This week’s International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem will draw limited official American involvement, but JNS has learned that Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning a separate, higher-level antisemitism conference.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department’s Office for the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism told JNS that while they “are unable to attend this month’s conference, our office looks forward to participating in the MFA’s conference in late May.”
The spokesperson referred further inquiries to the Israeli ministry, which declined to comment.
A U.S. diplomatic source indicated that the conference being planned for May, which has not yet been finalized, will be at the ministerial level, drawing foreign ministers and other high-level diplomats and officials.
This week’s two-day conference, organized by the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, began on Wednesday. The program has drawn controversy due to the participation of Jordan Bardella, the head of the French National Rally party, and Marion Maréchal, the granddaughter of its antisemitic founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died in January at age 96.
Hermann Tertsch, a Spanish member of the European Parliament from the conservative and pro-Israel Vox party, is also due to attend.
As a result, several confirmed participants dropped out, including Germany’s antisemitism czar Felix Klein; Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the United Kingdom; and French Jewish public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy.
The U.S. diplomatic source said that the administration of President Donald Trump doesn’t necessarily object to the presence of some of the more controversial invitees to this week’s conference, but feels that the May conference, should it take place, will be more productive.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the administration’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, will be the only American official participating this week, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. Stefanik, who is not listed on the official conference program, is slated to give a video address, according to the spokesperson.