Fill key State Department roles, Jewish groups tell Senate leaders

The Jewish Federations of North America and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations led 13 other Jewish groups in a letter to Senate leaders on Tuesday, asking the upper chamber to confirm Trump administration nominees for two key U.S. State Department positions.

The groups asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to “swiftly” fill the roles of U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Yehuda Kaploun, an Israeli-American rabbi and businessman, for the special envoy role, and Mark Warner, a pastor and former House Republican leader, for the latter.

Both nominees have advanced out of committee