Press Releases and Statements

Entertainment leaders gathered for the first-ever “Countering Antisemitism: An Entertainment Industry Summit”. Launched by Jewish advocacy and entertainment experts, the Summit was jointly held by American Jewish Committee, Creative Community for Peace, an entertainment-industry nonprofit, and Creative Artists Agency a leading entertainment and sports agency. Hundreds of entertainment professionals joined for the full day of programming. The Summit featured Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, with Van Jones, Political Analyst, Eli Roth, Actor/Director, Scott Budnick, Producer, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Actress.

The “Confronting Hate Together” exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum offered an important opportunity for a much-needed conversation about discrimination and bigotry. Instead, the staff who have shut down the museum are engaged in the very hate the exhibit is meant to address. They are censoring Jewish voices, offering to promote only a single point of view and demanding that leadership cancel the exhibit altogether.

Students from two New York colleges told leading education policymakers and legislators that they are worried the flood of anti-Israel and antisemitic incidents they endured over the last year may flare up again when classes resume in the fall. Molly Goldstein, a senior at Cornell University, and Esti Heller, who recently graduated from SUNY Purchase, were part of an advocacy day at the state capital on May 21 led by the New York, Long Island, and Westchester/Fairfield regional offices of American Jewish Committee (AJC).
“Jewish students don’t feel safe going forward. This is not the end – even if it is the end of the semester,” Goldstein told a news conference. “It’s something we must all continue to work on… so we can protect all students, so we can get the education we deserve.”

The face of antisemitism completely changed following the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, and left American society leaders wondering how they can respond meaningfully to this new manifestation of the world’s oldest hate.

Recognizing the need to provide all of society with not just the tools to prevent and combat antisemitism, but also to understand what antisemitism is and how it can present itself in various forms, AJC today released a newly updated and expanded Call to Action Against Antisemitism, a Society-Wide Nonpartisan Guide for America.

A student group at Washington, DC’s largest high school, which had sued to compel the school to screen a documentary filled with antisemitic tropes and conspiracies, has agreed not to show the film. A coalition of Jewish groups, including American Jewish Committee, and Jewish parents had supported the school’s decision to stop the film from being shown.

A coalition of Jewish groups today said it backed a Washington, D.C. high school’s decision to ban the screening of a documentary that traffics in antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories, at a time when Jewish and Israeli students at the school have felt threatened since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

As antisemitic intimidation, harassment, and violence rise on university campuses in the U.S. and Europe, American Jewish Committee (AJC) joined European and American Jewish community leaders and government officials for the third annual European Conference on Antisemitism, to assess the threat to Jewish students and civic order, and urge comprehensive action by campus administrators.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) thanks President Biden for his resolute commitment to combating antisemitism and protecting Jewish communities, highlighted in remarks delivered today at a Holocaust Remembrance Event at the U.S. Capitol seven months after Hamas carried out the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust and in the wake of yesterday’s remembrance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Paris office released preliminary findings of its Survey of Antisemitism in France 2024 which showed that younger French people are more likely to hold antisemitic beliefs and French Jews under 25 years old are more likely to be the target of antisemitic incidents. Yet, even with rising antisemitism, the survey also found profound resilience among French Jews who are overwhelmingly embracing their Jewish and Zionist identities, with nearly three-quarters of French Jews saying that the October 7 massacre strengthened their Zionist convictions (73%) and their Jewish identity (71%).

AJC New Jersey Regional Director David Levy released the following statement in reaction to the agreement made between Rutgers News Brunswick Campus administration and protest encampment leaders.

Today, as Jewish American Heritage Month begins, American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice are launching a special initiative, the Congressional Solidarity Sabbath. This initiative invites all Members of Congress, regardless of political party, religious tradition, or cultural background, to engage with the Jewish community in a meaningful way during the month of May.

Sarah van Loon, Regional Director of American Jewish Committee (AJC) Chicago, released the following statement in reaction to the agreement made between Northwestern University and protest encampment leaders.
"I am appalled at the cowardly actions of Northwestern University’s administration yesterday. In order to avoid exhibiting real leadership by enforcing its own recently amended policies, Northwestern succumbed to the demands of a mob, which has intimidated Jewish students, espoused antisemitic, hate-filled speech, and whose members have celebrated Hamas terrorists."

Following a week filled with increasing threats, harassment, and violence directed at Jewish students at campus protests and encampments across the country, students from Brown, Columbia, and Rutgers demanded that university administrators better ensure the safety of Jewish students on campus. The students were joined by leadership from Columbia/Barnard Hillel, Hillel International, American Jewish Committee (AJC), and UJA-Federation of New York.

Despite feelings of vulnerability in the wake of the Hamas massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, American Jews must remain united and never stop being proud of who they are, American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch said. Deutch spoke during a fireside chat with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Gavriela Geller, Executive Director of JCRB|AJC at Driving Out Darkness in the Heartland, a summit on countering antisemitism co-sponsored by American Jewish Committee. The first-of-its-kind meeting of 400 Jewish leaders, educators, local officials and community activists from various faiths featured sessions on best practices for addressing antisemitism in the Midwest, including rural areas.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today released its inaugural Voices Against Antisemitism campaign featuring Jewish celebrities and influencers, which highlights the impact Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel has had on American Jews.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Touro University’s Lander College for Women (LCW) today wrapped their second annual collaboration on a unique program that equips female Jewish Orthodox college and high school students with advocacy skills to stand up for Israel and the Jewish community at a time when anti-Zionist and antisemitic activity has surged at many schools and campuses.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today welcomed the introduction of the bipartisan, bicameral Countering Antisemitism Act, legislation that will strengthen federal efforts in the fight against anti-Jewish hate.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) will serve as the leading partner for a first-of-its-kind summit on the state of antisemitism in middle America. The summit, including a day-long public symposium, Unity Seder, and a private convening of regional Jewish leadership, are part of Driving out Darkness in the Heartland: 2024 Regional Summit on Combating Antisemitism, presented by JCRB/AJC of Kansas City and AJC.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) and Hillel International today announced that they are expanding their partnership to deepen the organizations’ critical work with college and university presidents and administrators to combat rising antisemitism on campus.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today welcomed a U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) agreement made with the Park City School District in Utah based on the Department’s investigation of seven complaints across three schools.