State Department Still Has No Anti-Semitism Monitor
U.S. State Department building, Washington, D.C. Image by Wikipedia Commons
(JTA) — The position of anti-Semitism monitor has not been filled by President Trump more than a year after it was vacated.
In addition, the State Department’s office to monitor and combat anti-Semitism has been unstaffed since July 1.
A State Department official in January told JTA that the Trump administration considers the position of anti-Semitism monitor “crucial” and hopes to name one “soon.” The official did not provide a timeline on when the special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism would be appointed. But the tone was a pronounced change from the summer, when then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the position was not necessary and the issue was best handled by other departments in the agency.
In a letter to Trump dated Monday, the Anti-Defamation League called on the president to “make this critical appointment without delay.”
“Anti-Semitism is escalating at an alarming pace around the globe,” said the letter, highlighting the murder of a Holocaust survivor in Paris and anti-Semitism in the Labour Party in Britain that led to a protest march by Jews there. The ADL also referred to the firebombing of two synagogues in Sweden in the last year and the increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric in Poland.
The White House and the State Department did not respond on Tuesday to a JTA query on the anti-Semitism monitor.
Congress mandated the position of special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism in 2004 with the passage of the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act. The measure directs the State Department to establish the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, to be headed by the special envoy.
Ira Forman, the former executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, most recently served in the envoy position under President Barack Obama. A political appointee, Forman resigned when Obama left office.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
