Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, left the United States on Tuesday for a week of meetings in the Middle East.
She is scheduled to speak with government officials and others in Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates through Dec. 13. Topics to be discussed include promoting interfaith understanding, encouraging religious tolerance, countering antisemitism and highlighting Jewish regional heritage.
This is Lipstadt’s fourth trip to the Middle East and North Africa since her term began in May 2022. She visited Israel last December.
Also on her agenda is the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that runs from Dec. 7-8.
Launched in 2004, Bahrain hosts the program annually. It is described as a “central element of the Middle East’s security architecture” that seeks to enable “national leaders, ministers and policymakers from the Middle East, North America, Europe, Africa and Asia to gather together to discuss the most pressing regional security issues and to share policy responses.”
