Press Releases and Statements

Project Interchange (PI), American Jewish Committee’s signature educational institute introducing Israel to leaders from the United States and countries around the world, plans to host delegations of policymakers and opinion influencers from countries that signed the Abraham Accords last year. The new initiative, announced today to a worldwide audience attending the 2021 AJC Virtual Global Forum is intended to support the growing foundation of peaceful cooperation in the region. The first educational seminar in Israel for Arab Gulf leaders will take place in November, and a second group will come in January 2022.

“Every trip to Israel is a reminder of the remarkable qualities of this nation,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “This solidarity visit, like so many others AJC has sponsored since 1991, when Iraq fired Scud missiles at Israeli cities, underscores the courage, resilience, ingenuity, and determination of Israelis to defend their country — in this case against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist group. Each trip is also a reminder of how misrepresented and mischaracterized Israel is by many in the media and some countries who seek to demonize this thriving democracy and the lone Jewish-majority country on earth.”

As sirens blared across the country and civilians sought shelter, American Jewish Committee (AJC) called on the U.S. and other governments to condemn the rocket barrage directed against Israeli cities and towns today from Hamas-ruled Gaza – the latest unprovoked violence unleashed against the Jewish state.

The American Jewish Committee deeply regrets the decision of the International Criminal Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber, adopted by two in favor to one against, that the Court’s territorial jurisdiction extends to Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. We welcome the State Department’s expression of “serious concerns” about the Court’s attempted over-reach.

American Jewish Committee applauded the Slovenian government for recognizing Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. The government announced today that it “adopted a decision on treating the Hezbollah Group as a criminal and terrorist organization posing a threat to peace and security.”

The JBI report, One Year Later: The Historic United Nations Report on Antisemitism as a Human Rights Concern, surveys the landscape of global antisemitism during the 12-month period following the presentation by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, of his historic report on antisemitism as a human rights concern to the UN General Assembly in October 2019.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, saluted today’s signing at the White House of the Abraham Accords, formalizing the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, and between Bahrain and Israel. AJC CEO David Harris and Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson attended the signing ceremony on the White House South Lawn. Isaacson has led AJC engagement with Bahrain, the UAE and other Arab countries in the region for more than 25 years.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today called on U.S. federal agencies to ensure that any changes to the U.S. asylum system respect the universal right to seek asylum and the prohibition on returning people to places where they face persecution or torture. An official comment by AJC and its Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights calls on U.S. agencies to withdraw a sweeping set of changes they have proposed to implement to the U.S. asylum system.

Authored by Felice Gaer, Director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI), the report details the AJC efforts, led by AJC President Judge Joseph Proskauer and Jacob Blaustein, Chair of AJC’s Executive Committee, to ensure that the preeminent multilateral organization to emerge from the ashes of the Holocaust would have human rights at its core.

Benjamin Gantz, Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister in Israel’s new national unity government, addressed the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Global Forum today. In a conversation with Avital Leibovich, Director of AJC Jerusalem, Gantz discussed threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies, U.S.-Israel relations, EU-Israel ties, and his vision for Israel and relations with the Diaspora.

The report, Antisemitism: A Persistent Threat to Human Rights, and its annex survey incidents of antisemitic expression and violence in countries around the world from October 2019 to April 2020, both before and since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The JBI report comes six months after an unprecedented report by a United Nations expert recognizing global antisemitism as a serious human rights challenge.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization, praised Germany’s decision today to ban Hezbollah’s activities on the country’s soil, determining that the organization in its entirety is engaged in terrorist activity. The government’s action will ban all activity, prohibit public display of all symbols, and confiscate all assets of Hezbollah in Germany.

A bipartisan delegation of Secretaries of State from across the United States are visiting Israel with the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Project Interchange. The program features in-depth discussions on cybersecurity policies and practices at the state, local, and federal level as it relates to business services, election administration, and records management.

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) has completed a five-day visit to Israel with AJC Project Interchange.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a conversation with AJC CEO David Harris, presented today to the AJC Global Forum his views on U.S.-Israel relations, Israel-Diaspora relations, the Iranian threat, the peace process, antisemitism, and new diplomatic opportunities for the Jewish state.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released today its first-ever concurrent surveys of the attitudes of Jews in France, Israel, and the United States, the three largest Jewish communities in the world.

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. mayors is visiting Israel with AJC (American Jewish Committee) Project Interchange for intensive dialogue and briefings. The week-long educational seminar marks the first delegation under the auspices of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the U.S. Conference of Mayors and AJC, the highlight of which is an annual mayors’ delegation to Israel.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) strongly supports calls for establishing an inclusive civilian government in Sudan that supports human rights, the rule of law and democratic freedoms for all.

AJC’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) and several other key Jewish organizations have sent a letter to the UN Secretary General welcoming the internal inquiry into UN activities in Myanmar since 2011.

AJC remembers with profound sorrow the brutal murder of over 800,000 Tutsis, moderate Hutus, and others in a 100-day campaign of horrific violence that began 25 years ago this month.