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HOLD THE DATE: AJC 103rd Annual Meeting, May 6-8, 2009, Washington, DC
McCain, Obama Answer AJC Election Questionnaire
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Where do presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama stand on
priority issues for the Jewish community? Their responses to AJC’s
questionnaire, including prospects for peace in the Middle East,
America’s addiction to foreign oil, the war on terror, the ongoing
crisis in Darfur, immigration policy, church-state safeguards, and
religious practice in the workplace, are presented in full. READ.
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Disturbing Email Sent to Pennsylvania Jewish Voters
AJC was deeply troubled by a letter emailed to over 75,000 Jews in Pennsylvania. The email asserted that voting for John McCain instead of Barack Obama is necessary “to stop a second Holocaust.” Signed by three leading Jewish Republicans, and paid for by the “Republican Federal Committee of PA – Victory 2008,” the email also stated that to vote for Obama would not only be a “tragic mistake,” but would be a replay of “our ancestors ignor[ing] the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940.” READ NEWS RELEASE.
Chronicle of Philanthropy Places AJC on Top 400 Non-Profits List
For the third consecutive year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy has singled out AJC for distinction and high praise for its fundraising success. AJC came in 338 on the publication’s list of top 400 non-profit organizations in the U.S. As The Chronicle notes in its latest issue, only 8.1 percent of the nearly $68 million raised by AJC was used for fundraising purposes. This is even more impressive when one considers that the competition to be included in these 400 slots comes from literally hundreds of thousands of non-profit organizations. Whether The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Charity Navigator, Forbes or other respected “watchdog” agencies, AJC continues to be recognized as a fiscally responsible organization.
AJC Diplomatic Leadership Mission to Mexico
A delegation led by AJC President Richard J. Sideman met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City. President Calderon accepted the invitation to address AJC’s Annual Dinner on May 7 in Washington, D.C. Sideman, joined by Tom Kahn, chair of AJC’s Latino and Latin American Institute, and Dina Siegel Vann, director of the institute, also met with Mexico’s foreign and interior ministers, the American and Israeli ambassadors, and leaders of Mexico’s Jewish community.
AJC Quiz: Mexico
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To coincide with this week’s AJC mission to Mexico, learn more in this week’s AJC Jewish IQ quiz on Mexico.
TAKE QUIZ. Congratulations to last week’s winners – Aharon HaCohen and Sandra Cuttler.
View Last Week’s Answers.
View all previous quizzes Here. |
In the AJC Studio: U.S. Publisher Declares Zionism is Racism
Ben Cohen, associate director of AJC’s Department on Anti-Semitism and Extremism, and editor of the AJC website Z-Word, discusses AJC efforts to have a major U.S. publisher remove a chapter on Zionism from its Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. LISTEN. AJC is in direct contact with the head of Macmillan Reference USA. READ NEWS RELEASE.
AJC Attends Energy Freedom Summit in Chicago
A delegation of 27 AJC lay leaders and staff from across the country who are engaged in the energy security issue participated in the Energy Freedom Summit in Chicago on Oct. 24-25. The summit was organized by Set America Free, a coalition that brings together prominent individuals and non-profit organizations from across the political spectrum. AJC’s Energy Specialist, Ami Greener, was featured in an advocacy training session. Donald Yale of AJC’s Colorado Chapter, recently appointed as the first chair of the newly created Chapters’ Energy Task Force, received on behalf of AJC an ‘Energy Hero’ award from Set America Free, recognizing the agency’s leadership on the energy issue.
AJC Radio Message: Thank You, T. Boone Pickens
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The Texas oilman has shown leadership in bringing energy security facts
to the forefront of the national debate, says David Harris in his
national radio commentary, broadcast on the CBS radio network and on
Bloomberg (WBBR-AM) radio. LISTEN. Harris urges listeners take AJC’s Energy Pledge to show their commitment.
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Israeli Ambassador to Paris Visits AJC
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AJC hosted Daniel Shek, Israeli Ambassador to France, for a roundtable
lunch on EU-Israel relations and Israel's security challenges.
(Left to
right: Honorary AJC President Harold Tanner, AJC Board of Governors Chair Mimi Alperin, Amb. Shek, and Honorary AJC President
E. Robert Goodkind.)
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AJC Condemns Israeli Settler Violence
AJC condemned the desecration by Israeli settlers of a Muslim cemetery in the West Bank and violent assaults on Israeli police and soldiers. “Regrettably, there are some in the settler community who have no respect for the democratic State of Israel and its rule of law," said AJC. "These individuals pose a threat to the fabric of Israeli society and seek to undermine any effort on the Israeli side to help foster a climate of peaceful coexistence." READ NEWS RELEASE.
UNRWA Head Addresses Jacob Blaustein Institute
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Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), visited
AJC headquarters. In a wide-ranging conversation, E. Robert Goodkind,
chair of JBI, and other AJC leaders raised questions about UNRWA, a
humanitarian agency, using politicized terms like “nakba” to describe
the creation of the state of Israel. Goodkind presented AbuZayd with a
copy of JBI’s Mandate of Destiny, demonstrating the
international legal basis and approval of the Jewish state. The
Commissioner-General was asked about steps to improve screening of
UNRWA employees to ensure they are not involved in terrorism. She also
was asked about UNRWA's ties to reform of textbooks, and measures to
promote tolerance toward minorities. AbuZayd expressed her desire to
continue the dialogue.
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AJC Hosts Young Scandinavian Journalists
Thanks To Scandinavia, an AJC institute, has brought top students from journalism schools in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden for a two-week visit to cover the U.S. elections. Their program focuses on multiculturalism in the United States, religion and politics, and civic education – and includes meetings with ethnic leaders, with AJC experts, with journalists and journalism students, and a trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In The Media
The JTA published an op-ed by Kenneth Stern, AJC’s expert on anti-Semitism and extremism, on the impact of the global financial crisis on anti-Semtism. READ.
The Wall Street Journal cited AJC’s Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion in an article on the Jewish vote.
AJC Communications Director Kenneth Bandler was interviewed about the survey’s findings on FOX radio.
The World Policy Journal published an article on the future of Africa by Michelle Sieff, assistant director of AJC’s Africa Institute. READ.
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