Good Choice For Anti-Semitism Envoy

by The Editors

When Hannah Rosenthal was director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), she sometimes confronted an entrenched old-boys network that was uncomfortable with her outspoken liberalism, not to mention her gender. But Rosenthal also displayed a striking ability to win over many of her detractors.
That combination of committed activism and personal charm will serve her well in her new post as the State Department’s special envoy on anti-Semitism. Rosenthal’s appointment came late last week despite objections by some Jewish activists angered by her affiliation with J Street, the controversial pro-peace process lobby and political action committee.

Rosenthal, the daughter of a rabbi and a onetime rabbinical student, has a long record as a human rights activist, and as someone who sees the

fight against anti-Semitism as the quintessential human rights issue.

At JCPA, she presided over a strong, well-organized response to the 2001 United Nations Durban conference on racism and xenophobia that turned into a festival of outright anti-Semitism. She has a solid understanding of a Jewish world divided over many political and Middle East policy issues but united about the importance of Israel and the need to root out the scourge of anti-Semitism wherever it erupts.

She can be outspoken and blunt, but she can also engage in productive dialogue with political adversaries. Rosenthal will need those qualities as she deals with huge and complex challenges.
Outright anti-Semitism is spreading across the Islamic world, with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad serving as poster boy for Holocaust denial — defying all logic and fact — and hatred of Israel, with his repeated calls for the Jewish State’s destruction. The Internet is bringing together and strengthening anti-Semitic movements in diverse places. European anti-Semitism remains a problem; South America may be the new frontier for Jew-hatred. And United Nations agencies like the pernicious Human Rights Council continue to blur the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism.
Congress created the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in 2004, largely at the urging of the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif). Gregg Rickman, a Republican activist and former Capitol Hill staffer, laid a good foundation as the first anti-Semitism envoy. We believe Rosenthal, as both an activist and a diplomat, will effectively build on that base and help guide U.S. policy during troubling times.

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