Ira Forman, Jewish Democratic Leader, Named to Top Post on Anti-Semitism
Ira Forman, who led President Obama’s reelection campaign in the Jewish community, was appointed as the State Department’s envoy to combat anti-Semitism.
The State Department announced the appointment on Monday — the same day it released its 2012 report on religious freedom that recorded a “continued global increase in anti-Semitism.”
Secretary of State John Kerry tapped Forman to replace Hannah Rosenthal, who left last year to direct the Milwaukee Jewish federation. Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had appointed Rosenthal.
The envoy travels the world to press governments to address institutional and popular manifestations of anti-Semitism.
Forman, a longtime director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, led the Obama campaign’s effort last year to push back against Republican and conservative depictions of Obama as hostile or indifferent to Israel. He was especially active in Florida.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
