Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee (AJC) Chicago, together with AJC’s Asia Pacific Institute
(API) held an online video conversation about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Chinese
American community in Illinois.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomed newly elected Labour Party head Keir Starrmer’s public apology to the British Jewish community for the failure to address rising antisemitism within the party’s ranks and in the United Kingdom.

“As the pandemic spreads, straining precious medical resources, assisting those on the frontlines of care and research is imperative,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “To save a life, a core Jewish value, is critically important in this time of a global health crisis. Each of us must do whatever we can. I only wish we could do more at the present time.”

For Passover 2020, which begins in ten days, American Jewish Committee (AJC) has produced a special Haggadah Supplement. The two-page insert includes a meaningful prayer and a communal responsive reading related to holding the Passover Seder under unusual circumstances created by the deadly Coronavirus pandemic.

“Continuing to engage people across the United States and around the world is vital to AJC’s mission. With considerable experience in utilizing communications technologies and a social media platform of 2.3 million followers, AJC was able to pivot quickly from traditional in-person diplomacy and educational advocacy work to online interaction,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced today that, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is regrettably canceling the AJC Global Forum, slated for Berlin, Germany, June 14-17.
“It was a tough call to make – the Global Forum is an incredibly important event for AJC, especially this year as we looked forward to marking 75 years since the end of World War II in Berlin,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) is launching today #BeAMensch, a new initiative to encourage and highlight acts of kindness and decency during the Coronavirus pandemic. Mensch is Yiddish for “a person of integrity and honor,” or, put simply, a good person.

If America – and the world – needed a reminder of our interconnectedness, our interdependence, and our shared vulnerabilities, COVID-19 is it.

“Silviu Vexler is the perfect person for this position,” said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomes the opening of the Vatican’s Secret Archives and other Vatican archival data from the period of the Second World War.

AJC Berlin Acting Director Dr. Remko Leemhuis released the following statement after the terrorist attack in Hanau, Germany:

“The world body’s endless hypocrisy and double standards toward Israel are staggering,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “Of all the situations in the world in which territory is disputed, the UN chooses only to focus on Israel. Why? We call on Secretary General Guterres to denounce this outrageous assault on the Jewish state.

Eric Post has been appointed Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Long Island Region. He previously served as Associate Director of AJC’s New York Region, covering the city’s five boroughs.

“With IsraAID on the ground in Wuhan, we are able to provide relief supplies, mainly protective gear for medical teams dealing with the coronavirus,” said Shira Loewenberg, Director of AJC’s Asia Pacific Institute.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy group, today launched a groundbreaking Arabic-language online video series aimed at increasing understanding of the Jewish people in the Arab world.

“Clearly, the yearning for an end to the conflict, after seven decades and repeated rejections of previous plans by the Palestinian leadership, is growing ever stronger in the region, but time isn’t necessarily on the Palestinians’ side, as they always assumed,” said American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris.

On the second day of a groundbreaking interfaith mission to Poland, the leaders of American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Muslim World League (MWL) reaffirmed their new partnership by committing to ensure memory of the Holocaust, combat hatred and racism, and foster a new era in Muslim-Jewish relations.

Muslim World League (MWL) Secretary General Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa and American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris led today a groundbreaking joint visit of Muslims and Jews to Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi German death camp.

“Antisemitism has become a concern for French society as a whole,” said Anne-Sophie Sebban-Bécache, Director of AJC Paris. “It is not considered anymore as only the concern of Jews. We are not as alone as we could have felt in the past to fight this scourge.”

AJC commends South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for signing an executive order prohibiting state offices from doing business with companies that boycott Israel.