Dianne Lob, Chair, and William Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement:
“We welcome the Biden administration’s efforts to fight antisemitism and are encouraged by the formation of a new interagency taskforce to develop a national strategy to combat antisemitism. Recent events underscore the existential threat of antisemitism to our community and this new commitment by the White House will play a critical role in improving government coordination and saving Jewish lives.
“We are pleased that we, along with many Conference of Presidents member organizations, provided input during two years of discussions with the administration, culminating in the roundtable discussion with American Jewish leaders last week, and look forward to consulting on strategies to fight antisemitism and Holocaust denial, including implementing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in training programs for federal government employees. Defining antisemitism is an essential step to combatting antisemitism and the IHRA definition remains the most authoritative and internationally accepted definition of antisemitism to date.
“We are united in purpose with our partners in Congress and the White House to defend the fundamental right to be who we are and to challenge the scourge of antisemitism whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.”