Deborah Lipstadt set to be new US antisemitism envoy
President Joe Biden is set to name prominent Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt as the new US antisemitism envoy.
President Joe Biden is set to nominate Deborah Lipstadt, the prominent Holocaust historian, to be the State Department’s antisemitism envoy.
The White House alerted top Biden supporters of the pick, which has been expected for weeks, on Thursday night.
Lipstadt is perhaps best known for defeating Holocaust denier David Irving after he sued her in the High Court for defamation for calling him a Holocaust denier.
Lipstadt, 74, has been for years a go-to expert for the media and for legislators on Holocaust issues, particularly on how the genocide’s meaning should be understood in the 21st century, and whether it had any cognates among anti-democratic forces in the current day.
The Emory University academic twice endorsed Barack Obama for president but has been on call for her expertise across the political spectrum.
Last year, during the election, she broke a longstanding taboo on comparing present-day American politicians to the Nazis by endorsing an ad by the Jewish Democratic Council of America likening the Trump administration to 1930s Germany.
Lipstadt said Holocaust analogies were still off-limits, but she could see parallels to the rise of the Nazis.
“I would say in the attacks we’re seeing on the press, the courts, academic institutions, elected officials and even, and most chillingly, the electoral process, that this deserves comparison,” she said at the time. referring to the JDCA ad.
“It’s again showing how the public’s hatred can be whipped up against Jews. Had the ad contained imagery of the Shoah, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Jewish organisations, alarmed by a spike in antisemitism, have been pressing the Biden administration to name an envoy and to name a Jewish liaison to the community — another post that White House officials said would be filled soon. The Trump administration took two years to name an envoy.
Lipstadt will be the first nominee who will need to be confirmed by the Senate since Congress first created the position in 2004. Congress last year elevated the role to ambassador-level, granting the position more funding and easier access to the secretary of state and the president. If Lipstadt is confirmed, she will be the fifth person in the position.
The antisemitism monitor’s role is tracking and reporting on the phenomenon overseas, and lobbying governments to address anti-Jewish bigotry within their borders.
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