JCPA and 20 Major Jewish Organizations Send Letter Urging Swift Consideration of U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Nominee

On November 11, 2021, JCPA sent the letter below on behalf of 20 major Jewish organizations, including its national member agencies and the four streams of American Judaism, to Senate Foreign Relations Committee members urging them to swiftly fill the position of U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism by considering the current nominee.

Click here for a PDF version of the letter or see below.

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November 11, 2021

Honorable Bob Menendez, Chairman
Honorable James E. Risch, Ranking Member
Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Menendez and Ranking Member Risch:

We, the undersigned 21 national Jewish organizations, including the four streams of American Judaism, write to urge you to swiftly fill the position of U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism by considering the current nominee. Filling this position is a high priority for our organizations and of utmost importance in fighting growing antisemitism and hate worldwide.

As Jewish organizations dedicated to protecting the rights and security of the Jewish people, we believe that the U.S. Special Envoy position is crucial to addressing the global rise in antisemitic violence, harassment, vandalism, attitudes, and incitement. In 2020, due to the global threat of increasing antisemitism, Congress updated the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004, elevating the role of the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to the rank of Ambassador and granting authority to coordinate efforts across the entire federal government to combat antisemitism abroad. Congress has also highlighted the need for an expanded U.S. role on this issue, stating that “since the Global Antisemitism Review Act of 2004 was enacted, in many foreign countries acts of anti-Semitism have been frequent and wide in scope, the perpetrators and variety of threats to Jewish communities and their institutions have proliferated, and in some countries antisemitic attacks have increased in frequency, scope, violence, and deadliness.”

Every day that we delay filling this critical position, we are endangering people’s lives. We cannot let antisemitism become a wedge issue in today’s polarized politics. To this end, we strongly urge you to prioritize filling this position, which is not only the right thing to do, but also sends a powerful signal to governments around the world that the U.S. takes combating antisemitism seriously and calls on them to do the same.

Sincerely,

American Jewish Congress
Anti-Defamation League
B’nai B’rith International
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America
J Street
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Jewish Women International
National Council of Jewish Women
NCSEJ
ORT America
Rabbinical Assembly
Reconstructing Judaism
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
The Jewish Federations of North America
Union for Reform Judaism
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism – WLCJ
World Jewish Congress

Cc: Members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations