Attendees at a White House roundtable on antisemitism hosted by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on Tuesday called for a longterm, non-politicized solution to address rising global antisemitism.
The meeting, convened by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) as part of the efforts of an interagency group created by President Joe Biden to build a national strategy to combat antisemitism, welcomed envoys from around the world. Attendees included US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt and Shelley Greenspan, White House liaison to the Jewish community.
“Antisemitism is a 2,000-year-old problem,” said Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life. “We need to make sure the commitment to fight antisemitism and national action plans are long-term and are not politicized.”
The meeting followed a December roundtable at the White House hosted by Emhoff, where AJC CEO Ted Deutch urged the Biden administration to implement recommendations from AJC’s Call to Action Against Antisemitism in America, including ensuring interagency coordination and creating a national strategy to fight antisemitism.
That strategy was the first order of business for the interagency group at the summit, according to AJC.
“At a time of rising antisemitism, and when AJC’s survey shows over 40 percent of Jews feel less secure, we are grateful that the president has done more than acknowledge that there is a problem,” Deutch said. “Today's meeting at the White House will ensure that the United States is in a better position to deploy best practices from abroad in its efforts to create a national strategy to fight antisemitism.”