“I was no longer welcome because I did not fall in line and support their strategy. I did not go on and just sell their strategy to my followers because I didn't believe in it"
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Jewish influencers are alleging they were blackballed from the Biden-Harris National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism after questioning what the White House defined as antisemitism.
Influencer Lizzy Savetsky said in a video posted to social media, “Last summer, the summer of 2023, prior to October 7, the White House released their National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. I was asked to join a Zoom call with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt. On this call were other influential Jewish voices."
According to Savetsky, after going over the 60-page strategy and having “a lot of issues with it,” she “realized very quickly” the call “was not to discuss my concerns, but it was to teach us how to talk about and sell the strategy.”
She continued, “Nonetheless, I did discuss my concerns with the strategy. To me, it appeared that the strategy looked really nice on the surface and it was this way that the White House could say, ‘Look, we're doing this first-ever strategy to counter antisemitism. Look at this good work we're doing.’ But there were issues within the strategy that make it really hard to actually fight the growing antisemitism that we are seeing in America.”
Savetsky pointed to the involvement of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the task force, a group that has a long history of antisemitism. The organization was listed by the Justice Department as an indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terror trial in US history, and has been called a branch of Hamas in the US.
“I knew that CAIR had a long history of antisemitism, and I did not understand why they would be listed. This concern that I expressed was immediately dismissed. They said, ‘Oh, there are so many organizations listed, you know, they wanted to be a part of it.’ Well, guess what happened? After October 7th, the leader of CAIR said that he was ‘happy’ to see Gazans roaming around the land that was theirs, that he was happy about October 7th.”
Following the controversial comments, CAIR was quietly removed from the task force.
Savetsky added, “I was extremely concerned about the fact that in this strategy, they refused to solely commit to the most widely accepted definition of antisemitism, which is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism,” because “…if we can't define it, then how can we fight it?”
She explained that under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, it is considered antisemitic if you hold Israel to a double standard that you do not hold any other democratic nation. She added that under the IHRA definition, “It is considered antisemitism when you compare the Israeli Defense Forces to Nazis. It is considered antisemitism when you deny the Jewish people self-determination in their ancestral homeland. It is considered antisemitism when you deny the right of the state of Israel to exist at all.”
Savetsky claimed that she was told on the call with Emhoff and the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, “that I should not get so hung up on defining it. The IHRA definition was listed. It's a very nice definition that they like, but there are other definitions that they also like.”
She noted that, since Oct 7, 2023, antisemitism being seen on the streets of the US and on college campuses “would only be considered antisemitism under the IHRA definition” and not under other definitions that were listed.”
Savetsky then said after the phone call she emailed the liaison from the White House who had invited her to join the task force to thank her and say she would like to continue the conversation and “have my questions further answered.” However, according to Savetsky, she never got a response. She added, “I was also iced out from every Jewish-related event that the White House put on, and I saw every other person that was on that call, attending the White House Hanukkah party, attending the Jewish Heritage Month event, attending all these White House Jewish events.”
“I was no longer welcome because I did not fall in line and support their strategy. I did not go on and just sell their strategy to my followers because I didn't believe in it and I still don't believe in it. If the White House had actually intended to fight antisemitism, which is raging in America right now, they would never have released a strategy that was this ambivalent. They would never have released a strategy that listed an organization that is known to be antisemitic themselves. They would never have released a strategy that didn't actually give any actions to be implemented to fight it in the way we're seeing it now. And that is why we haven't been able to fix this problem.”
The watchdog group Stop Antisemitism shared the post on X and wrote, “StopAntisemitism was contacted after this WH strategy call and asked to push this initiative. After relaying the same concerns as @LizzySavetsky listed in her video below (CAIR and IHRA), we were then removed from further discussions. Political attempts to pacify antisemitism do one thing and one thing only - harm Jews.”
"We have seen just this past year that the results speak for themselves. Antisemitism is only skyrocketing to the highest of heights because this strategy doesn't work. I felt silenced. I felt ignored. I felt like my concerns were dismissed. And now I am living to see that I was exactly right. Our country is in crisis when it comes to the Jews," Savetsky said.
Other influencers on the post noted similar experiences about being excluded.
Savetsky continued, “My kids are terrified to walk down the streets of New York City and we have an administration that isn't doing their job when it comes to fighting antisemitism. That is the bottom line. They didn't care about my voice, not only as a Jewish activist but as a Jewish mother who was concerned about the future of her children in this country and that to me speaks volumes.”
Influencer Lizzy Savetsky said in a video posted to social media, “Last summer, the summer of 2023, prior to October 7, the White House released their National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. I was asked to join a Zoom call with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt. On this call were other influential Jewish voices."
According to Savetsky, after going over the 60-page strategy and having “a lot of issues with it,” she “realized very quickly” the call “was not to discuss my concerns, but it was to teach us how to talk about and sell the strategy.”
She continued, “Nonetheless, I did discuss my concerns with the strategy. To me, it appeared that the strategy looked really nice on the surface and it was this way that the White House could say, ‘Look, we're doing this first-ever strategy to counter antisemitism. Look at this good work we're doing.’ But there were issues within the strategy that make it really hard to actually fight the growing antisemitism that we are seeing in America.”
Savetsky pointed to the involvement of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the task force, a group that has a long history of antisemitism. The organization was listed by the Justice Department as an indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terror trial in US history, and has been called a branch of Hamas in the US.
“I knew that CAIR had a long history of antisemitism, and I did not understand why they would be listed. This concern that I expressed was immediately dismissed. They said, ‘Oh, there are so many organizations listed, you know, they wanted to be a part of it.’ Well, guess what happened? After October 7th, the leader of CAIR said that he was ‘happy’ to see Gazans roaming around the land that was theirs, that he was happy about October 7th.”
Following the controversial comments, CAIR was quietly removed from the task force.
Savetsky added, “I was extremely concerned about the fact that in this strategy, they refused to solely commit to the most widely accepted definition of antisemitism, which is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism,” because “…if we can't define it, then how can we fight it?”
She explained that under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, it is considered antisemitic if you hold Israel to a double standard that you do not hold any other democratic nation. She added that under the IHRA definition, “It is considered antisemitism when you compare the Israeli Defense Forces to Nazis. It is considered antisemitism when you deny the Jewish people self-determination in their ancestral homeland. It is considered antisemitism when you deny the right of the state of Israel to exist at all.”
Savetsky claimed that she was told on the call with Emhoff and the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, “that I should not get so hung up on defining it. The IHRA definition was listed. It's a very nice definition that they like, but there are other definitions that they also like.”
She noted that, since Oct 7, 2023, antisemitism being seen on the streets of the US and on college campuses “would only be considered antisemitism under the IHRA definition” and not under other definitions that were listed.”
Savetsky then said after the phone call she emailed the liaison from the White House who had invited her to join the task force to thank her and say she would like to continue the conversation and “have my questions further answered.” However, according to Savetsky, she never got a response. She added, “I was also iced out from every Jewish-related event that the White House put on, and I saw every other person that was on that call, attending the White House Hanukkah party, attending the Jewish Heritage Month event, attending all these White House Jewish events.”
“I was no longer welcome because I did not fall in line and support their strategy. I did not go on and just sell their strategy to my followers because I didn't believe in it and I still don't believe in it. If the White House had actually intended to fight antisemitism, which is raging in America right now, they would never have released a strategy that was this ambivalent. They would never have released a strategy that listed an organization that is known to be antisemitic themselves. They would never have released a strategy that didn't actually give any actions to be implemented to fight it in the way we're seeing it now. And that is why we haven't been able to fix this problem.”
The watchdog group Stop Antisemitism shared the post on X and wrote, “StopAntisemitism was contacted after this WH strategy call and asked to push this initiative. After relaying the same concerns as @LizzySavetsky listed in her video below (CAIR and IHRA), we were then removed from further discussions. Political attempts to pacify antisemitism do one thing and one thing only - harm Jews.”
"We have seen just this past year that the results speak for themselves. Antisemitism is only skyrocketing to the highest of heights because this strategy doesn't work. I felt silenced. I felt ignored. I felt like my concerns were dismissed. And now I am living to see that I was exactly right. Our country is in crisis when it comes to the Jews," Savetsky said.
Other influencers on the post noted similar experiences about being excluded.
Savetsky continued, “My kids are terrified to walk down the streets of New York City and we have an administration that isn't doing their job when it comes to fighting antisemitism. That is the bottom line. They didn't care about my voice, not only as a Jewish activist but as a Jewish mother who was concerned about the future of her children in this country and that to me speaks volumes.”
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