UPDATE: Prof. Deborah Lipstadt was confirmed by the full Senate on March 30, 2022

Today, the leadership of the Orthodox Union welcomed the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s approval of Holocaust historian and author Deborah Lipstadt as the State Department’s special envoy to combat antisemitism with the rank of ambassador and issued the following statement:

“We are extremely pleased the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved Prof. Lipstadt for the position of special envoy to combat antisemitism as attacks and threats continue against the global Jewish community. We are grateful for Prof. Lipstadt’s steadfast, vigilant and vocal leadership and look forward to working with her upon her confirmation. She is the right person, at a time of tremendous need, to take on this challenge; we call upon the full U.S. Senate to confirm her without delay.”

The Orthodox Union, through its nonpartisan, Washington, D.C.-based Advocacy Center, has pressed lawmakers for almost a year on this issue, joining other major Jewish organizations in sending a letter to President Biden in May 2021 to fill the special envoy position in light of the surge in antisemitic attacks at that time. Six months later, the Orthodox Union again took part in a group letter to the Senate calling on the body to hold a hearing on Lipstadt.

About the Orthodox Union
The Orthodox Union, or Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, is the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization.