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Deborah Lipstadt reportedly to be named US special envoy on antisemitism
The academic rose to prominence in the 1990s when she defeated a libel suit by Holocaust denier David Irving
July 30, 2021 17:02
The academic rose to prominence in the 1990s when she defeated a libel suit by Holocaust denier David Irving
July 30, 2021 17:02Renowned Holocaust scholar Prof Deborah Lipstadt is reportedly set to be named as President Joe Biden’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
The appointment is set to be confirmed on Friday, according to the US news website The Forward.
The White House had faced pressure from Jewish leaders to fill the vacancy.
Prof Lipstadt first rose to prominence in the late 1990s after British historian David Irving filed a libel claim against her - which he lost in 2000.
She had referred to him as a Holocaust denier in her 1993 book, Denying the Holocaust.
The high profile case was dramatised in the 2016 courtroom drama Denial starring English actress Rachel Weisz as the historian.
Prof Lipstadt is a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emoyi College of Arts and Science. Her latest book, Antisemitism: Here and Now, was published in 2019
The Anti-Defamation League welcomed the appointment, with CEO and national director Jonathan A. Greenblatt warning it came at a “time of rising extremism from all sides.”
“Professor Lipstadt is a woman of courage who has fought antisemitism in the courts, confronted it on campus and spoken truth to power.
“She is a champion of facts who will call out hatred against the Jewish people regardless of the source – but also a person who aptly has noted that antisemitism might start with the Jews, but it never ends with the Jews,” he said.
The total number of antisemitic incidents reported to the ADL last year across the US dipped slightly compared to 2019 but remained high at 2,024.
The figure is the third highest recorded by the ADL since it began tracking incidents in 1979.