Press Releases and Statements

As we have seen, antisemitism will only fester and worsen if it is not dealt with. Universities must know that they will be held to account for hostile environments that they knew of or should have known about. They cannot claim ignorance when they are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of students. The University of Illinois must see this agreement as a turning point and implement immediate and lasting change. Jewish students deserve no less.

AJC CEO Ted Deutch’s Statement and Call to Action After Hamas’ Murder of Six Hostages

American Jewish Committee (AJC), ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and Covington & Burling announced that they filed a motion adding supporting evidence to a suit against the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) for violations of California’s open meetings laws tied to antisemitic ethnic studies materials.

Jews once lived in North Africa and the Middle East for millennia and became part of the social fabric of their homelands. There were some 800,000 Jews in these regions after World War II. Barely a decade later, most of them were gone. This pivotal but little-known piece of history is the focus of The Forgotten Exodus, an award-winning podcast from American Jewish Committee. The second season debuted today. Additional episodes will be released weekly through Sept. 23.

As Iran and its proxies threaten an imminent attack against Israel, American Jewish Committee (AJC) this week urged the U.S. administration, America's G7 allies, and key strategic partners to take a firm and unified stance to counter the Islamic Republic of Iran’s conventional, terror, and nuclear threats. This ask follows escalating actions not only from Tehran but also the regime’s many proxies throughout the Middle East, including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) today issued an open letter to media organizations, calling on them to “do better and report on all developments with clarity and accuracy” following inadequate coverage of the July 27 Hezbollah rocket attack on a Druze village in northern Israel that murdered 12 kids and teens.

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.

Following the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents on campus, leading Jewish and educational groups call on college and university administrators to take action ahead of the new school year.

AJC New England thanks Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey for signing into law sections 106 and 201 of the FY25 Massachusetts budget. They will establish a Special Commission for Addressing Antisemitism, and prompt the creation of curricula, resources, and professional development opportunities to support antisemitism education.

Today, German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser issued a ban on the activities of the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) for its illicit activities on behalf of Hezbollah and the Iranian regime. American Jewish Committee (AJC), which for years has raised concern over the misuse of this religious center for malign purposes by the Iranian regime, praised the decision as good for all Germans, including the Jewish and Muslim communities.

An American Jewish Committee (AJC) leadership delegation traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina this week to mark 30 years since the terror attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish community center, which killed 85 people and injured 300 others when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the six-story building. The 1994 bombing was carried out by Hezbollah terrorists linked to the Iranian regime.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) strongly criticized the non-binding advisory opinion released today by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The opinion was issued at the request of the UN General Assembly. The ICJ advisory opinion is not only factually and legally problematic; it jeopardizes the prospects for peace and could remove the basis for the existence of the Palestinian Authority.

Yesterday’s passing of a symbolic resolution opposing Palestinian statehood in the Israeli Knesset – with more than a third of the body absent – reflects the Israeli people’s understandable fear and deep skepticism of a Palestinian state in the aftermath of October 7, the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust in which more than 1,200 people were murdered and 240 taken hostage, 120 of whom remain in Hamas captivity. Israelis are rightly concerned that Hamas or another terrorist movement could at some point take over the Palestinian Authority, and that the realities of October 7 could repeat. The resolution should not be misinterpreted as the Israeli people’s rejection of peace with their Palestinian neighbors. It must be understood in the context of this moment.

Today, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor And Combat Antisemitism, announced new Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. This pledge, signed by representatives of more than 30 countries and international organizations, includes many of the action items for governments listed in American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Global Call to Action Against Antisemitism, unveiled last month at AJC Global Forum 2024.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch issued the following statement welcoming the NATO Summit declaration on Ukraine:
“The NATO Summit represents a watershed moment in the fight for democracy and freedom. AJC applauds NATO’s vital and ongoing show of solidarity with Ukraine and its commitment to provide Ukraine with continued military support and security assistance in the face of Russian aggression. The decision by NATO’s secretary general to send a senior representative to Ukraine also sends a strong message."

American Jewish Committee (AJC) is deeply concerned by The Lancet's publication of a letter, "Counting the Dead in Gaza: difficult but essential," which makes the unsubstantiated and outrageous claim, “in the coming months and years…it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”

American Jewish Committee (AJC) has worked and consulted with Meta on issues relating to antisemitism for several years and was proud to continue this partnership by participating in Meta’s Policy Forum. As part of these discussions, AJC shared how the word “Zionist” is often used as coded language to attack Jews and Israelis and about the offline harm this proxy language has on Jewish life around the world.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) today welcomed the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement that it has entered into a resolution agreement with Brown University to ensure that Jewish students’ rights are protected under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The agreement also includes protections for students with Palestinian, Arab, and/or Muslim ancestry.

American Jewish Committee (AJC) firmly believes that social media companies have a legal right and moral obligation to exclude hateful speech from their platforms. AJC welcomes yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in the two NetChoice cases examining this right.