With prejudice against Israel and antisemitism rising across the globe, President Donald Trump named Yehuda Kaploun, an Orthodox Jewish businessman, as the country's special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism in April.
In an exclusive interview, Kaploun spoke to The Floridian on the nomination.
"The president called me late April and asked me if I was willing to serve my country, and discussed some different roles, and in the middle of the conversation, he said, 'I’d like you to be responsible for the Jewish community worldwide. And this is the role that you should be taking," Kaploun explained.
The ambassador's nomination comes after Hamas' terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1200 people were killed. Kaploun indicated that the event created a rise in antisemitism across the U.S., partly leading to his nomination.
"Antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but it became a partisan issue after October 7, 2023, because of the ability to not condemn terrorism and having people actually try to equate violence - that it's okay because there’s a struggle," Kaploun said. "Violence has to be rooted at its core."
President Trump has made eradicating antisemitism a key priority in the early days of his second administration. Kaploun added that the president has been one of Israel's friendliest supporters, right up there, he says, with President Ronald Reagan.
Trump was also integral in brokering the Abraham Accords, a series of peace treaty agreements between Israel and several Arab states, during his first term in 2020.
Kaploun also indicated that a continuation of the agreement was happening in Trump's second term, following the destruction of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the fall of the Syrian government, which Hezbollah backed, calling it a "domino effect."
"The president set out a very forceful agenda, how to fight anti-semitism on college campuses, how to support Israel through its battle against terrorism, and made it very clear that Hamas has no role in the future of the Middle East," Kaploun detailed.
Despite those efforts, Kaploun argued there was still pushback from detractors over the president's support of the Jewish State, a possible aftereffect, he says, came from the Biden administration.
He called the current wave of antisemitism a "scourge" not seen since the 1930s and praised the president for speaking out against the hatred.
"[Trump] is a man of his word, what he set out and said he was going to do during the campaign, he’s been doing," Kaploun said. "I think that when the president asks you to be part of the message and you’re a Jewish individual, I think every Jew should be supportive of the president of the United States of America in this battle."
Members of "The Squad," a group of progressive Democratic congresswomen that includes New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), have particularly criticized Israel for their actions against Gaza since declaring war on Hamas after Oct. 7.
"The Democratic Party is far more severe in how they’re not addressing the Ilhan Omars, the AOCs, the people who want to equate terrorism that’s occurring in Israel with a struggle for freedom that has no basis in historical perspective," Kaploun said. "I think a lot of anti-semitism is from ignorance, people just don’t understand."
He also blamed education for part of the problem. Ansemtism has been particularly on the rise across college campuses, prompting one Florida lawmaker to take action.
"When kids in public school don’t know the president of the United States of America, but they know about the Israeli conflict, and they can’t tell you where Mississippi is, but they can tell you 'from the river to the sea, Palestine should be free,' we have to correct that imbalance in our country," Kaploun said.
It is now up to the U.S. Senate to confirm him. A growing number of U.S. Senators, including Sens. Rick Scott and Ted Cruz, have been advocating for Kaploun's confirmation process to be expedited.
But that might not be easy. Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler has urged his senators not to give Kaploun a single vote, calling him a "divisive figure."
"The irony is not lost on me that the Trump Administration— that already contains antisemites in its ranks— is seeking to add a divisive figure like Rabbi Kaploun as its antisemitism czar," Nadler said.
Along with claiming President Biden did little in combating anti-semitism during his term, Nadler also slammed Kaploun for asserting that Democrats did not condemn the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on October 7th.
"This absurd and insulting claim does not deserve a response. There is only one thing such a claim should be: disqualifying," Nadler said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include Nadler's remarks
