APRIL 7 • 2022 | 61

T

he Senate in a voice 
vote on March 30 
unanimously con-
firmed Deborah Lipstadt, 
the Holocaust scholar who 
endured delays and a con-
tentious hearing in her nom-
ination to be antisemitism 
monitor.
The vote took mere seconds. 
“The ayes appear to have it,” 
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the 
Wisconsin Democrat who was 
presiding over the session, 
said after calling for a vote. 
“The ayes do have it. The 
nomination is confirmed.” 
There were no “Nos.”
It was not clear from the 
C-Span video, which Georgia 
Democrat Jon Ossoff posted 
on his Twitter feed, how many 
senators were present for the 
vote to confirm Lipstadt to the 
State Department role.
Still, the fact that none of 
Lipstadt’s erstwhile Republican 

critics demanded debate or 
a headcount — actions that 
could have further delayed her 
nomination — was in sharp 
contrast to the procedural 
maneuvers Republicans used 
for months to delay her con-
firmation.
Ossoff introduced the 
motion to nominate Lipstadt 
in part because he represents 
Georgia, where Lipstadt teach-
es at Emory University, but he 
also noted his Jewish roots in 
his 4-minute speech.
“It was U.S. forces who 
liberated Dachau and 
Buchenwald. and Annie 
and Israel, my great-grand-
parents, they got out of 
Europe,” Ossoff said. “Many 
of my family did not, Madam 
President, and they perished 
in the Holocaust. This isn’t 
ancient history. This is recent 
history. And right now as 
we speak, the scourge of 

antisemitism is rising again, 
in this country and around 
the world. If we mean the 
words ‘never again,’ then at 
long last, Madam President, 
let’s confirm Deborah 
Lipstadt to fight antisemi-
tism on behalf of the United 
States.”
Lipstadt is now the first 
antisemitism monitor to have 
the role of ambassador, under 
a law passed by Congress in 
2020, which enhances her sta-
tus overseas when she makes 
representations to foreign gov-
ernments and allows her more 
direct access to the secretary 
of state and to the president 
should she come across a situ-
ation that she believes requires 
executive action.
The fact that the rank of 
ambassador means the role 
requires Senate confirmation 
subjected Lipstadt to scruti-
ny. Her sharp past criticisms 

of former President Donald 
Trump, and particularly of 
Wisconsin Republican Sen. 
Ron Johnson, led to delays 
and a contentious hear-
ing in February. Only two 
Republicans on the Foreign 
Relations Committee joined 
Democrats earlier this week 
in advancing the nomination.
A broad array of Jewish and 
pro-Israel groups advocated 
on behalf of Lipstadt, includ-
ing groups like the Orthodox 
Union and Christians United 
for Israel that maintain close 
ties with Republicans.
Lipstadt, 75, has been for 
years a go-to expert for the 
media and for legislators on 
Holocaust issues, particularly 
on how the genocide’s mean-
ing should be understood in 
the 21st century, and whether 
it had any cognates among 
anti-democratic forces in the 
current day. 

RON KAMPEAS JTA

SPOTLIGHT

Senate 
Unanimously 
Confirms 
Deborah Lipstadt 
as Antisemitism 
Monitor

Deborah Lipstadt walks a red carpet for “Denial” during the 11th 
Rome Film Festival at Auditorium Parco Della Musica in Rome, 
Oct. 17, 2016. 

ELISABETTA A. VILLA/WIREIMAGE VIA GETTY IMAGES

