Deborah Lipstadt walks a red carpet for ‘Denial’ during the 11th Rome Film Festival. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images) Deborah Lipstadt has reportedly been selected to serve as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Both Jewish Insider and The Forward have reported on the move; Lipstadt has declined to comment to both publications on the matter.
Lipstadt, a Jewish and Holocaust studies professor at Emory University, is the author of the books “Antisemitism Here and Now” and “History on Trial: My Day in Court With a Holocaust Denier”; the latter chronicles when she sued David Irving for defamation after he sued her for calling him a Holocaust denier, while the former won a National Jewish Book award in 2019. She has also been an advocate of changing the spelling of “anti-Semitism” to “antisemitism.”
Representative Ted Deutch (D-FL) praised the reported selection of Lipstadt in a tweet.
“Biden made an excellent choice in selecting Deborah Lipstadt to serve as the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism,” he wrote. “She will bring to this role extensive experience and a deep understanding of historic and modern day antisemitism.
“Especially amid the years-long rise in global antisemitism, Deborah is the leader we need to push governments to take this deadly threat seriously.”
.@POTUS Biden made an excellent choice in selecting Deborah Lipstadt to serve as the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
She will bring to this role extensive experience and a deep understanding of historic and modern day antisemitism. (1/3) https://t.co/oDg4gfo5dK
— Ted Deutch (@RepTedDeutch) July 30, 2021
Especially amid the years-long rise in global antisemitism, Deborah is the leader we need to push governments to take this deadly threat seriously.
(2/3)— Ted Deutch (@RepTedDeutch) July 30, 2021
“Mazal tov to the remarkable @deborahlipstadt!” the progressive Zionist organization Zioness tweeted. “An inspired choice by [President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken]!”
Mazal tov to the remarkable @deborahlipstadt! An inspired choice by @POTUS @SecBlinken! https://t.co/NgKe5jaPb0
— Zioness (@ZionessMovement) July 30, 2021
Mark Weitzmann, Director of Government Affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center who had also been a candidate for the job, told Jewish Insider, “She has a history of engaged scholarship. She has a history of being willing to speak out and fight antisemitism when she sees it. And I think she’s got to be a really strong and vigorous advocate for an administration that has committed itself to fighting antisemitism.”
If selected, Lipstadt would succeed Elan Carr in the role, who served from February 2018-January 2021.
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