SEPTEMBER 16 • 2021 | 29
NATIONAL
P
resident Joe Biden
will nominate
Deborah Lipstadt,
the Emory University
Holocaust historian, to
be the State Department’s
antisemitism envoy.
The White House alerted
top Biden supporters of the
pick, which has been expect-
ed for weeks, in late July.
Lipstadt is perhaps
best known for defeating
Holocaust denier David
Irving after he sued her
in a British court for def-
amation for calling him a
Holocaust denier. Her 2005
book, History on Trial: My
Day in Court with a Holocaust
Denier, was made into a
2016 movie with Rachel
Weisz starring as Lipstadt.
Lipstadt, 74, has been for
years a go-to expert for the
media and for legislators on
Holocaust issues, particu-
larly on how the genocide’s
meaning should be under-
stood in the 21st century,
and whether it had any
cognates among anti-dem-
ocratic forces in the current
day. She 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 long-
standing taboo on compar-
ing present-day American
politicians to the Nazis
and endorsed 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 insti-
tutions, elected officials and
even, and most chillingly,
the electoral process, that
this deserves comparison,”
she said at the time. refer-
ring to the JDCA ad. “It’s
again showing how the pub-
lic’s hatred can be whipped
up against Jews. Had the ad
contained imagery of the
Shoah, I wouldn’t be here
today.”
Jewish organizations,
alarmed by a spike in
antisemitism, have been
pressing the Biden admin-
istration to name an envoy
and to name a Jewish liaison
to the community — anoth-
er post that White House
officials said would be filled
soon. The Trump admin-
istration 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 cre-
ated the position in 2004.
Congress last year elevated
the role to ambassador-lev-
el, 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 mon-
itor’s role is tracking and
reporting on the phenome-
non overseas, and lobbying
governments to address
anti-Jewish bigotry within
their borders. The position
does not have a domestic
role.
OSNAT PERELSHTEIN
Deborah Lipstadt, noted Holocaust historian, is Biden’s pick.
New Antisemitism Envoy
RON KAMPEAS JTA.ORG
Deborah Lipstadt, the renowned Holocaust historian, is the author
of the forthcoming book Antisemitism Here and Now.