and grace are here as well. During these sacred days of remembrance, we grieve. We give voice to the six million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes who stood up to Hitler’s unspeakable evil. And we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history, to revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again.

Never again, simply translated for me, means never forget. Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, must keep teaching the truth, must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren. The truth is, we are at risk of people not knowing the truth. That’s why growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah at our family dinner table. That’s why I visited Yad Vashem with my family as a senator, as vice president, as president. And that’s why I took my grandchildren to Dachau, so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence, in the face of evil they knew was happening.

Germany 1933, Hitler and his Nazi Party’s rise to power by rekindling one of the oldest forms of prejudice and hate: antisemitism. His role didn’t begin with mass murder; it started slowly across economic, political, social and cultural life. Propaganda demonizing Jews. Boycotts of Jewish businesses. Synagogues defaced with swastikas. Harassment of Jews in the street and the schools, antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots. With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide, the Nazis called the final solution. Concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings. By the time the war ended, six million Jews — one of every three Jews in the entire world — were murdered.

This ancient hatred of Jews didn’t begin with the Holocaust. It didn’t end with the Holocaust either. Or after — even after our victory in World War II. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness. That hatred was brought to life on October 7th of 2023. On the sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people, babies, parents, grandparents, slaughtered in a kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted.

Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets and shrapnel from a memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah. Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and half months later and people are already forgetting. They are already forgetting. That Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten nor have you. And we will not forget.

As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocity and the trauma of that day and its aftermath, we have seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world. Vicious propaganda on social media. Jews forced to keep their — hide their kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts. On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class. Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans, calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.

Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas’s appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It’s absolutely despicable, and it must stop. Silence and denial can hide much, but it can erase nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be married — buried — no matter how hard people try.

In my view, a major lesson of the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier, it is not — was not — inevitable. We know hate never goes away; it only hides. Given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks. We also know what stops hate. One thing: All of us. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sachs described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time. Together, we cannot continue to let that happen. We have to remember our basic principle as a nation.

We have an obligation, an obligation to learn the lessons of history so we don’t surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone. Anyone. From the very founding, our very founding, Jewish Americans represented only about 2 percent of the U.S. population and helped lead the cause of freedom for everyone in our nation. From that experience, we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy.

It’s in moments like this we have to put these principles that we’re talking about into action. I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In America, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech. To debate, disagree, to protest peacefully, make our voices heard. I understand, that’s America. But there is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind. Whether against Jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law, and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.

The Jewish community, I want you to know: I see your fear, your hurt, your pain. Let me reassure you, as your president, you’re not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will. And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad even when we disagree.

My administration is working around the clock to free remaining hostages. Just so we have freed hostages already. And we will not rest until we bring them all home. My administration, with our second gentleman’s leadership, has launched our nation’s first national strategy to counter antisemitism that’s mobilizing the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish community, but we know it’s not the work of government alone or Jews alone.

That’s why I’m calling on all Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms. My dear friend, he became a friend, the late Elie Wiesel said, quote: “One person of integrity can make a difference.” We have to remember that now more than ever. Here in the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol, among the towering statues of history, is a bronze bust of Raoul Wallenberg. Born in Sweden, as a Lutheran, he was a businessman and a diplomat. While stationed in Hungary during World War II, he used diplomatic cover to hide and rescue about 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.

Among them was a 16-year-old Jewish boy who escaped a Nazi labor camp. After the war ended, that boy received a scholarship from the Hillel Foundation to study in America. He came to New York City penniless but determined to turn his pain into purpose, along with his wife, also a Holocaust survivor. He became a renowned economist and foreign policy thinker, eventually making his way to this very Capitol on the staff of a first-term senator.

That Jewish refugee was Tom Lantos, and that senator was me. Tom and his wife, Annette, and their family became dear friends to me and my family. Tom would go on to become the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, where he became a leading voice on civil rights and human rights around the world. Tom never met Raoul, who was taken prisoner by the Soviets, never to be heard from again. But through Tom’s efforts, Raoul’s bust is here in the Capitol. He was also given honorary U.S. citizenship, only the second person ever after Winston Churchill.

The Holocaust Museum here in Washington is located on a roll — road — in Raoul’s name. The story of the power of a single person to put aside our differences, to see our common humanity, to stand up to hate and its ancient story of resilience from immense pain, persecution, to find hope, purpose and meaning in life we try to live and share with one another. That story endures.

Let me close with this. I know these days of remembrance fall on difficult times. We all do well to remember these days also fall during the month we celebrate Jewish American heritage. A heritage that stretches from our earliest days to enrich every single part of American life today. Great American — great Jewish American — Tom Lantos used the phrase the veneer of civilization is paper-thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest.

My fellow Americans, we must, we must be those guardians. We must never rest. We must rise against hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity. And God bless the victims and survivors of the Shoah. May the resilient hearts, courageous spirit and eternal flame of faith of the Jewish people shine their light on America and all around the world. Praise God. Thank you all.

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Campus protests over the Gaza war

Biden says he supports the right to protest but denounces 'chaos' and hate speech.

NPR Washington Desk

President Biden gives remarks about student protests over the war in Gaza from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

President Biden gives remarks about student protests over the war in Gaza from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Thursday.

President Biden defended the protests roiling college campuses across the country, but also emphasized the importance of the rule of law and denounced hate speech of any kind.

The president gave the brief, hastily arranged remarks from the White House Thursday morning following days of colleges and universities struggling to contain pro-Palestinian protests.

House passes bill aimed to combat antisemitism amid college unrest

How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words

"We've all seen images and they put to the test two fundamental American principles," Biden said. "The first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard. The second is rule of law. Both must be upheld."

He said people have a right to get an education and freely walk across campus without fear. "There's the right to protest but no the right to cause chaos," he said.

Biden added that there is no place for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind in America.

Watch his remarks below.

Biden’s speech at the Holocaust remembrance ceremony, annotated

By Zachary B. Wolf and Annette Choi , CNN

Published May 7, 2024

President Joe Biden talked about the documented increase of antisemitism in the United States during the annual US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the US Capitol building. Every recent president has made remarks at least once at the event, but Biden’s remarks came as pro-Palestinian protests have disrupted classes and commencements at multiple US universities . At times, rhetoric at those protests has veered into antisemitism, offended Jewish students and sparked a fierce debate about free speech.

Biden talked in-depth about the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli hostages that remain in captivity . He did not mention Israel’s heavy-handed response, which has not only destroyed much of Gaza and cost tens of thousands of lives but has also driven a wedge between Biden and many progressives, particularly on college campuses. See below for what he said , along with context from CNN.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Stu Eizenstat, for that introduction, for your leadership of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . You are a true scholar and statesman and a dear friend.

Speaker Johnson , Leader Jeffries, members of Congress and especially the survivors of the Holocaust. If my mother were here, she’d look at you and say, “God love you all. God love you all.”

Abe Foxman and all other survivors who embody absolute courage and dignity and grace are here as well.

During these sacred days of remembrance we grieve, we give voice to the 6 million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes who stood up to Hitler's unspeakable evil. And we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons that one of the darkest chapters in human history to revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again.

The Days of Remembrance commemoration has been an annual event since 1982. Every US president since Bill Clinton has spoken at least once at a remembrance event.

House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke shortly before Biden and tried to compare the situation on college campuses today with that on college campuses in Germany in the 1930s.

Never again, simply translated for me, means never forget, never forget. Never forgetting means we must must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth, we must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren. And the truth is we are at risk of people not knowing the truth.

That's why, growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah at our family dinner table.

Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

That's why I visited Yad Vashem with my family as a senator, as vice president and as president. And that's why I took my grandchildren to Dachau , so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that they knew was happening.

Biden visited Yad Vashem , Israel’s Holocaust remembrance site, in 2022 as president.

As vice president, he toured the Nazi concentration camp outside Munich in 2015 with his granddaughter during a trip for an annual security conference.

Germany, 1933, Hitler and his Nazi party rise to power by rekindling one of the world's oldest forms of prejudice and hate — antisemitism.

His rule didn't begin with mass murder. It started slowly across economic, political, social and cultural life — propaganda demonizing Jews, boycotts of Jewish businesses, synagogues defaced with swastikas, harassment of Jews in the street and in the schools, antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots.

With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide the Nazis called the final solution. Concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings. By the time the war ended, 6 million Jews, one out of every three Jews in the entire world, were murdered.

This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust. It didn't end with the Holocaust either, or after, even after our victory in World War II. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.

The Holocaust survivor Irene Butter wrote for CNN Opinion in 2021 about Adolf Hitler’s rise and echoes of Nazism in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

That hatred was brought to life on October 7th in 2023. On the sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Read mo re about Hamas .

Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people — babies, parents, grandparents — slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted .

Evidence of sexual violence has been documented. Here’s the account of one Israeli woman who has spoken publicly about her experience.

Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah.

Now here we are, not 75 years later but just seven-and-a-half months later and people are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. That it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget.

On May 7, 1945, the German High Command agreed to an unconditional surrender in World War II, 79 years ago.

And as Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we've seen a ferocious surge of anti s emitism in America and around the world.

In late October, FBI Director Christopher Wray said reports of antisemitism in the US were reaching “ historic ” levels.

Vicious propaganda on social media, Jews forced to keep their — hide their kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts.

On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class . Antisemitism, antisemitic posters , slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state.

Many Jewish students have described feeling intimidated and attacked on campuses. Others have said they support the protests , citing the situation in Gaza.

Last month, the dean of the University of California Berkeley Law School described antisemitic posters that targeted him.

Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas' appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It's absolutely despicable and it must stop.

Silence. Silence and denial can hide much but it can erase nothing.

Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they cannot be married – buried, no matter how hard people try.

In my view, a major lesson of the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier, is it not, was not inevitable.

We know hate never goes away. It only hides. And given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.

We also know what stops hate. One thing: All of us. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time.

Together, we cannot continue to let that happen. We have to remember our basic principle as a nation. We have an obligation. We have an obligation to learn the lessons of history so we don't surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone. Anyone.

From the very founding, our very founding, Jewish Americans , who represented only about 2% of the US population , have helped lead the cause of freedom for everyone in our nation. From that experience we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy.

As of 2020, Jewish Americans made up about 2.4% of the US population, according to the Pew Research Center , or about 5.8 million people.

So moments like this we have to put these principles that we're talking about into action.

I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world .

In America we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard . I understand. That's America.

The complaint of many protesters is that Israel’s response to the terror attack has claimed more than 30,000 lives and destroyed much of Gaza .

But there is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

Whether against Jews or anyone else, violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It's against the law and we are not a lawless country. We're a civil society. We uphold the rule of law and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.

To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt and your pain.

Let me reassure you as your president, you're not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.

My administration is working around the clock to free remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already, and will not rest until we bring them all home.

My administration, with our second gentleman's leadership, has launched our nation's first national strategy to counter antisemitism. That's mobilizing the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish communities.

But we know this is not the work of government alone or Jews alone. That's why I’m calling on all Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.

My dear friend — and he became a friend — the late Elie Wiesel said, quote, “One person of integrity can make a difference.”

Elie Wiesel , the Holocaust survivor, writer and activist, died in 2016.

We have to remember that, now more than ever.

Here in Emancipation Hall in the US Capitol, among the towering statues of history is a bronze bust of Raoul Wallenberg . Born in Sweden as a Lutheran, he was a businessman and a diplomat. While stationed in Hungary during World War II, he used diplomatic cover to hide and rescue about 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.

Read more about Wallenberg , the Holocaust hero and Swedish diplomat who was formally declared dead in 2016, 71 years after he vanished.

Among them was a 16-year-old Jewish boy who escaped a Nazi labor camp. After the war ended, that boy received a scholarship from the Hillel Foundation to study in America. He came to New York City penniless but determined to turn his pain into purpose. Along with his wife, also a Holocaust survivor, he became a renowned economist and foreign policy thinker, eventually making his way to this very Capitol on the staff of a first-term senator.

That Jewish refugee was Tom Lantos and that senator was me. Tom and his wife and Annette and their family became dear friends to me and my family. Tom would go on to become the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, where he became a leading voice on civil rights and human rights around the world. Tom never met Raoul, who was taken prisoner by the Soviets, never to be heard from again.

Read more about Lantos , the longtime congressman and Holocaust survivor who died in 2008. Lantos worked for Biden early in his career.

But through Tom's efforts, Raoul’s bust is here in the Capitol. He was also given honorary US citizenship, only the second person ever after Winston Churchill. The Holocaust Museum here in Washington is located in a road in Raoul’s name.

The story of the power of a single person to put aside our differences, to see our common humanity, to stand up to hate and its ancient story of resilience from immense pain, persecution, to find hope, purpose and meaning in life, we try to live and share with one another. That story endures.

Let me close with this. I know these days of remembrance fall on difficult times. We all do well to remember these days also fall during the month we celebrate Jewish American heritage, a heritage that stretches from our earliest days to enrich every single part of American life today.

There are important topics Biden did not address. He referenced the October 7 attacks on Israel but not Israel’s controversial response, which has drawn furious protests. He failed to mention Gaza, where Israel’s military campaign has killed so many, and which has led the World Food Programme to warn of a “full-blown famine .”

A great American — a great Jewish American named Tom Lantos — used the phrase “the veneer of civilization is paper thin.” We are its guardians, and we can never rest.

My fellow Americans, we must, we must be those guardians. We must never rest. We must rise Against hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity. And God bless the victims and survivors of the Shoah.

May the resilient hearts, the courageous spirit and the eternal flame of faith of the Jewish people forever shine their light on America and around the world, pray God.

Thank you all.

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