Envoy sees ‘increased overt willingness’ to express antisemitic views

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt keeps a picture on her desk in the State Department of a “lovely looking,” well-dressed young woman smiling and participating in a march and holding up a sign.

The sign had a garbage can on it, and in the garbage can was a Jewish star with the words “Clean up the streets.”

It is a reminder for Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, that cases of antisemitism are not always perpetrated by brazen neo-Nazis or individuals carrying swastikas.

Lipstadt was unanimously confirmed to her role in 2022 and has worked with foreign counterparts to address a global rise in antisemitism. Her job has become increasingly urgent in the aftermath of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, which set off a surge in cases of antisemitism in the United States and abroad.

“What we're seeing since Oct. 7 is increased brashness, if you will, and increased overt willingness to openly express it,” Lipstadt said in an interview. “Where in the past people have been a little more resigned or discrete or reserved about openly expressing antisemitism, now it's out there.”

Lipstadt is a professor at Emory University who has taught about antisemitism and the Holocaust for decades and has described fighting hatred against Jews as her “life’s work.” She has designed exhibits at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and represented the White House in 2005 at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The special envoy role was elevated to the rank of ambassador through bipartisan legislation signed into law in January 2021.

Lipstadt said she came into the job with two objectives, the first of which was to get people to take antisemitism seriously.

“But now the conditions have eliminated my need to do that because most countries are taking it very seriously,” she said.

Her other goal, which she said is still “quite necessary,” is to help people understand what antisemitism is and how it differs from other forms of prejudice. She cited the persistent myths and conspiracy theories about Jews and the view among some that Jews are trying to control the world and must be stopped.

“So it’s to get people to perceive of, understand that antisemitism is a threat against Jews of course and the welfare of Jews, and that alone would make it something worth fighting, but it’s also a threat to democracy, to national stability and to national security,” she said.

Because Lipstadt works at the State Department, much of her focus is outside the borders of the United States working with colleagues at the international level to see how they can identify and address global trends and use best practices at the domestic level. She has been to Rome, Paris and Berlin and met with leaders of other countries. 

At least some of her work does directly involve addressing antisemitism at home, however. Lipstadt was a central figure in helping to develop the Biden administration’s national strategy to combat antisemitism.

The May unveiling of the strategy marked the first time the federal government has formulated a national effort to fight antisemitism. The strategy included more than 100 provisions that call for congressional action, increased monitoring by technology platforms and improved education at the civic level.

While antisemitism has existed for millennia, as Biden administration officials like to say, it has especially reared its head in recent years in the United States and abroad.

“I used to talk about a surge or a spike in antisemitism, now I talk about a tsunami in antisemitism,” Lipstadt said.

A gunman killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. A gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, Calif., in 2019.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in 2021 equated COVID-19 vaccination and mask rules with the Holocaust and promoted a conspiracy theory that a space laser controlled by a wealthy Jewish family started the 2018 California wildfires. Former President Donald Trump drew backlash in 2022 for meeting with Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) was censured by the House earlier this fall for comments deemed antisemitic by a majority of the House.

Cases of antisemitism have surged in the months since Hamas on Oct. 7 carried out terrorist attacks against Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people, triggering an escalation in fighting in Gaza that has left thousands of Palestinians dead.

Jewish businesses have faced protests and vandalism, and antisemitic graffiti has been discovered on college campuses since Oct. 7. Just this week, major university presidents came under scrutiny after they declined to say if a call for the genocide of Jewish people would be considered harassment under their campus policies.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading organization tracking and fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate, has seen a nearly 300 percent increase in the U.S. in antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of those attacks, with similar increases around the world, said Dan Garot, ADL’s director of government relations.

Last year featured the highest number of reported antisemitic incidents on record, breaking the record set just one year earlier, according to ADL statistics.

The Anti-Defamation League has for years pushed for increased resources for the office of the special envoy fighting antisemitism.

“She’s one of the foremost experts on antisemitism in the world, and we could not have a better special envoy in this moment and in this time in history,” Garot said, adding that Lipstadt has been one of the most sought after speakers for the group’s events because of her combination of academic expertise and diplomatic experience.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), who helped pass the legislation that elevated the special envoy role to an ambassador-level job and introduced Lipstadt at her confirmation hearing, called Lipstadt’s work “more important than ever.”

“Deborah Lipstadt has devoted her life to fighting back against antisemitism,” Rosen said in a statement to The Hill. “Now, as anti-Jewish bigotry has reached a new fever pitch, her work is more important than ever. We are fortunate to have her in a position of leadership where she continually provides wisdom and moral clarity in our shared mission to counter the rise of antisemitic hate wherever it rears its ugly head.”