Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today thanked Stanford University and the University of Michigan for showing moral clarity and leadership in the wake of Tuesday’s congressional hearing, “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism,” during which university presidents from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and University of Pennsylvania asserted that comments calling for the genocide of the Jewish people would not necessarily violate their institutions’ codes of conduct.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court defending the right of social media companies to exclude hateful speech from their platforms. The case, Moody v. NetChoice, involves challenges to Florida and Texas statutes which limited the right of social media platforms to exclude posts that violated their rules of service. The lower federal courts are divided on the constitutionality of such statutes.

Tuesday’s congressional hearing was shocking and disappointing. After nearly six hours of testimony in which the university presidents from Harvard, MIT, and Penn made clear their schools’ commitments to free speech and academic excellence, they could not bring themselves to affirm that calling for the genocide of the Jewish people constitutes a violation of their institutions’ codes of conduct.

Amid the terrifying increase of antisemitic harassment, intimidation, and violence around the world in the wake of the October 7 terror attack against Israel, American Jewish Committee (AJC) today released updated terms to its Translate Hate glossary, a tool to help people identify, understand, and report antisemitism.

In response to the rising challenge of online antisemitism, American Jewish Committee (AJC), B’nai B’rith International, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, UNESCO, and the World Jewish Congress came together to host an action-oriented online capacity building workshop. The session united over 50 transatlantic civil society leaders, online antisemitism experts, and leading figures driving policy responses to hateful narratives as well as fostering media and information literacy, to share best practices around countering online antisemitism from across Europe and North America.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, was joined today by roughly 50 Jewish community organizations from around the world to urge tech and social media companies to take prompt and effective action to counter “the surge in online content celebrating the terrorist organization Hamas and the heinous murders and related attacks it committed against 1,400 civilians in Israel on and since October 7, 2023.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, today welcomed a joint statement from 32 Special Envoys and Coordinators on Combating Antisemitism from Europe, Latin America, the United States, Canada, and Israel. They cite the “immense impact” the October 7 Hamas terror attack has had on Jewish communities worldwide and the need for action in the face of the dangerous antisemitism that has ensued.

Today, in response to findings in the FBI’s 2022 Hate Crime Statistics Report, American Jewish Committee (AJC) expressed grave concern over the staggering number of hate crimes committed against the American Jewish community last year. Hate crimes against Jews increased by 37% in 2022, according to the data released by the FBI.

American Jewish Committee welcomed the Biden administration’s release of Allied Against Hate: A Toolkit for Faith Communities as part of the effort to implement the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, has created a series of guides to help various sectors of American society implement the recommendations put forth in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

“Antisemitism can never be rationalized. Kanye’s antisemitic tirade has caused significant harm to Jewish communities around the world and directly contributed to documented antisemitic incidents in the United States. Adidas’ CEO Bjørn Gulden’s insensitive comments call into question Adidas’ true commitment to countering antisemitism. I call on Gulden to set the record straight and demonstrate that Adidas, which was late to condemn Kanye’s antisemitism in the first place, is taking antisemitism seriously.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) remains deeply disturbed by the inclusion of speakers with well-documented track records of spewing antisemitic venom at the Palestine Writes event at the University of Pennsylvania. AJC believes that the university and affiliated departments need to make clear that they will not be associated with an event that hosts such hateful speakers and will ensure a safe and welcoming environment for Jewish students. AJC also believes the university needs to closely examine the process by which such programs are endorsed and funded by the university or its departments. AJC continues to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community at Penn. AJC CEO Ted Deutch will join Penn Unity Shabbat on Friday night to stand with Penn’s Jewish community during this time and celebrate the resilience of these students in the face of antisemitic bigotry. 

I am thrilled for the Americans who will soon be reunited with their families after so many years. As the author of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (2020), I welcomed the sanctions leveled by the Administration against Ahmadinejad who notoriously oversaw the political hostage-taking of many Americans and foreign nationals, including my former constituent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007. Iran has still not accounted for Bob’s disappearance and tragic passing. The Levinson family deserves this justice.

Since this event was announced, American Jewish Committee (AJC) has been in close contact with Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Jewish organizations on campus, and university administrators.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today announced its latest step in helping implement the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, tapping more than 35 lay leaders from across the country to join AJC’s implementation task force.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and Potomac Law Group announced today they filed suit on behalf of the Brandeis Center against the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) for alleged violations of California’s open meetings law, including failing to provide proper public notice before approving multiple ethnic studies courses containing anti-Jewish bias and for refusing to protect the public, including members of the Jewish community, from intimidation and harassment at Board meetings. 

American Jewish Committee today issued this statement in response to an address by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in which he justified the Holocaust and made many blatantly false, antisemitic allegations.

Following a threat by X owner Elon Musk to sue ADL for defamation, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch issued this statement: “Like ADL, AJC and the global Jewish community have been fighting rising antisemitism online and in the public square, a goal all social media companies should share."

Jews have settled all across America for centuries, not just in big cities. While the Jewish presence in rural areas may be smaller, antisemitism remains a growing problem in those communities. How to change that narrative is part of the U.S. National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, released in May by President Biden. Gavriela Geller, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau/AJC Kansas City, said the focus on rural areas was both needed and welcome.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch today revealed the structure, direction, and priorities for a task force to implement the White House strategy to counter antisemitism and help ensure the U.S. Jewish community is safe, strong, and secure.