A Christian Leads the AJC in Fight Against Anti-Semitism

Stand for Israel  |  July 20, 2020

Holly Huffnagle, Director of Combating Anti-Semitism for AJC
Holly Huffnagle, Director of Combating Anti-Semitism for AJC

Even as those of us who stand for the Jewish state and the Jewish people vow never again to anti-Semitism, the fight continues, and our friends at the American Jewish Committee (AJC) help lead the way. We are heartened by this news from The Times of Israel’s Cathryn J. Prince – the new AJC Director for Combating Anti-Semitism is an evangelical Christian from the United States:

At a time when Jews in the United States are being blamed for COVID-19 or for paying asylum seekers to seek refuge there, fighting anti-Semitism can sometimes feel like standing in the middle of a downpour with no umbrella.

“I would argue that today anti-Semitism is more complex than at any other point in history because all of these factors don’t just exist separately, they also exist simultaneously online,” Holly Huffnagle, the newly appointed American Jewish Committee’s US Director for Combating Antisemitism, told The Times of Israel in a recent interview…

Huffnagle, who previously served as a policy advisor to the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism at the US State Department, has fought against anti-Semitism since her graduate school days at Georgetown University. Yet, in spite of her resume, Huffnagle’s promotion has been met with consternation in some quarters. That’s because Huffnagle, 33, is an observant Baptist who goes to church every Sunday.

Still, she’s determined to forge ahead.

“As someone who is not Jewish, it’s hard to personally figure out my own voice in this space because I’m not the direct recipient of anti-Semitism or bigotry. However, I want to help American Jewish communities be freer. We can’t necessarily solve the problem, but we can work to make people freer from prejudice…”