Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee (AJC) applauds the preliminary determination by the New Jersey Department of Treasury’s Division of Investment that Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, have engaged in a boycott of Israel. Under New Jersey’s 2016 law on Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS), state pension funds must divest from investments in any business that engages in boycotts of Israel.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, applauds the Burlington City Council’s decision to withdraw a non-binding resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. The resolution will be sent back to the Council’s Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee for further discussion.

The film is the sixth in AJC’s Arabic-language video series, ‘An al-Yahud (“About the Jews”), which has been viewed by tens of millions of Arabic-speakers around the world. The top locations of the videos’ viewers include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

In an unprecedented transatlantic initiative, 313 cross-party lawmakers from Europe, North America, and Israel urged EU countries and democracies worldwide to help end the discrimination against Israel at the United Nations. Spearheaded by AJC’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), the interparliamentary statement comes ahead of tomorrow’s opening of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.

A new report by AJC’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) finds that antisemitic violence has increased in the two years since a landmark UN report on global antisemitism warned governments of its dangers.

The Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council (MJAC) calls on more law enforcement agencies to report hate crimes data to the FBI following the release of the agency’s latest Hate Crimes Statistics report.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced today the individuals who will serve on the Disrupt Antisemitism awards committee.

“We are delighted that young Jewish leaders, and Jewish innovators, in the business, media and tech industries, have agreed to review and select the most innovative ideas to combat Jew-hatred,” said Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman, Director of AJC’s Alexander Young Leadership Department.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) is deeply troubled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2020 hate crime statistics, released yesterday, which showed that overall hate crimes were up and crimes targeting Jews comprised 54.9% of all religious bias crimes last year.

Led by American Jewish Committee (AJC), Secretaries of State from across the country participated today in a virtual training on combating misinformation and disinformation through the lens of antisemitism.

“Once again, Haitians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance as another major disaster has hit their island nation,” said AJC CEO David Harris. "Our tradition commands us to respond generously and compassionately to those who suffer a natural disaster, and Haiti again beckons us.”

Mayors and key staff participating in today’s training gained a deeper understanding of the range of antisemitic conspiracies, tropes, and symbols; the multiple sources of antisemitism emanating from the right, left and religious extremists; and concrete steps that can be taken on the local level to protect Jews and promote pluralism.

“Jews are threatened in America, around the world, and facing a growing vehemence online,” said Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman, Director of AJC’s Alexander Young Leadership Department. “Addressing Jew-hatred calls for bold change and big ideas driven by us, the rising generation of Jews. It’s time to Disrupt Antisemitism.”

Humera Khan and Adnan Ansari partnered with AJC to launch the Tackle! Upstander Training program, designed to help leaders in American cities develop local prevention frameworks to protect their communities from threats motivated by extremism or bigotry.

Ben and Jerry’s franchisees in the United States are calling on the company to “re-examine and withdraw” its decision to stop selling its ice cream in the West Bank and its threat to discontinue operations in Israel. American Jewish Committee Chief Legal Officer Marc D. Stern praised the franchisees for their honesty and passion in directly communicating their concerns.

“The Biden Administration has chosen wisely in appointing Deborah Lipstadt to fill this ambassadorial post, so vital to U.S. leadership in fighting antisemitism,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “Professor Lipstadt is one of this country’s, indeed the world’s, foremost experts on modern antisemitism, its constant morphing and multiple sources, and the current challenges to confronting it. AJC has been honored to work closely with her for years, and we eagerly look forward to partnering to advance the envoy office’s mission.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised the Biden Administration for nominating today Rashad Hussain as United States Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom. He will be the first Muslim to serve in this position. “Rashad Hussain is an impressive advocate of freedom of religion or belief in challenging diplomatic contexts,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomes the opening today of the Azerbaijan Trade Representative Office in Tel Aviv, the first Azerbaijani diplomatic representation in Israel.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomes the introduction today of a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terror organization. “We encourage swift passage of this important bipartisan resolution pressing the EU to do the right thing and correct the fiction of a bifurcated Hezbollah it endorsed nearly a decade ago,” said AJC CEO David. “Mistakenly believing it can tame Hezbollah’s behavior, a proposition unsupported by evidence, the EU has created ‘military’ and ‘political’ wings within Hezbollah, when, in reality, it is a single, unified terrorist entity."

American Jewish Committee (AJC) applauds Germany for its principled decision to not attend the 20th anniversary summit of the UN’s notorious 2001 World Conference Against Racism. “Germany has again asserted leadership in the global fight against antisemitism,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “Germany has once again, as it did in 2009 and 2011, laudably recognized the discredited nature of the original conference, held in Durban, South Africa. We hope other nations will follow suit.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) condemns the United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod resolution entitled, “Declaration for a Just Peace Between Palestine and Israel,” adopted today by a vote of 462 to 78. The measure demonizes Israel, fails to offer a credible path to Israeli-Palestinian peace, and undermines advances in Christian-Jewish relations.