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Ira Forman, who was appointed the new Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism has led President Obama’s reelection campaign in the Jewish community.

US: John Kerry names Ira Forman as new Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Monday the appointment of Ira Forman as the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
Ira Forman, a graduate of both Harvard and Stanford Universities, previously served as Director of Congressional Relations for the Office of Personnel Management during the Clinton administration.
He also led the National Jewish Democratic Council for fifteen years.
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.
Announcing the new appointment, Kerry paid tribute to Forman as a longtime “champion of fair treatment for all, and he has worked extensively to combat intolerance”, as he wished him success as he prepared to embark on his “vitally important mission”.
A fact sheet supporting Forman’s appointment to the role claimed its aim was to “use bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, public diplomacy, reporting, Countries of Particular Concern designations, and foreign assistance programming to urge greater respect for religious freedom for all, assist members of religious minorities, increase societal respect for religious freedom, highlight abuses, and monitor and combat anti-Semitism”.
The State Department said Special Envoy Forman’s first act will be to join a group of imams to visit the site of the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
He will then proceed to the International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem at the end of this month.
The position of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism was created by the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 and is a part of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL).
Kerry made the announcement as he released the 2012 International Religious Freedom Report that recorded a “continued global increase in anti-Semitism.”
According to the report, Holocaust denial and glorification remained troubling themes, and opposition to Israel at times "was used to promote or justify blatant anti-Semitism."
The report states : "When political leaders condoned anti-Semitism, it set the tone for its persistence and growth in cxountries around the world. Of great concern were expressions of anti-Semitism by government officials, by religious leaders and by the media, particularly in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran. At times, such statements led to desecration and violence."
The State Department's report said that in Iran, the government regularly vilified Judaism in 2012. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued to question the existence and the scope of the Holocaust, and stated that “a horrendous Zionist clan” had been “ruling the major world affairs” for some 400 years, while Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi publicly blamed the “Zionists” for spreading illegal drugs around the world.
In Tunisia, Salafists (fundamentalist Sunni Muslims) attacked synagogues and issued anti-Semitic messages, as did some imams during Friday prayer sermons. Certain Salafist imams preached anti-Jewish and anti-Christian messages, including calling for the killing of non-Muslim citizens. Police arrested five persons, including one police officer, for allegedly plotting to kidnap Jews in Zarzis in October for ransom.
In Ukraine, vandals desecrated several Holocaust memorials. In May, in Russia, vandals painted a swastika on a St. Petersburg synagogue’s fence, and in July, vandals painted a swastika on a synagogue wall in Irkutsk.
"Even well into the 21st century, traditional forms of anti-Semitism, such as conspiracy theories, use of the discredited myth of 'blood libel,' and cartoons demonizing Jews, continued to flourish," the report said.
An anti-Semitic cartoon appeared in a major newspaper in Argentina, and a member of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party in Greece read from the notorious Tsarist forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, during a parliamentary session. "In a worrisome sign, such anti-Semitic and xenophobic parties gained seats in parliaments, and a rise in violent attacks on Jews in Europe included several shocking incidents," reads the report.
Hungary saw continued racist commentary by an openly anti-Semitic political party with seats in parliament, the Jobbik Party, and also witnessed an attack on a member of the Jewish community outside of a prayer house in Budapest. In France, an Islamist extremist killed a rabbi and his two children, along with another student, outside a Jewish school in Toulouse. While a number of governments took active measures to combat anti-Semitism, this pernicious evil continued to spread.
Interfaith cooperation forms a key part of the US policy for targeting global infractions of religious freedom, as the report related instances of US consulate staff to Sweden visiting third city Malmo “to assess multicultural tensions, in particular the situation of the Jewish community, and the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism raised anti-Semitism and intolerance directly with the mayor of Malmo and other government officials, with representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities, and with members of the Interreligious Dialogue Forum”.

By Yossi Lempkowicz. Shari Ryness contributed to this article.

EJP