Deborah Lipstadt confirmed as US antisemitism envoy
Following an eight-month delay, on March 30 the US Senate unanimously confirmed noted antisemitism scholar Deborah Lipstadt to be the State Department’s special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination one day earlier, with only two Republican senators, Mitt Romney from Utah and Marco Rubio from Florida, voting in favor.
Biden had nominated Lipstadt in July to lead the State Department’s office for combating antisemitism. Jewish groups across the spectrum hailed the nomination and strongly advocated for Lipstadt, an Emory University professor who has taught about antisemitism for 40 years and published numerous books on the subject. Last year, she served as an expert witness in the Charlottesville civil suit against the organizers of the Unite the Right rally that turned deadly.
