BRUSSELS HUB

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon from the State Department’s Brussels Media Hub.  I’d like to welcome everybody joining us today for the press briefing.  We are very honored to be joined by Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Special Envoy to Combat – to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.

With that, let’s get started.  Ambassador Lipstadt, thanks so much for joining us today.  I’ll turn it over to you for opening remarks.

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  Sure.  Just briefly, I am sure everyone on this call recognizes that since October 7th we’ve seen an unprecedented surge – I really talk about a tsunami of antisemitism.  We were seeing it before, but we were seeing some hopeful signs of progress, and since then it’s just been overwhelming.  And one of the – we’ve seen it in Europe, we see it in Latin America, we see it in other places as well – North America.  There’s almost no place that’s an exception to it.

And I want to be very careful here.  I’m not talking about criticism of Israeli policy.  As I’ve said many times, including, I think, on these media calls, criticism of Israeli policy does not constitute antisemitism.  It can constitute antisemitism, it can cross the line into antisemitism, but ipso facto it does not constitute antisemitism.  If that were the case, the thousands of people on the streets in Israel protesting various government policies would be antisemites, and of course that’s ridiculous.

When I first entered office almost three years ago, my objective was to get governments, leaders of governments, to take antisemitism seriously, not to see it as, oh, something – just a niche concern because there’s a noisy group that wants attention to it, but to recognize it as a threat to democracy, rule of law, to national security, to societal cohesion.  And I think we’ve accomplished a lot of that.  I’m not saying the job is done.  It’s far from done.  There are many more, and it’s something that I think has to be kept up.  It’s something that never ends.

One of the things I’m particularly proud of, of course, is the launch of the Global Guidelines to Counter Antisemitism.  At the moment, we have, I believe, 38 countries and four international multilateral organizations that have signed on, and we’re hoping that in the coming months more countries, I know, are seriously considering signing on.  They are a tool in the toolbox for fighting antisemitism.  Will they cure antisemitism?  No.  Can they mitigate it?  Can they help control it?  Can they educate people about it?  I think they can.

I am very proud of the diversity of the different continents, the different groups, the different countries that have signed on.  I’m also proud of the fact that, in contrast to most State Department documents, it’s short.  It’s 700 words maximum.  So that is something that I think is an important addition.

We’ve also strengthened education about antisemitism here within the State Department for our colleagues, because one of the things that was clear to me even before I came on, became more clear once I came on, is how many people don’t really understand what is antisemitism and don’t understand the threat that it is, as I mentioned before, to the well-being of the Jewish community, to democracy and rule of law, to national security and stability, and to societal cohesion.

We are at an inflection point.  Antisemitism is becoming increasingly normalized.  Things we thought people would never say, even if they were antisemites, that they would know would be totally unacceptable to say, are freely heard on streets of some of our leading Western democracies in many countries, including this country.

And it is – let me close with this thought.  It is crucial that the fight against antisemitism remain a nonpartisan issue.  It can’t become a political weapon, a political cudgel to beat up on people who have different political views than us or demonstrate that our political views are superior to theirs.  I’m an – I described myself early on during my confirmation hearings as an equal opportunity fighter against antisemitism.  I remain that, and I hope my tenure here has shown that.

With that I’ll stop, and I’m happy to take any questions.

MODERATOR:  Thanks so much for those opening remarks, ma’am.  We have a couple submitted questions.  The first one is from Magali Barthès Barbero from Radio JM in France, who asks:  “What are the main actions that the United States has done in the struggle against antisemitism, which is also expressed through anti-Zionism?”

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  I think a number of things.  First of all, when the Congress elevated this office to the level of an ambassador, and that was done prior to my coming on – it was done in the previous administration – I think that that signaled that we’re taking it seriously.  I think the President’s choice, nomination of me and the Senate’s confirmation of me, also did that, because while I’ve had wonderful predecessors who were tremendously dedicated to the task, for the first time there was someone who had spent her entire professional career studying, writing, confronting antisemitism.  I think that all sent a message.

We developed – actually, spurred on by the example of certain of our European allies and the European Union in particular, the United States developed the National Strategy for Combating Antisemitism here at home, in which over, I think, 27 different federal agencies took part, looking at their activities, what might they do to understand antisemitism, to fight antisemitism, to be aware of antisemitism.  We held an online – a symposium on online hate, bringing together representatives of the leading major social media platforms, all at the vice presidential level and above, to talk about the impact of antisemitism, online antisemitism, on Jews, on Jewish communities, et cetera, to demonstrate to them, to impress upon them, the seriousness of the problem and the seriousness with which we took that problem.

So, and I think just the – in my travels in the level of meetings I’ve received, and also the last thing I would mention, unlike my predecessors, I’ve been able to participate – again, this is no reflection on them.  This is a reflection both on how we’ve elevated the office and on the elevation of the problem.  I’ve been – we’ve made a point of having me participate in international fora – the Munich Security Conference, the Paris Peace Forum, the Halifax Security Conference, the World Economic Forum during UNGA – in other words to telegraph the message.  I was just in conversation a few moments with Secretary Blinken on how this is a – it’s not just about protecting one group, but it’s about ensuring national stability, cohesion, democracy, et cetera.

MODERATOR:  Thank you, Ambassador.  The next question, it’s time for Momchil Indjov from Club Z Media in Bulgaria, who asks:  “Do you see – have you seen a surge in antisemitism, especially in Bulgaria?”  And I think we can broaden that to the rest of Eastern Europe, but specifically Bulgaria, the only ally of Nazi Germany to save its Jews from deportation.

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  I did not have the chance to visit Bulgaria, but Bulgaria is one of the signatories to the Global Guidelines.  And not only are there a signatory to the Global Guidelines, but they translated them.  Bulgarians translated the Global Guidelines into Bulgarian to make them accessible for their diplomats, their diplomats in training, their foreign service officers in training, and to use them.  So, I feel we had a very good partner there in that effort, and I am very pleased about that.

MODERATOR:  Thank you, ma’am.  We have another question, this time from Peter Morvay from Hetek in Hungary, who asks:  “Madam Ambassador, do you feel there has been enough effort made in fighting left-wing antisemitism in recent years?”

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  I think – I pointed out to a senator during my confirmation hearings, and I’ve written quite a bit about this, that there was a real failure for many people on the left to see antisemitism in their own midst.  I think there was also a failure of people on the right to see antisemitism with their – in their own midst.  Certainly, much of the surge we’ve seen in the past 15 months has come from progressive left groups on the left.  There’s no denying that.  The campus, et cetera, et cetera.

But I also want to be very careful even if we look on that.  I was going back over my notes in preparation and cleaning out my office and going through papers and things, and I recognized that before October 7th much of the focus not just of this office but of the governments and our many allies was on the dangers of right-wing antisemitism in its many different manifestations.  So, even as we now pay more attention to antisemitism on the left, I think we can’t ignore the antisemitism from the right.

I used to talk about a spectrum – antisemitism from the far left and the far right.  I now talk about a horseshoe where the two extremes meet each other.  And that puts pressure on the center to speak out irrespective of where it’s coming from.

MODERATOR:  Thank you, Ambassador.  We have one more question submitted.  This one is from Albinson Linares from Noticias Telemundo in Mexico.  What are – they ask:  “What are the most worrying trends of antisemitism or antisemitic acts or aggressions that you have observed in Latin America?”

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  In Latin America, well with certain countries there have been leaders of the countries who have made truly antisemitic remarks, and my nation – either I or the Secretary or others – have called them out.  So that has been worrisome.

And I think the trends we’re seeing there are not that different than the trends we see in other continents and other parts of the world.  Now with the internet, which we all use and depend on including in this context, in this meeting, a noxious view can go around the world in nanoseconds, and it used to take some time for that to happen.

So, I am not sure that Latin America is any more immune from what we’re seeing in other places.  And I also think that there are other countries, malign actors, NGOs, et cetera, who use antisemitism as a way of creating or amplifying societal divisions and societal instability.  So, I am not sure that I can say there are distinctive elements in Latin America.

MODERATOR:  Thank you, Ambassador.  Let’s give it just 20 more seconds to see if there’s another question before we wrap it up.  It looks like that’s all that we have for today.

So, Ambassador, I wanted to thank you both for your service and for taking the time today to talk to us, and thanks to the journalists for all their questions.  Ambassador, any final thoughts you’d like to give?

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  Just that I hope that in years to come we’ll talk about this in the past tense and not the present tense and we’ll see a change in things.  I’m not entire – I’m an optimistic person generally.  On this, I’m not too optimistic, but I still hope for the best.  And thank you all for your interest.  I really appreciate it.

MODERATOR:  Thanks, Ambassador.  We can always be hopeful.

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  That’s it.

MODERATOR:  Certainly.  We will send the audio recording of the briefing to all participating journalists and provide a transcript as soon as it is available.  Ambassador, thank you again for your participation and thanks to everybody else.  Have a great day.

AMBASSADOR LIPSTADT:  Thank you very much.

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