Press Releases and Statements

American Jewish Committee welcomes the U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold more than a century of legal precedent that any child born on U.S. soil is a citizen regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

American Jewish Committee and Emirates Scholar Center for Research and Studies announced a new formal partnership to bolster interfaith dialogue and cooperation throughout the Middle East in pursuit of regional stability and prosperity.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan was honored by American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, for his decades of groundbreaking work improving Catholic-Jewish relations and combating antisemitism.

On this solemn fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) stand united with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in remembrance, resolve, and moral clarity, and continue to call for sustained international support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, congratulates the Catholic Church and Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken the name Pope Leo XIV, on his election as the 267th pope, succeeding the late Pope Francis.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) mourns the passing of Pope Francis. The pontiff, who was elected to serve in 2013, died today at the age of 88. Jorge Mario Bergoglio ascended to the throne of St. Peter after decades as a priest, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal in greater Buenos Aires, where he enjoyed an exemplary relationship with the Argentinian Jewish community. He chose Francis as his papal name, in tribute to St. Francis of Assisi, a forerunner of the interreligious outreach which characterized Francis’s papacy.

Following three days of reflection and collaboration at the third Jewish Africa Conference (JAC), American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Mimouna Association, and American Sephardi Federation (ASF) issued the Cape Town Declaration, a joint call for increased unity among Africa’s Jewish communities. The declaration highlights the importance of collaboration across the continent to achieve a peaceful and prosperous future, as well as the need to better protect African Jewish heritage and enhance these communities’ integration and visibility within the Jewish diaspora and the broader international community.

As the world marks the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and its sustained campaign of human rights violations and war crimes, American Jewish Committee (AJC) reaffirms unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

Christen Broecker, a leading expert with substantial experience pressing governments and international organizations to more effectively address serious human rights crises around the world and counter religious intolerance and discrimination, has been named Director of American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI).

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today welcomes the White House’s release of the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. The publication fulfills the commitment the Administration made in December 2022, when it launched the process to better coordinate efforts to counter different forms of hate, which also led to the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023.

Today, as part of ongoing and broader efforts to counter antisemitism across society, American Jewish Committee (AJC), in partnership with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, released Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition. This groundbreaking resource paves the way for deeper and wider cooperation in a shared commitment to eradicating antisemitism at a time when recent events have challenged Catholic-Jewish relations.

Felice Gaer Baran, an internationally renowned human rights expert who for more than four decades brought life and practical significance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international commitments to prevent grave human rights abuses around the world, died on November 9, 2024 in New York City, following a lengthy battle with metastatic breast cancer. She was 78. At the time of her death, she was the director of the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI).

The world community must not waver in its support of Ukraine in its fight against the brutal and unprovoked invasion by Russia, now in its third year. In his address today to the UN General Assembly, President Zelensky made a compelling case for a just peace. Ukraine deserves nothing less.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) welcomes today’s announcement that 16 journalists, human rights defenders, and others who Russia wrongly detained have been released and allowed to leave Russia as a result of a multi-country agreement. Among those released today is American reporter Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who spent 16 months in detention on fabricated charges of espionage before being convicted in a sham trial last month and sentenced to 16 years in prison. AJC has called for his release since Russian authorities arrested him on March 29, 2023.

Professor Nasaruddin Umar, the Grand Imam of Masjid Istiqlal – Indonesia's national mosque and the largest mosque in Southeast Asia – recently completed a six-week intensive fellowship with American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). The fellowship included academic study, meetings with civil society leaders and government officials, and participation in interreligious dialogues across the United States.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, one of the world’s leading experts on Holocaust denial, today lamented the ‘“tidal wave of antisemitism” since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and expressed shock at the numerous attempts to deny the atrocities committed during the terror attack. 

American Jewish Committee welcomed today’s decision upholding Meta’s prohibition of and policy for removing Holocaust denial content by the Oversight Board, an independent entity established by Meta.

American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) and the United Nations Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide brought together senior diplomats this week to mark 75 years since the signing of the Genocide Convention, including representatives from Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the event, several of the diplomatic leaders called for greater political will to confront ongoing signs that communities that have previously experienced genocide continue to face hatred and violence, noting rising global antisemitism and anti-Muslim bigotry.

American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) this week issued a new call to action: Global Leaders, Experts Must Reject Surging Antisemitism Worldwide and Affirm Jews’ Equal Rights. The appeal provides examples from 25 countries of incidents of antisemitic hate speech, discrimination, and physical attacks against Jews and Jewish sites that have occurred since Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel.

American Jewish Committee today welcomed the White House’s announcement that the Biden administration will develop the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia, fulfilling the commitment it made in December 2022 as it launched the process to create the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.