Jewish Ledger
These names are being talked about to be the US antisemitism monitor
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON (JTA) Nancy Kaufman, the former CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, said this week that she had been in touch with the Biden administration about becoming this country’s newly empowered antisemitism monitor.
Kaufman revealed her contact in the
Forward in a story about how progressive Jewish groups appear to be coalescing around her candidacy.
She confirmed it on Wednesday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, saying that a number of people outside the administration urged her to apply for the job, so she made her interest known to people inside the Biden administration.
These names are being talked about to be the US anti-Semitism monitor April 7, 2021 5:34 pm Nancy Kaufman, seen in January 2019, said a number of people outside the Biden administration urged her to apply for the monitor s post, so she made her interest known to people inside the administration. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
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WASHINGTON (JTA) Nancy Kaufman, the former CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, said this week that she had been in touch with the Biden administration about becoming this country’s newly empowered anti-Semitism monitor.
Kaufman revealed her contact in the Forward in a story about how progressive Jewish groups appear to be coalescing around her candidacy.
At the height of the debate over Israel’s possible annexation of the West Bank last summer, J Street, the liberal pro-Israel group, was urging followers on social media to write to Senators opposing the move.
Elan Carr, the State Department’s envoy to combat antisemitism, jumped in to take exception to J Street’s use in a Tweet of a photo of then-President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the White House as Jared Kushner and two other Jewish advisers looked on. “How dare @jstreetdotorg use this picture in this context,” Carr said in a message from his government Twitter account. “Their imagery uses #Antisemitism and crude anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to advance their agenda.”
Jewish Ledger
Biden has new tools to fight antisemitism
By Kenneth L. Marcus
(JNS) President-elect Joe Biden has two new tools that can help him in his professed priority to strengthen international ties, support human rights and combat antisemitism. The new tools play well to Biden’s foreign-relations experience and enduring belief in internationalism, which favors intergovernmental alliances, democratic cooperation and a liberal rule-based order.
First, in late December, Congress passed legislation elevating the State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism to ambassadorial status. This should enable the Biden administration to fight antisemitism more effectively on a global scale.
The outgoing special envoy, Elan Carr, did a remarkable job raising public awareness about the world’s oldest hatred. His predecessors in prior administrations–Ira Forman, Hannah Rosenthal and Greg Rickman–were also strong.