Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, today announced its sponsorship of an historic international conference, New Documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII and Their Meaning for Jewish-Christian Relations: A Dialogue Between Historians and Theologians. AJC is the only global Jewish organization among the sponsors.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) has presented its prestigious Human Dignity Award to Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, one of the world’s most respected Islamic scholars and a champion of religious freedom, peace, and enhancing Muslim-Jewish relations.

Following Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s address today to the United Nations General Assembly, American Jewish Committee condemned Iran’s record of rampant human rights abuses and support for anti-Israel terror groups, and reiterated its calls for the international community to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons capability. President Raisi’s address comes just over a year after the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by Iran’s morality police for not properly wearing a hijab, on the heels of the barring of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors from sites in Iran, and less than a month before key sanctions are set to expire on the regime’s ballistic missile program.

American Jewish Committee met with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, a forceful advocate against antisemitism, at a conclave of many of the world’s religions and movements that is guided by a message that allyship and freedom to worship are needed more than ever.

Seton Hall University has honored Rabbi Noam Marans, Director of American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, with the Sister Rose Thering Award for Outstanding Service in Education for Interreligious Harmony.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) President Michael Tichnor and CEO Ted Deutch led a leadership delegation to the Vatican. “We are so grateful for the transformation in Catholic-Jewish relations and for the privilege AJC has enjoyed and continues to enjoy as a central actor in this ongoing historic reconciliation, which Pope Francis has taken to even greater heights,” said Deutch. “Pope Francis’s love and care for the Jewish People is universally known. We are grateful for his strong voice condemning antisemitism.”

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) has honored Felice Gaer, Director of American Jewish Committee’s (AJC’s) Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, with the organization’s 2023 Honorary Member Award. The award was presented to Gaer today at ASIL’s annual meeting in recognition of her “critically important contributions” to the development, interpretation, and implementation of international human rights law, including in the areas of prevention of torture, women’s human rights and freedom of religion or belief.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) has joined with religious liberty scholars Asma T. Uddin and Steven Collis in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to support employee rights to seek religious accommodations to not work on the Sabbath.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) joined in the celebration of the Abrahamic Family House opening in Abu Dhabi. With a mosque, church, and synagogue, along with exhibition space and conference facilities, the new interfaith center drives home the message of interfaith respect and cooperation that has long been a feature of Emirati culture and life. Ambassador (ret.) Marc Sievers, Director of AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding; Rabbi David Rosen, Director, AJC International Interreligious Affairs; and Reva Gorelick, Program Director, AJC Abu Dhabi, attended the opening ceremony yesterday.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today released “What Jews Think About Non-Jews” (kayfa yaraa al-yahud ghayr al-yahud), the 10th installment in the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s Arabic language educational video series, ‘An al-Yahud (“About the Jews”). The video also is available in English.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, mourns the passing of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. A true friend of the Jewish people, Benedict continued the path of reconciliation and friendship with world Jewry blazed by his predecessor, John Paul II.

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch praised today’s landmark vote by UN member states to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women, a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). “We applaud the 29 members of the UN's ECOSOC who declared today that they will no longer allow Iran, a country that relentlessly persecutes women and girls, to serve as a member of the Commission on the Status of Women. Its immediate removal for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term corrects a grave mistake,” said Deutch.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to establish an “independent international fact-finding mission” on Iran that will “thoroughly and independently investigate” human rights violations committed by the regime in its deadly crackdown on escalating protests since September 16. “The Human Rights Council was created precisely for addressing the egregious human rights abuses the Iranian regime is committing with impunity,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “Today’s Council decision reflects the international community’s outrage at the regime’s conduct, its commitment to listen to the brave Iranian people, and its determination to hold accountable those responsible for the pervasive violence.”

Rabbi A. James Rudin, who headed American Jewish Committee’s pioneering work with the Roman Catholic Church and other faiths for many years, was honored today by Pope Francis with one of the Vatican’s highest awards, the Knight of St. Gregory the Great.

“The Human Rights Council has a responsibility to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its brazen, violent crackdown on its own citizens. The international community’s credibility is on the line,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “We salute Germany and Iceland for mobilizing 44 countries, including the 17 Council members required to ask Council President Federico Villegas to convene the special session on Iran.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised Germany and Iceland for taking the lead in requesting a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council to address the Iranian regime’s deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters. “The Human Rights Council has a responsibility to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its brazen, violent crackdown on its own citizens. The international community’s credibility is on the line,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “We salute Germany and Iceland for mobilizing 44 countries, including the 16 Council members required to ask Council President Federico Villegas to convene the special session on Iran.”

Rabbi David Rosen, American Jewish Committee (AJC) International Director of Interreligious Affairs, today addressed the Bahrain Dialogue Forum, a gathering of more than 200 interfaith leaders from around the world.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) honored today Christian Stückl, director of the Oberammergau Passion Play, with its prestigious Isaiah Award for Exemplary Interreligious Leadership. The AJC award, honoring extraordinary achievement in interfaith endeavors, was presented to Stückl by Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. “Throughout his illustrious career as Oberammergau Passion Play director, Christian Stückl has demonstrated the power of one individual to make a tremendous difference," said Marans.

An American Jewish Committee (AJC) leadership mission completed a week of consultations and public programs in Indonesia, a country with which the leading global Jewish advocacy organization has been engaged for two decades. The 17-member delegation included AJC CEO David Harris and professional and lay leadership of AJC’s Asia Pacific Institute (API) and Interreligious Affairs Department. “AJC knows the central importance of Indonesia to the Asia Pacific region and the Muslim world,” said API Director Shira Loewenberg. “We found a growing circle of friends and partners who want to engage with Jews along religious, political, cultural, and human dimensions.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomes the publication by the UN Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, of a new policy paper on combating Holocaust and genocide denial. The paper was produced in collaboration with AJC’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI). “Holocaust denial is rooted in antisemitism,” emphasizes Nderitu in the policy paper’s foreword, adding that her office is also “extremely worried about the increasingly frequent distortions of the Holocaust’s scope and intentionality.” Nderitu emphasizes that denying the facts of the Holocaust and other genocides generates fear among victims, “constitutes a warning sign of societal fragility” and “can inspire and fuel hatred of, or even incite violence against, communities that previously experienced atrocity crimes.”