New York, NY, September 13, 2018 …

Following today’s overwhelming vote by the House of Representatives to pass the bipartisan Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2018 (H.R. 1911), Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO and National Director Jonathan A. Greenblatt stated:

 “We welcome the House of Representatives’ overwhelming vote today to approve the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2018.  Advancing this bill has been a top priority for ADL, as has urging the Administration to select a qualified individual to fill the State Department post of U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism without delay.  ADL has collected thousands of signatures on public petitions to the Administration on this subject and delivered numerous letters to the Administration to this end as well, including one in June 2017 by religious leaders from the Catholic, Muslim, Protestant, Evangelical, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish faiths and another this May by a broad range of prominent individuals and Jewish groups.

Most recently, ADL organized a letter signed by 14 other Jewish organizations and Human Rights First to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July encouraging action without delay to approve the Senate version of this bill, as well as the Combating European Anti-Semitism Act (S. 198).  Today’s passage of H.R. 1911 only increases the importance of action in this regard by the Senate to keep pace in the fight against global anti-Semitism.”

The bill passed by the House today would impose a legal limit on the time in which the Administration can continue to leave the post of the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism without a designated appointee.  It would elevate the position to a Presidential nominee and the rank of ambassador, ensure that the Envoy has guaranteed access to the Secretary of State, and authorize the Envoy to coordinate U.S. efforts to combat anti-Semitism abroad across the entire federal government.