President Barack Obama’s appointee to lead administration efforts to combat anti-Semitism is still unsure of how her new role with involve responding to anti-Israel comments. Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, began federal service today and purports views in-line with J Street, the pro-peace pro-Israel lobby (she sits on the group’s board). Her appointment led to some criticism, but the appointment should come as no surprise as J Street’s views on Israel-Palestine generally coincide with the administration’s.
Read her comments on the issue from a recent interview with Tablet below(question in bold):
Does responding to criticism of Israel fall into your portfolio?
I don’t know the answer. It’s a very fuzzy line. I can’t answer your question because I don’t know yet how that will shake out, but it will certainly be involved. Middle East realities and politics and challenges will be part of this job but I really don’t know how much.
There is no question in my mind that some of the attacks in the media and in the public against Israel come from a place of anti-Semitism. That is the unfortunate reality of some of the bad statements and hurtful ones. But not all of them are. Criticizing a certain policy in Israel or a certain policy in the United States regarding Israel does not make someone an anti-Semite. It makes them, perhaps, a thoughtful analyst of what’s going on, recognizing we can’t keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them.
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