Press Releases and Statements

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.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) launched today a new limited podcast series on Jews from Arab countries and Iran. The Forgotten Exodus features interviews with Jews from countries including Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Iran. It is the first narrative podcast series devoted exclusively to telling the stories of the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their centuries-old communities in Arab lands and Iran in the mid-twentieth century.

Sara Coodin has been appointed Director of Academic Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC). This new position will enhance and expand the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s engagement with university administrators regarding the conditions for Jewish students.

Bulgaria honored American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris today with the Honorary Medal of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, one of the country’s highest awards. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev bestowed the award on Harris for “his exceptional contribution to the advancement of the transatlantic partnership, the strengthening of the relations between Bulgaria and the United States, and in recognition of his role in the fight against antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

The Organization of American States (OAS) and American Jewish Committee (AJC) have co-published a Handbook for the Practical Use of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. The publication offers clear guidance and examples of how the definition is being used by law enforcement, the judiciary, educational institutions, and civil society.

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) hailed today’s announcement that Saudi Arabia will permit Israeli commercial flights to traverse the kingdom’s airspace. “In the spirit of the historic Abraham Accords, today’s Saudi announcement is a significant example of normalization that will further advance the promise and reality of Arab-Israeli peace,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today released “What is Antisemitism?” (“ma hiya mu’adat as-samiya?”), an Arabic-language video that is the latest effort of the leading global Jewish advocacy organization to raise awareness in the Arab world about the varied expressions and violent impact of Jew-hatred. The video also is available in English. What is Antisemitism? is the eighth episode of AJC’s Arabic language educational web series, ‘An al-Yahud (“About the Jews”), launched in 2020.

American Jewish Committee is shocked and deeply saddened by the assassination of Abe Shinzo. We join Japan in mourning his senseless death. The world has lost one of its most distinguished statesmen.

A delegation of presidents from Historically Black Colleges and Universities has arrived in Israel, as part of a groundbreaking program to create new academic and research partnerships between American and Israeli universities and expand the research capacity of participant universities.
The six-day trip is hosted by AJC Project Interchange (PI), an educational institute of the American Jewish Committee, as part of new agreement with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which supports students and programs at HBCUs.

American Jewish Committee today welcomed the news that Unilever has sold its Ben & Jerry’s business in Israel to a local licensee, clearing the way for the brand to once again be sold throughout the West Bank and Israel.

In a decision that could have far-reaching implications regarding public school prayer, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that a former high school football coach was within his constitutional rights to hold prayers on the field after a game.
AJC Chief Legal Officer Marc Stern, a leading expert on this issue, said, “The decision strikes a serious blow against the Constitution’s Establishment Clause as has been interpreted since World War II. Worse, the decision subordinates conscience protecting aspects of separation of church and state to individual religious expression."

American Jewish Committee (AJC) expressed profound disappointment in today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. AJC has long opposed government interference in a woman’s right to autonomy over her body and access to medical procedures that affect her own life and her ability – and decision – to bear children. Jewish tradition prioritizes the safety of women carrying a child.

This summer, the New-York Historical Society presents Confronting Hate 1937–1952, a timely exhibition that explores the groundbreaking campaign launched by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in 1937 to combat increasing antisemitism in the United States during the interwar period. On view July 28, 2022 – January 1, 2023, the exhibition examines the history of the campaign through vibrant posters, engaging comic books, newspaper advertisements, radio spots, and television cartoons that have never before been exhibited to the public.

A federal court ruled that an anti-BDS law that required companies doing business with the state of Arkansas to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel was constitutional.

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.”

Hillel chapters in Kharkiv and Indiana University received the AJC Sharon Greene Award at AJC Global Forum.

Michael L. Tichnor has been elected president of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization. “I am honored and humbled to take on this most meaningful role at AJC, an organization which exemplifies courage, strength, diplomacy and action,” said Tichnor.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, addressing the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Global Forum today, praised the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s leadership on key American foreign policy issues. AJC’s missions “align with many of the United States top foreign policy priorities,” he said. “I’d like to thank AJC for its enduring partnership, for its ongoing work, and for all I know that we’ll continue to do together” to support Ukraine, to combat antisemitism worldwide, support Israel’s security, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and expand Arab-Israeli normalization and peace, Blinken remarked in a video address from the State Department.

Masih Alinejad, one of the most outspoken opponents of the Islamic regime in Tehran, was honored today by American Jewish Committee (AJC) with the global advocacy organization’s Moral Courage Award. AJC honored Alinejad for her “moral, intellectual, and physical courage, extraordinary bravery, and commitment to the protection of human rights.”