The final step would be a Senate vote, some eight months after President Biden announced his intention to nominate her to the position.
Although her nomination was the first item on the agenda, chairman Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) decided to pull her name at the last minute.
After an eight-month delay, Deborah Lipstadt is expected to be nominated by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. If confirmed, she will wait for a final full Senate vote.
“Branding Israel an apartheid state is more than historically inaccurate,” she said. “I believe it's part of a larger effort to delegitimize the Jewish state.”
Deborah Lipstadt was nominated in July, but numerous delays blocked a Senate committee vote on her nomination.
The antisemitism monitor is responsible for reporting on antisemitism overseas and pressing governments to adopt measures to mitigate antisemitism.
In light of the recent hostage crisis in Colleyville, Texas, 96 Jewish organizations called on lawmakers to hasten Professor Lipstadt’s nomination as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Other Republican lawmakers have faulted her for appearing in an ad during the 2020 presidential race likening former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric to those of the Nazis in the 1930s.
Keyak is expected to start his role on Monday and to serve as an acting envoy.
Deborah Lipstadt was nominated to be the antisemitism monitor by US President Joe Biden.