Historian Professor Deborah Lipstadt has been appointed to the post of US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
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The Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism was created by Congress in 2004 to raise consciousness about the rising menace of antisemitism, and press governments and multilateral institutions to take action to safeguard vulnerable Jewish communities.
Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, received the AJC Jewish Leadership Award in 2016 for being a "champion of the Jewish people and the rights and dignity of all people, guardian of historical truth and memory," noting that "your great dedication and ceaseless efforts inspire us all."
Her highly acclaimed book, Antisemitism Here and Now, published in 2019, is widely considered an essential primer on the age-old hatred of Jews.
In 1986, Lipstadt published Beyond Belief: The American Press & the Coming of the Holocaust 1933-1945, which documents how the American media ignored reports of the Holocaust and the events leading up to it. In Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (1993), Lipstadt discussed Holocaust denier David Irving, who proceeded to sue her for libel. After a five-year-trial in London, the presiding court ruled in favor of Lipstadt in April 2000. She tells the story of the legal battle in her book History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving, which was made into a feature film, Denial, starring Rachel Weisz.
The American Jewish Committee welcomed the appointment of Lipstadt to the post on Friday, saying in a statement to the press that "The Biden administration has chosen wisely in appointing Deborah Lipstadt to fill this ambassadorial post."
"Professor Lipstadt is one of this country's, indeed the world's, foremost experts on modern antisemitism, its constant morphing and multiple sources, and the current challenges to confronting it," the AJC wrote, adding that the organization looked forward to "partnering to advance the envoy office's mission."
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