Press Releases and Statements

Austria bestowed one of its highest honors on American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris. The Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria was presented today to Harris during the AJC Board of Governors meeting.

The Federal Republic of Germany honored American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris with the prestigious Stern/Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit. It is the highest tribute Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation. German Ambassador to the United States Emily Haber presented the award to Harris as “a worthy recognition of your lifelong commitment to the Jewish community and the relationship between Jews and Germany.” The ceremony took place this evening at the residence of German Consul General David Gill in New York.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) polls of the general and Muslim populations in Germany show widespread recognition of the gravity of antisemitism in Germany.

An American Jewish Committee (AJC) delegation visited Warsaw this week to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Shapiro Silverberg AJC Central Europe Office. Launched in March 2017, AJC Central Europe is dedicated to seven Central European countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris today reaffirmed the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s support for President Biden’s “resolute leadership in standing with Ukraine in the face of the reckless and illegal Russian invasion.” “You can continue to count on our full support as you galvanize both American and global power to confront this grave challenge to Ukraine, to international humanitarian law, to democratic aspirations, and to a rules-based international order,” Harris wrote in a letter today to President Biden.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) applauded the UN General Assembly decision to suspend Russia’s membership on the UN Human Rights Council. “Today’s momentous vote to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council is a principled action reflecting the grave concern shared by many governments about the gross, systematic violations of human rights that Russian forces have committed during the invasion of Ukraine,” said Felice Gaer, Director of AJC’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights.

American Jewish Committee’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) inter-parliamentary group convened a virtual roundtable discussion on transatlantic responses to Iran’s nuclear ambition. Introduced by new American TFI co-chairs Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), the discussion brought together 22 members of Congress, members of the Knesset, and lawmakers from Europe and Canada. The event was moderated by AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced today additional grants from its #StandWithUkraine Fund to organizations providing direct humanitarian relief to Ukrainian refugees and to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked, violent invasion. “We are compelled by our tradition and humanity to do whatever we possibly can to assist the people of Ukraine as they valiantly fight for their freedom and democratic, independent country,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

We are here to bear witness,” American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris declared at a refugee reception center in Dorohusk, Poland, on the border with Ukraine. Harris led an AJC group to Poland on a three-day visit to demonstrate solidarity with Ukrainians who have fled their country, seeking safety in Poland and other neighboring countries. He saluted the many Polish volunteers, who have been setting up tents, providing basic sanitary and food supplies, as well as opened their homes to some refugees.

IsraAID, the international Israeli humanitarian aid organizations, is the first recipient of an American Jewish Committee (AJC) #StandWithUkraine Fund grant. The AJC grant will support IsraAID in establishing safe spaces for children, providing medical supplies, and offering trauma counseling. IsraAID, a longtime partner of AJC, has responded to humanitarian crises worldwide for more than 20 years, and often is among the first relief organization to be on site, as it is now doing in Moldova.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris expressed today, in a letter to President Joe Biden, “unreserved support for American leadership in mobilizing global solidarity and assistance for Ukraine.” “You can count on the full support of American Jewish Committee and our hundreds of thousands of advocates across the country,” wrote Harris, “as the U.S. considers additional steps to support Ukraine’s struggle to defend itself and to meet the urgent needs of its citizens, as well as to punish Moscow and to isolate it from the global economy.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, launched today AJC’s Emergency #StandWithUkraine Fund to assist Ukrainian refugees and to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked, violent invasion.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) is horrified by Russia’s indiscriminate missile attacks on Kyiv that today killed at least five people and severely damaged the Babi Yar memorial. At this site, Nazi Germans murdered more than 100,000 people, primarily Jews, and for decades the Soviets refused to erect a proper memorial to honor the victims.

Extensive surveys of France’s Jewish, Muslim, and general populations reveal the extent of unabated antisemitism threatening the country’s Jewish population, the largest in Europe. The three surveys were conducted by IFOP, a leading polling firm, for AJC in partnership with Fondapol, a major French think tank. 85% of French Jews say antisemitism is a widespread phenomenon in France today, and 73% say it has been increasing over the past ten years. In contrast, only 64% of the general population see antisemitism prevalent and rising.

For the 14th consecutive year, Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC’s Director of International Jewish Affairs, will serve as Personal Representative on Combating Antisemitism for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Baker’s appointment was announced by Zbigniew Rau, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, who assumed the post of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office this month.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today expressed deep concern about the efforts of some political factions in Bosnia-Herzegovina to remove the country’s legal ban on denial of the Holocaust and other genocides.

After the launch of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) inter-parliamentary group in the EU Parliament in July 2019, the first national chapter opened on October 13 in the Austrian parliament, under the leadership of Chair MP Martin Engelberg and the support of lawmakers from the Greens, the Social-Democrats and NEOS, the liberal party.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) President Harriet Schleifer today addressed the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism. Schleifer stressed that “any genuine effort to remember the Holocaust and its victims must be coupled with the present-day fight against antisemitism.”

“The EU should be applauded for taking this significant step toward combatting antisemitism in Europe and abroad amid the dramatic surge of Jew hatred within living memory of the Holocaust,” said Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, the EU office of AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization. “It is reassuring to see that the strategy aims at tackling antisemitism whether it originates from the far-right, the far-left, Islamists or mainstream society and clearly identifies “Israel-related antisemitism” as a major problem. As the Commission notes, it is in fact ‘the most common form of antisemitism encountered online by Jews in Europe today.’”

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, congratulates Fernando Lottenberg on his appointment as the first Organization of American States (OAS) Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism. Creation of the position was initially announced by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro at the AJC 2021 Global Forum in June.