Everything You Need to Know About Israel
American Jewish Committee (AJC) works to set the record straight on Israel, calling out fact from fiction and standing up to those seeking to tear down and discriminate against the region’s only democratic nation and world’s only Jewish state.
AJC works every day, in the United States and around the world, to advocate for Israel through global diplomacy, political advocacy, coalition building, and strategic communications.
The resources below include facts and key insights into Israel-related topics, including the U.S.-Israel relationship, the Abraham Accords, Israel-diaspora relations, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two state solution, Israeli democracy, the UN’s anti-Israel bias, Israeli Arabs, the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Hamas, Hezbollah, Gaza, the West Bank, Palestinians, and more.
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American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch Meets with Israel President Herzog, Who Tells European Leaders Israel’s Right to Exist Can’t Be Questioned
American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch today met with Israel President Isaac Herzog, after Herzog told the European Parliament that Israel’s right to exist is not subject to debate. Deutch was in Brussels with an AJC delegation to meet with members of the European Parliament and Herzog, who spoke to the parliament, one of the legislative bodies of the European Union, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
American Jewish Committee Statement on the Formation of the New Israeli Government
American Jewish Committee, the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, congratulated incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on forming a new government, following the Nov. 1 elections.
UN Climate Conference Highlights Israel’s Centrality to Solving Regional and Global Challenges
Encounters between Israeli and other Arab government representatives, even from countries that do not yet have relations with Israel, are plentiful. Venues like COP27 provide opportunities for countries in the Middle East and around the world to transcend conflict and work together to shared challenges and advanced common interests. Israel sent the second-largest delegation of the 192 countries represented at the gathering, and the country’s expertise in climate, water, and agriculture technology was on full display.
What Thomas Friedman Gets Wrong About Israel And Democracy
I read Thomas Friedman’s New York Times column, “The Israel We Knew Is Gone,” once, twice and a third time, repeatedly pinching myself for a reality check. In his piece, Mr. Friedman described the incoming Israeli coalition government as “the far-far-Right coalition.” It is a coalition, he argues, that threatens minority rights, regional stability, and even the very underpinning of Israeli democracy.
From one of America’s leading columnists, who has lived in Israel and visited numerous times over four decades, a myopic end-of-days view was presented in his widely read piece.
From one of America’s leading columnists, who has lived in Israel and visited numerous times over four decades, a myopic end-of-days view was presented in his widely read piece.
American Jewish Committee Applauds Azerbaijan Decision to Open Embassy in Israel
Jewish Committee (AJC) praised the Azerbaijan government announcement today that the Shi’ite majority country will open an embassy in the Jewish state. “Azerbaijan has long been a trendsetter in relations between Israel and the Muslim world. Opening an embassy in Israel reflects close and wide-ranging Azeri-Israeli ties spanning more than three decades,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch. “It is another example of the expanding cooperation between Israel and the Muslim world, including the historic Abraham Accords normalization agreements of 2020.”
American Jewish Committee Issues Statement on Israeli Election
Regardless of the composition of any governing coalition, we will continue to work with those in the Israeli government and in Israeli society who are committed to advancing democracy, inclusion, and peace, and to combating efforts to undermine these values.
AJC Lauds New Commerce Department Crackdown on Arab League Boycott Cooperation
American Jewish Committee has welcomed new regulations by the U.S. Department of Commerce that clamp down on companies that comply with a boycott of Israel by the Arab League. The updated rules were detailed by Matthew Axelrod, Assistant Commerce Secretary for Export Enforcement, during a meeting at the American Jewish Committee office in Washington. Axelrod also oversees the Office of Antiboycott Compliance, which has administrative enforcement authority over U.S. antiboycott laws that prohibit American citizens or companies from supporting unsanctioned foreign boycotts against countries friendly to the United States.
American Jewish Committee Disappointed by Palestinian Response to Israeli Offer on Two-State Solution
Just a day after Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid told the United Nations he supports a two-state solution, it was regrettable that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reacted to this courageous overture with hostile rhetoric that prevents a meaningful dialogue.
American Jewish Committee Praises Israeli PM Lapid's Call for a Two-State Solution
American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s call, in his address to the UN General Assembly, for the search for a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The leading global Jewish advocacy organization offered this statement:
Large American Jewish Committee Delegation, on Weeklong Arabian Gulf Visit, Marks Abraham Accords Anniversary and Opening of AJC Abu Dhabi Office
An American Jewish Committee delegation of 80 people from across the United States were joined last evening by Emirati government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, business leaders, and members of the local Jewish community to celebrate the second anniversary of the Abraham Accords and the official opening earlier this year of AJC Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding.
Noa Tishby on the Abraham Accords: The Middle East Realizes Israel is Not the Enemy
Noa Tishby, Israel’s first special envoy for combating antisemitism and the delegitimization of Israel, joins us to discuss the impact of the Abraham Accords two years on, how she’s raising her son to love Israel, and why she doesn’t view antisemitism as a “problem to solve.”
The Abraham Accords Inspired a Daring New Path for the Middle East
After decades of disconnection, denial, and distrust, two years of normalized and remarkably warm relations between Israel and two Arab Gulf states have shown how ready the Middle East was — and is — for fundamental change.
Walter Russell Mead: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions About the U.S.-Israel Relationship
Walter Russell Mead, Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins us to discuss his latest book, “The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People," and to delve into what fuels America and Israel’s alliance, debunk myths about the relationship, including antisemitic tropes and memes
Five Things to Know About Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Escalation in Gaza
After several days of terror threats, Israel announced that it has launched Operation Breaking Dawn on Aug. 5 as part of an effort to target the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the Gaza Strip, which had been planning a significant terror attack against the Jewish state.
Biden’s Middle East Visit: An Alternative View
President Biden recently made his first visit to the Middle East as president. It included two days in Israel, along with separate meetings with Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem and two days in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabia leg was politically controversial in the US primarily because of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 as well as criticism of the Saudi role in the war in Yemen. The president’s visit to Israel was a welcome opportunity to show support for a beleaguered ally, but it broke little new ground.
American Jewish Committee Hails Saudi Decision to Open Air Space to Israeli Flights
American Jewish Committee (AJC) hailed today’s announcement that Saudi Arabia will permit Israeli commercial flights to traverse the kingdom’s airspace. “In the spirit of the historic Abraham Accords, today’s Saudi announcement is a significant example of normalization that will further advance the promise and reality of Arab-Israeli peace,” said AJC CEO David Harris.
Building on the Abraham Accords: President Biden’s Trip to the Middle East, and Its Implications for Israeli-Saudi Relations
This week, retired U.S. Ambassador Marc Sievers, Director of American Jewish Committee’s office in Abu Dhabi: The Sidney Lerner Center for Arab-Jewish Understanding, joins us to discuss President Joe Biden's visit to the Middle East on a tour that included Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia.
What to Draw From President Biden’s Middle East Visit
U.S. President Joe Biden has called his 1973 meeting with then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir “one of the most consequential meetings I've ever had in my life.” Nearly 50 years later, Biden is returning to Israel as America’s head of state for a trip that could be even more consequential.
Israel: A Nation Reborn
Read this powerful essay by AJC CEO David Harris (1990-2022) on the history and meaning of Israel’s remarkable journey.
5 Things to Know About Israel’s New Prime Minister Yair Lapid
With the Israeli Knesset voting to dissolve itself and head to its fifth election in just three years, the country will see Yair Lapid, who served as alternate prime minister and foreign minister in the outgoing government, become the Jewish state’s 14th prime minister.
