Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch today told the European Parliament that the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and three Arab nations, was an important historical moment “we can never take for granted.”

Most U.S. adults know when the Holocaust happened and are familiar with Auschwitz, but fewer are cognizant about the number of Jews murdered and how Hitler came to power in Germany, according to a new American Jewish Committee (AJC) public opinion survey. “Lacking knowledge can open pathways to trivialization and denial of the Holocaust that also contribute to rising antisemitism,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch.

Amid rising antisemitism in the United States, data from a new American Jewish Committee (AJC) public opinion survey reveals key information on the state of mind of American Jews following the hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas last year. A majority of American Jews—or 54% percent—said they heard a lot or some about the Colleyville crisis. Of those U.S. Jews, 18% percent felt a great deal less safe at the time, 33% felt a fair amount less safe, and 36% felt a little less safe after the eleven-hour hostage crisis. Only 13% of the survey respondents who had heard at least some about the situation said they did not feel less safe.

American Jewish Committee will help lead a groundbreaking effort to train educators and school leaders in the United States about antisemitism and help them develop strategies to address anti-Jewish incidents in their schools.
The initiative comes at a time when antisemitic incidents have risen to alarming levels and most American Jews believe antisemitism is a problem in the U.S.

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch today lauded an announcement by the White House that it would establish an interagency group to coordinate efforts to fight antisemitism and other forms of hate. Its first order of business will be to develop a national strategy to combat antisemitism.

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch expressed deep concern regarding the dearth of data in the latest FBI Hate Crimes Report. Issued today, the report provides a woefully inadequate assessment of the reality and extent of hate crimes targeting Jews in the United States.

“The FBI report on hate crimes is among the most anticipated federal government documents. But its shortcomings undermine the gravity of the problem of hate in the United States,” said Deutch.

Following the release of the FBI’s latest Hate Crimes Statistics report, the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council (MJAC) calls on all law enforcement agencies to transition to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to submit hate crimes data in order to get more specific information on each incident. The report, which tracks hate crimes in 2021, is missing significant sources of data, including from some of the largest cities across the country such as New York City, Miami-Dade, and Los Angeles.

220 lawmakers from Europe, the United States, and Canada urged Western democracies to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies, such as Hezbollah, as terrorist organizations. The legislators’ call for action against the regime’s state terrorism comes only days before EU foreign ministers are set to deliberate further measures against Tehran on Monday. Spearheaded by the AJC-backed Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), the interparliamentary statement was released amid the regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch thanked the White House for convening a roundtable discussion on combating antisemitism with the heads of U.S. Jewish organizations. The meeting is slated to be held Dec. 7. AJC has long advocated for such a meeting in a time when antisemitism and other hate crimes in the U.S. have dramatically increased in recent years.

“The rampant antisemitism by hiring managers revealed in the survey, if accurate, is not only alarming but also blatantly illegal under federal law,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “Employers may not discriminate on the basis of race or religion. That so many hiring managers reportedly admitted they would willingly violate the civil rights of Jewish job candidates, regardless of their qualifications, is disturbing. Anti-Jewish discrimination has no place in the workplace or anywhere else.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch today called on Amazon to immediately remove “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a notorious antisemitic book and film that gained prominence when Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving shared on social media a link to it on the Amazon website. AJC has launched an online petition to Amazon “urging the swift removal of the film and book.” “Effectively combating antisemitism requires corporate leaders to recognize what antisemitism is and to take firm action to confront it,” said Deutch.

Rabbi Andrew Baker, American Jewish Committee Director of International Jewish Affairs, addressed today the Terezin Declaration Conference. The two-day conference, hosted by the Czech government, which holds the EU Presidency, is a follow up to the Prague Holocaust Era Assets Conference in 2009. “Government recognition of Jewish communities’ security needs is not the same as action,” Baker declared in remarks focused on the continuing rise of antisemitism. He also underscored the need “for governments to adopt and employ the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, issued a statement today welcoming the decision of Adidas to terminate its partnership with Kanye West today.

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch today sharply criticized Kanye West’s antisemitic statements, calling them “a clear and present danger to every Jewish person.” Deutch urged Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms to keep West’s anti-Jewish hate off their channels.

American Jewish Committee Central Europe today launched “Don’t Talk Like An Antisemite,” a social media campaign to fight antisemitism in Poland. Short videos appearing on Facebook and Instagram over the next four weeks will raise awareness of words and terms that may not be recognized as furthering hate towards Jews. “Antisemitism starts with hurtful words and prejudices, but it never stops there,” said Dr. Sebastian Rejak, Director of the Shapiro Silverberg AJC Central Europe Office.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) has honored Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, with the leading global Jewish advocacy organization’s prestigious Jan Karski Award. “This is an award that belongs to very few living people who can match the standards of Jan Karski. You are one of them,” said AJC CEO David Harris, who presented the award to Shaheed at an AJC diplomatic reception on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, and who knew Karski well during the last 15 years of his life.

The U.S. Department of Education has announced it will investigate a complaint that accuses the University of Vermont of not doing enough to clamp down on antisemitic activity on campus. AJC criticized the university for not addressing the concerns of Jewish students in a constructive manner.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Lufthansa Group announced today a joint initiative to combat global antisemitism. The new partnership, detailed in a Memorandum of Understanding that the German airline and the leading global Jewish advocacy organization are signing, focuses on Lufthansa utilizing AJC staff experts to train airline employees to identify and respond to antisemitism.

American Jewish Committee today released a comprehensive Call to Action for America to help key sectors of society better understand antisemitism, so they can better respond to and prevent anti-Jewish hate in their communities.