Press Releases

In advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, AJC has reissued its popular America’s Table, a 12-page reader for use when families and friends gather for the festive meal on Thursday. Copies are available at www.AJC.org/ThanksgivingReader.

“Mihnea Constantinescu was a stalwart supporter of the State of Israel, a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, and a true friend of the Jewish people. His untimely passing is a great loss for all of us,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

“Arizona lawmakers, like state officials across the country, recognize that the BDS campaign aims to single out Israel for punitive action and does not offer a path to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace,” said AJC General Counsel Marc Stern.

“The clarion call to confront head-on this menace to individuals, to communities, indeed to American society, must come from leadership at the highest levels of our government,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

The Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council is deeply troubled by the latest FBI assessment of hate crimes in the United States.

Deepening ties with a land that has been home to Jews for two millennia, an AJC leadership delegation concluded a weeklong visit to Morocco that included consultations with senior government officials, Jewish community leaders, and civil society partners – and a series of lectures, roundtables and special events in three cities that focused on advancing Muslim-Jewish understanding.

“We are inspired by the many accomplishments of this small community over the last eight decades,” said Dina Siegel Vann, Director of AJC’s Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs.

“The rapid, continually growing response to #ShowUpForShabbat is heartwarming. It restores hope in the human capacity to unite in confronting anti-Semitism and attacks on houses of worship,” said AJC CEO David Harris.

AJC is calling on Jewish communities across the country—along with elected officials, religious and civic leaders, and other communal allies—to flock to synagogues this coming Shabbat (Friday night and Saturday, November 2-3) in a nationwide campaign named #ShowUpForShabbat. The AJC initiative is being launched in response to the horrific attack at Tree of Life Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, which left 11 Jewish worshipers dead.

AJC is totally appalled by the horrific shooting attack inside a Pittsburgh synagogue during Shabbat morning services today. At least eleven people were killed and six wounded in the assault at Tree of Life Or L’Simcha Congregation. The shooter was apprehended by law enforcement.

“The U.S.-Chinese relationship is arguably the single most important bilateral relationship in the world,” said Shira Loewenberg, Director of AJC’s Asia Pacific Institute, who led the 15-member group.

The 15-member group, led by AJC Asia Pacific Institute (API) Director Shira Loewenberg, met privately with Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

AJC joins with the Lithuanian Jewish Community in renewing its call on the Lithuanian government to remove a plaque honoring Jonas Noreika.

“Our annual visits to Seoul demonstrate our continued support for the U.S.-ROK alliance and staunch belief that a U.S. presence in the region is vital to peace and security,” said AJC Asia Pacific Institute (API) Director Shira Loewenberg, who led the 14-member delegation.

“Over the past 20 years, AJC Berlin has become an essential pillar of German civil society” said Harris, who has maintained close relations with Germany for decades. “As was reaffirmed by officials at the highest levels of the German government, AJC Berlin is a critical voice on the issues shaping the future of Germany.”

“AJC has consistently challenged government actions against immigrants that lack a legal foundation, and which are antithetical to the values of AJC and the United States,” states the AJC brief.

AJC welcomed the University of Michigan administration decision to bring disciplinary actions against John Cheney-Lippold, the tenured associate professor who refused to write a letter of recommendation for a student applying to study in Israel.

“Honoring Nadia Murad with the Nobel Peace Prize is an extraordinary recognition of a remarkable young person,” said AJC CEO David Harris, who has met Murad in New York and Berlin.

AJC is partnering with IsraAID, the Israeli humanitarian relief organization, to provide urgent emergency assistance to Indonesia, where a devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami struck near the island of Sulawesi.

“The solid bipartisan support for the Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018 is a reaffirmation of our freedom, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, to exercise religion, to practice one’s faith unhindered and without fear,” said Jason Isaacson.