The unconventional contenders for Trump’s antisemitism envoy

By Jacob Kornbluh
January 9, 2025

A spotlight-seeking rabbi perhaps best known for having been Michael Jackson’s spiritual adviser and an Orthodox New York politician who caused an uproar by wearing blackface for Purim in 2013 are among the unconventional contenders vying to replace Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt as the U.S. special envoy to combat antisemitism.

Both men, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and former Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind, are close with the same member of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is — controversially — Trump’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Other names being floated for the role include Alan Dershowitz, the fiery Harvard law professor who has defended Trump during his impeachment trials and criminal cases; Ellie Cohanim, who was born in Iran and served as deputy antisemitism envoy in the first Trump administration; and Elizabeth Savetsky, an influencer who received an award from New York City Mayor Eric Adams for her work on antisemitism.

“I have heard that certain people have recommended me to the president,” Boteach said during a phone interview from Israel, where he was visiting the area near the Lebanon border.

The connection was a bit choppy. But as his voice bobbed in and out, Boteach managed to insist both that he is not actively lobbying for the role and that he would be good at it, touting his oratorical and written skills and noting that he would have the trust of the president. Boteach was a vocal supporter of Trump’s candidacy in 2016, and after the election, praised Trump’s “unimaginable toughness.”

“By the way,” he added, “I am not campaigning for myself. It does not have to be me. If it was offered to me, I would be honored to accept it.”

Besides Kennedy, who Boteach hosted an event for and appeared with in a YouTube video after Kennedy’s incendiary comments that COVID-19 was targeted to spare ‘Ashkenazi Jews, Boteach has a powerful booster in Miriam Adelson, the GOP mega donor who gave more than $100 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign and spent New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago. Boteach is a longtime friend of the Adelsons, who gave $500,000 to a super PAC supporting his failed congressional run in 2021. In an interview with The New York Times last year, Boteach boasted about being in her inner circle.

Hikind, the son of Holocaust survivors who now runs Americans Against Antisemitism, also touted his interactions with Kennedy, as well as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Christian Nationalist who Trump has tapped to be ambassador to Israel.

“I think that I could truly bring something to that role that few others can, only because of my background,” said Hikind, who supported Trump in 2020 and 2024 but condemned his dining with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes in between. “But I reached the point now where it is really in the hands of God.”

Either man would be an unorthodox pick compared to Lipstadt, a Holocaust historian, and the four others who have served in the position since its creation almost two decades ago. And nominating such an untraditional candidate could delay Senate confirmation and leave the office without leadership at a time of rising global antisemitism. In 2021, Lipstadt’s confirmation was delayed for six months because of some Tweets in which she’d criticized Republican lawmakers.

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment on the envoy role. Neither did Dershowitz and Savetsky, who was in Israel this week; Cohanim, a Trump loyalist and the only longtime Republican on the shortlist, declined to discuss her candidacy.

The role of the envoy on antisemitism

The office of special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism was established in 2006. It was elevated to the rank of ambassador just before Trump finished his first term, in early 2021, boosting the office’s funding and profile. The current budget is $1.75 million, with a staff of 20 — up from $500,000 at the start of the Biden administration, but short of the $3 million some lawmakers have requested.

The role sits in the State Department and has a broad mandate to fight global antisemitism, but no clear playbook. Lipstadt and her predecessors traveled frequently to engage with foreign governments and attend global conferences. Envoys have also contributed their insights and expertise to State Department reports on human rights and religious freedom.

The five envoys have had distinct backgrounds and priorities:

► Gregg Rickman, a former GOP congressional staffer who served under President George W. Bush from 2006 to 2009, assisted Yemenite Jews seeking refuge in the U.S.

► Hannah Rosenthal, who was the envoy during President Barack Obama’s first term, made headlines for establishing an antisemitism training program for diplomats and for confronting Saudi officials about anti-Jewish material in their school books.

► Ira Forman, who filled the role from 2013 until the start of 2017, lobbied European governments against measures to ban ritual circumcision. On his trips abroad, Forman frequently met with leaders of the Jewish communities.

► Elan Carr, the son of Israeli immigrants, was appointed in 2019 – after initial attempts by the Trump administration to shut down the office. He took a more partisan approach and often spoke about anti-Israel activities on U.S. college campuses.

Trump also added a deputy envoy in 2019 — Cohanim — who told Jewish Insider she tracked the Iranian Jewish community closely, partnered with Gulf countries to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and tried to get Latin American countries to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes most anti-Zionism.

► Deborah Lipstadt, who plans to return to teaching at Emory University in Atlanta after Biden’s departure, came to the role with a higher public profile. She is the author of numerous books and the protagonist of the 2016 film Denial, which chronicled her defeat of a libel suit by a Holocaust denier. During her time as envoy, Lipstadt took several trips to the Middle East and Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, and helped draft and implement the Biden administration’s national plan to counter antisemitism.

Who is Shmuley Boteach?

Boteach, 58, was trained by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic sect in Crown Heights and founded the Oxford University L’Chaim Society. He gained prominence by modernizing and sharing insights from traditional Jewish texts, particularly with the books Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy, and Kosher Jesus.

In 1996, while promoting another book, The Jewish Guide to Adultery, Boteach told The Independent, “God gave 10 commandments at Sinai, and the 11th commandment, which they expunged but which has come down orally, is ‘Thou shalt do anything for publicity and recognition’.”

Over the years, between appearances on popular TV talk shows like Oprah, Dr. Phil and Piers Morgan and engaging in fierce debates at Oxford and other venues, including recently with Candace Owens over Israel and antisemitism, Boteach developed an eclectic roster of celebrity friends. He also made joint appearances with Playboy playmate and actress Pamela Anderson, honored reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, and defended comedian Roseanne Barr after her strange rant about Holocaust denial.

He is now the head of the World Values Network, a pro-Israel nonprofit, and since Oct. 7 has frequently sparred with Israel critics and documented his confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters on social media.

In the telephone interview this week, Boteach compared his potential appointment as antisemitism envoy to Rabbi Judah Hanasi, the leader of the Jews during Roman times, being appointed “an official Imperial Procurator to fight Jew hatred.”

“Just imagine how he could have protected the Jews of Tarsus, how he could have protected the Jews of Greece,” Boteach posited, ticking off the diasporic hotspots of the second century after Jesus’ birth. “But no such position existed in the times of the Roman Empire. That position does exist in the times of the American empire,” he continued. “America’s most powerful nation in the world. And that position has to be leveraged.”

Who is Dov Hikind? 

Hikind, 74, got his start as a political activist during the protests to free Jews from the Soviet Union. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1983 to 2018, representing the heavily Orthodox Borough Park neighborhood in Brooklyn.

He gained national attention for that offensive Purim costume, which he explained was done not to be recognizable, and later apologized for offending the Black community. Earlier in his career, Hikind was involved with the Jewish Defense League, which the FBI classified as a “violent extremist Jewish organization.” In 2011, he threatened to quit the Democratic Party for supporting gay marriage. He was arrested in 2015 for protesting Sen. Chuck Schumer during the debate over the Iran nuclear deal, and he led a protest against Amnesty International after Oct. 7.

In an interview, Hikind said he’s “definitely interested” in the role of antisemitism envoy, highlighting his extensive background in advocating for Jewish causes. But he acknowledged that his 2016 vote against Trump and prior comments describing the president-elect as “pulling down the Republican party” and “being ignorant” make him a longshot.

“It would be an incredible honor at this point in my life to be able to work in the Trump administration in this area of all places,” Hikind said.

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