Mike Pompeo Vows To Fill Anti-Semitism Post
Mike Pompeo Image by NPR.org
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged to take action on naming an anti-Semitism monitor.
“You have my word, we’ll move on that,” Pompeo said Thursday during his appearance testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
Pompeo had been pressed on the issue by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who helped author the 2004 law creating the position. The monitor tracks and reports on anti-Semitism worldwide, and makes representations to foreign governments about U.S. concerns regarding anti-Semitism in their lands.
The position has not been filled since January 2017, when Donald Trump became president, and the office shut down in July of that year. Since then, Jewish groups and lawmakers have been pressuring the Trump administration to fill the post.
Pompeo’s ascension last month to the secretary of state position has spurred hopes that he will act where his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, did not.
On Thursday, 120 members of the House Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism wrote to Pompeo urging him to fill the job.
The Anti-Defamation League and Human Rights First, a watchdog, separately this week urged Pompeo to name an anti-Semitism monitor.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
