State Department Launches Anti-Semitism Training
The Obama administration launched training for its diplomats to identify and combat anti-Semitism.
Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, told the B’nai B’rith International policy conference in suburban Washington on Monday that the program had been launched by Hannah Rosenthal, the U.S. special envoy on anti-Semitism, whose term is ending next month.
“Under Hannah’s leadership we have begun a major training initiative for Foreign Service officers in the State Department to teach them not only how to monitor but also how to respond appropriately to various forms of anti-Semitism,” he said. “And we are seeing that many countries are now doing the right thing, challenging anti-Semitism and other forms of racial, religious and ethnic hatred.”
Strategies taught to the diplomats include partnering with civil society groups, including non-Jewish groups; challenging the funding and running of schools that peddle hate and promote violence; training foreign law enforcement to enhance protection of vulnerable communities; and increasing cultural and educational exchanges to promote greater sensitivity to others.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
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 so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
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 polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
