President Trump Appoints Yehuda Kaploun Envoy for Antisemitism

By COLlive reporter

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he is nominating Yehuda Kaploun, an Orthodox Jewish businessman and community activist, as his administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

“I am proud to nominate Yehuda Kaploun as the United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Ambassador-at-Large,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Yehuda is a successful businessman, and staunch advocate for the Jewish Faith and the Rights of his people to live and worship free from persecution. With Anti-Semitism dangerously on the rise, Yehuda will be the strongest Representative for Americans and Jews across the Globe, and promote PEACE. Congratulations Yehuda!”

Kaploun, who is a member of the Chabad community in North Miami Beach, Florida, helped with the Trump campaign’s outreach to the Jewish community during his 2024 campaign. That included high-profile events in New Jersey and Florida, backed by major philanthropist and political donor Dr. Miriam Adelson.

During the presidential campaign, Kaploun helped lead outreach to the Orthodox and wider Jewish communities. He said that his work with the Trump campaign was driven by rising antisemitism and the increasingly insecure place of American Jews in society.

“Just a year ago, no one would have believed that Jews would be afraid to be openly Jewish in the United States,” Kaploun told Mishpacha Magazine. “The fact that Jews are afraid in progressive universities shows that the United States is going down a dark path.”

Previously serving in the role were lobbyist Gregg Rickman (2006–2009), the first to hold the position under President George W. Bush; Jewish nonprofit executive Hannah Rosenthal (2009–2012) and Democratic political activist Ira Forman (2013–2017), both appointed under President Barack Obama; State Department official Elan Carr (2019–2021), appointed by President Trump; and most recently, historian Deborah Lipstadt (2022–2025), who served under President Joe Biden.