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A mouthpiece for Hungary’s government leveled an antisemitic attack on Antony Blinken. Here’s why it matters.
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The working definition of anti-Semitism needs no rewrite.
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Combatting antisemitism: Why the world needs to adopt the IHRA definition.
The virus that is antisemitism has mutated into a particular form where antisemitism is employed in discourse around Israel.
Poland has an anti-Semitism problem. Here’s how the Trump administration could help fight it.
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January 29, 2020
Human Rights First Calls for Accountability for Governments Which Encourage Hate
As House Examines Rise of Anti-Semitism in Europe, Human Rights First Calls for Practical Policy Solutions to Create Accountability for Governments Which Encourage Hate
WASHINGTON – The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe held hearings today on how people and governments in North America and Europe can play a greater role in resisting rising antisemitism and xenophobia in European countries. As incidents of antisemitism and xenophobia rise in both regions, Human Rights First Senior Advisor for Combating Antisemitism Ira Forman testified to the seriousness of the threat to Jews and modern democratic societies. -- Read More
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Hungary Must Reverse Its Support of Memorial to Antisemitic Politician
Washington, D.C.—In response to leading Hungarian government officials unveiling a statue to a virulently antisemitic World War Two era political leader, Gyula Kornis, Human Rights First's Ira Forman issued the following statement.
The Hungarian government should promptly reverse its support for a memorial in the city of Vác to Gyula Kornis, a leading antisemitic politician from the interwar period. -- Read More
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Opinion | Britain’s Anti-Semitism
Problem
Corbyn’s Labour Party is a warning to the American left.
IF YOU ONLY DENOUNCE ANTI-SEMITISM WHEN POLITICALLY CONVENIENT, YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM | OPINION
4/24/19 AT 5:30 AM EDT
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Ira Forman in Conversation With Deborah Lipstadt
March 21, 2019 in Jewish World
Not many people can match the depth of her immersion, but one who can is Moment Institute Fellow Ira Forman, who was the U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism from 2013 until 2017. Forman now teaches the subject as a visiting professor of contemporary anti-Semitism at Georgetown University; he’s also a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Jewish Civilization, the senior advisor for combatting anti-Semitism at Human Rights First. He also manages the Anti-Semitism Monitor. When these two experts sat down to talk shop, it wasn’t just another interview. -- Read More
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Is Anti-Israel Anti-Semitic?
Responding to: Is Anti-Semitism a Problem in International Affairs?
By: Ira Forman
March 5, 2018
Few dispute the assertion that we live in a period of growing anti-Semitism. The most contentious issue surrounding that growth is the question of whether criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. The answer to this heated debate is surprisingly simple. Yes, anti-Israel criticism can be anti-Semitic.--Read More
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Viktor Orbán Is Exploiting Anti-Semitism
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Why is the Hungarian Government Promoting a New, Ahistorical Holocaust Museum Designed by a Holocaust Distorter?
The history of the Holocaust is a painful and tragic story in all the countries of occupied Europe. Hungary is no exception. Yet the current Hungarian government seeks to rewrite history and appears determined to ignore any substantial Hungarian responsibility for the treatment of its Jewish residents in the 1930s and 1940s. -- Read More
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Statement on the 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass
November 8, 2018
Washington, D.C.—In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Ira Forman, senior advisor for combatting antisemitism at Human Rights First, and the former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism, released the following statement:
Eighty years ago tonight, German citizens and paramilitary thugs attacked their neighbors because they were Jews. In the midst of the pogrom, an unknown number of Jews were killed, and nearly 30,000 were detained and sent to concentration camps. Many more committed suicide in the following days. Nazis and their sympathizers also destroyed property—homes, stores, and synagogues.
Today, we commemorate Kristallnacht by rededicating ourselves to fighting antisemitism in all its forms. We may not be reliving the 1930s. However, we are living in an era in which Jews are once again being murdered for their religious and cultural identity. We live in an era in which politicians are once against stirring hate and resentment for political gain. We live in an era in which those seeking to flee violence and persecution are once again being turned away by those who should offer safe harbor. We live in an era in which merely saying “never again” is not enough.
For more information or to speak with Forman, contact Christopher Plummer at [email protected] or 202-370-3310
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Former Top U.S. Antisemitism Official Joins Human Rights First as Senior Advisor for Combating Antisemitism
Washington, D.C.—Human Rights First today announced that Ira Forman, former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat anti-semitism, has joined Human Rights First as senior advisor for combating antisemitism. He will lead the organization’s efforts to expose and counteract antisemitism at home and abroad in keeping with a U.S. foreign policy rooted in a strong commitment to human rights, universal values, and American ideals. -- Read More
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The Danger of Polarizing Anti-Semitism
Don’t let this old-new prejudice become a weapon in partisan politics.
May 10, 2018 in 2018 May/June, Featured, Jewish World, Politics
Anti-Semitism is back. In the United States alone, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) study on anti-Semitic incidents in 2017 showed a 57 percent increase over the 2016 numbers. In France in March, an elderly Jewish Holocaust survivor was murdered and set afire in her own home, apparently by an acquaintance with anti-Semitic motives. The issue cannot be ignored, but there is an added danger that makes dealing with it more difficult: Today, politicians and ideologues on opposite sides of the political spectrum who might normally come together to fight anti-Semitism are instead using the issue to bash their opponents. Instead of denouncing anti-Semitic incidents, too many simply use them to further their agendas. This trend is dangerous. It must stop. -- Read More
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State Dept. Leaves Role to Combat Anti-Semitism Open as Attacks on Jews Rise in U.S. and Europe
BY ON 4/6/18 AT 1:37 PM
Anti-Semitic acts of violence have increased substantially abroad and in the United States this year, but a State Department role that addresses these issues, the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, has remained vacant for 15 months despite calls from Congress and Jewish rights leaders to fill it. -- Read More
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Trump Administration: Combating Anti-Semitism A ‘Priority,’ But No Envoy Named
April 4, 2018
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A State Department spokeswoman said combating anti-Semitism remains a “priority” for the Trump administration, but would not say if the Trump administration would fill the congressionally mandated job of an anti-Semitism monitor. -- Read More
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Is Anti-Israel Anti-Semitic?
Responding to Is Anti-Semitism a Problem in International Affairs?
Few dispute the assertion that we live in a period of growing anti-Semitism. The most contentious issue surrounding that growth is the question of whether criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. The answer to this heated debate is surprisingly simple. Yes, anti-Israel criticism can be anti-Semitic. -- Read More.
The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism
Interview with Ira Forman, March 2, 2018
From Nazis marching in Charlottesville to attacks on Jews in the streets of Europe, anti-Semitism persists around the world. In this week's AJC Passport, we talked with Ira Forman, the former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the U.S. State Department, about the international trends in anti-Semitic attitudes. -- Podcast.
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Former State Dept. Anti-Semitism Czar Sounds An Alarm Bell After Charlottesville
“This is no time for complacency,” Ira Forman says.
Nazi/Klan/white supremacist assault on Charlottesville is a wake-up call. -- Read More
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Tillerson Says We Way Not Need an Anti-Semitism Envoy. He’s Wrong.
Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the State Department post of special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism has remained vacant. Judging by recent remarks from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the administration is still vacillating on whether it is important enough — or enough of a priority — to continue the office. -- Read More
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Former anti-Semitism Envoys Warn of ‘Terrible Loss’ of Post Under Trump
WASHINGTON — Two former US special envoys to monitor and combat anti-Semitism warned Monday of the consequences of the Trump administration’s refusal to fill that post, saying it would be “tragic” and a “terrible loss.” -- Read More
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State Dept.’s Anti-Semitism Monitoring Office to be Unstaffed as of July 1
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. State Department’s office to monitor and combat anti-Semitism will be unstaffed as of July 1. A source familiar with the office’s workings told JTA that its remaining two staffers, each working half-time or less, would be reassigned as of that date. -- Read More
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Jerusalem Post Opinion
Fifty Years On: Anti-Israel Or Antisemitic?
The 50th anniversary of the Six Day War is generating reams of commentary on both Israel’s swift victory and the ongoing failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A reexamination of the events around the 1967 war also clarifies the nature of 21st century antisemitism. -- Read More
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Using and Misusing Antisemitism
Antisemitism is not only a Jewish problem; Jew-hatred – like other forms of religious and ethnic prejudice – is a threat to the very foundations of liberal democracies. -- Read More
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Former US Special Envoy on Antisemitism 'Surprised' By JCC Perpetrator
WASHINGTON – The revelation that an 18-year-old Jewish Israeli is likely responsible for a spate of bomb threats to Jewish community centers is “surprising,” Ira Forman, who served as US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during the Obama administration, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. -- Read More
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How Our Jewish Organizations Combat Anti-Semitism
It’s been two months since I left my position at the U.S. State Department as the special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism (SEAS). I didn’t come away, after 44 months, with any grand theory on anti-Semitism, nor do I have any silver bullet answers to the problem. I do, however, have a number of strongly held conclusions on the tools we must utilize to combat this evil. -- Read More
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How The State Department Is Combating Anti-Semitism
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