Deborah Lipstadt, who served as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during much of the Biden administration, has indicated that she is ‘pleased’ the Trump administration is seeking to tackle antisemitism.
‘I’m pleased that they’re addressing it, because that’s what I did for the past three years, which was to really push the Biden Administration to seriously address it. So I am very, very pleased that it’s on their agenda,’ she told the New Yorker. The outlet noted that the conversation with Lipstadt was edited for length and clarity.
Emory University announced in December that Lipstadt would return to the higher educational institution later in the academic year.
Fox News Digital attempted to reach to Lipstadt on Wednesday via the email and number listed on Emory University’s website, but did not receive a response to the comment request by the time of publication.
Lipstadt told the New Yorker that the Trump administration has been ‘calling universities to account.’
‘I also think there are many Jews, and some non-Jews, too, but many Jews who are disappointed by how universities have behaved since October 7th, and they see a strong – to use Passover terminology – a strong hand being used. Now, whether that hand is being used properly or not raises certain questions about what’s happening,’ she reportedly said, noting, ‘a lot of people were relieved to see this forceful approach. I think, in many respects, it’s going too far.’
She indicated that many colleges have fallen short in tackling antisemitism.
‘Look, the universities failed to address this seriously. And by failing to address this seriously, they failed the Jewish students on campus. They dismissed their grievances. They created an inhospitable atmosphere. We’re now seeing the fruits of that failure. What disturbs me so much is that the debate will now become over whether antisemitism is being used as a weapon to fight against people we don’t like. Antisemitism should not be a cudgel,’ she noted, according to the outlet.
‘The fight should be against antisemitism and not against the institutions. The institutions opened the door. Most universities failed miserably to address this, and we’re seeing the consequences of that now,’ she told the New Yorker.