President Joe Biden has appointed philanthropist Susie Gelman to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the White House announced Friday.
Ms. Gelman, a former board chair of the Israel Policy Forum, joins the panel after Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum completed a two-year term in March.
Ms. Kleinbaum, senior rabbi of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, was named by Mr. Biden to the panel in 2021.
Commission Chair Abraham Cooper said in a statement that Ms. Gelman’s “expertise and insight on global antisemitism and freedom of religion or belief will be a great addition to help support the Commission’s mission to unflinchingly identify threats to international religious freedom.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan panel established by Congress to report on religious freedom overseas and make policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of state and Congress. Commissioners are appointed by the president and leaders of both parties in the House and the Senate.
Ms. Gelman served as Israel Policy Forum chair from 2016 until May of this year. The nonprofit forum advocates for a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Mr. Biden lauded her work in a video message when she left the forum. “For seven years she has led the board of Israel Policy Forum with passion, purpose and a sense of possibilities of what we can achieve if we work together — greater peace, greater stability, greater connection,” he said, according to media reports.
Ms. Gelman also previously served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, where she was named a life member of its board of directors.
She was the inaugural chair of the Birthright Israel Foundation, which supports educational trips for young Jewish adults to visit Israel, and is a past president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, a family charity.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.