Senate Approves Deborah Lipstadt Nomination For Antisemitism Envoy

Deborah Lipstadt has been approved by the Senate to be the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

ATLANTA— Eight months after her nomination, Emory University professor Deborah Lipstadt was confirmed on March 30 by the Senate to be the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

President Joe Biden nominated Lipstadt on July 30. After months of delay resulting from Republican objections to Lipstadt’s social media posts, the nomination was approved by the Senate, without opposition, in a late-night voice vote. Senate confirmation was required, as the position has been elevated to ambassadorial status.

As he called for the vote, Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff spoke of his great-grandparents, who fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe and emigrated to America. “And right now, as we speak, the scourge of antisemitism is rising again in this country and around the world,” Ossoff said. “If we mean the words ‘never again,’ then at long last, Madam President, let’s confirm Deborah Lipstadt to fight antisemitism on behalf of the United States.”

The 75-year-old Lipstadt is expected to take a leave of absence from Emory, where she is the Dorot professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies in Emory’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies and religion department.

As of this writing, Lipstadt has not commented publicly on her confirmation, which was hailed by a range of national Jewish groups and one Atlanta rabbi in particular. On Twitter, Rabbi Adam Starr of Congregation Ohr HaTorah wrote, “Mazal Tov to my dear congregant, teacher and friend @deborahlipstadt Thank you for serving the United States and the Jewish people.”

Lipstadt is the second woman from Atlanta’s Jewish community to be confirmed for an ambassadorial post this year. Michèle Taylor received Senate approval in February and is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Watch Jon Ossoff speak on the floor of the Senate ahead of the vote.

This post was first published at Atlanta Jewish Times. Dave Schechter is a veteran journalist whose career includes writing and producing reports from Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.