Centennial Annual Meeting - 27 Days to Go President Bush is expected to address the May 4 gala dinner celebrating AJC's Centennial. It will be the second time the president has addressed an AJC Annual Dinner. Other world leaders confirmed for the Washington event are UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The week-long Annual Meeting will be full of dynamic speakers and substantive sessions covering AJC's agenda that will engage members and guests from around the world. Haven't registered yet? There still is room for you to join more than 1,000 AJC members and Jewish leaders from around the world who have already registered. Click for more information.
 Iran Ad Campaign: A Nuclear Iran Threatens All AJC ads in major American and international newspapers are sounding the alarm about the prospect of a nuclear Iran. The ads are appearing this week in the New York Times, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Sun, and Forward. With a dynamic graphic of a map that clearly illustrates the threat Iran poses, the ads ask two questions — Can anyone within range of Iran's missiles feel safe? Suppose Iran one day gives nuclear devices to terrorists. Could anyone anywhere feel safe? Help us press the international community to stop this imminent threat. See our ad. Go to AJC Advocacy Center to take action now.
Study Probes Why Non-Jewish Spouses Convert AJC has released a major new report on conversion, Choosing Jewish: Conversations about Conversion, by Brandeis University Professor Sylvia Barack Fishman. The pioneering study, based on dozens of interviews with Jewish and non-Jewish men and women involved in mixed marriages, provides for the first time insights into why conversions to Judaism take place and their impact on the community. The report is an important contribution to the discussion, as Jewish communal leaders have long held that the conversion of a non-Jewish spouse in a mixed-marriage is a priority to assure the vitality and future of the Jewish community. Dr. Fishman will be a speaker at the Annual Meeting next month in Washington. Copies can be ordered from larsond@ajc.org.
AJC Radio Message: America and Israel, United by Common Values  A new national poll by Quinnipiac University that reaffirms the special relationship between Americans and Israel is the subject of this week's national radio commentary by David Harris. Israel came in third, after England and Canada, in a question about which countries Americans consider their best friends. "Israel's strong showing underscores the unique ties between two nations united by common values," says Harris. Click to listen.
Project Interchange Brings Hispanic Leaders to Israel A group of Hispanic leaders from the U.S. is visiting Israel as part of a Project Interchange educational seminar. Assembled in cooperation with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the mission includes representatives of NCLR, the Cuban American National Council, the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, the Dominican American National Roundtable, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. The PI trip is the latest initiative of AJC's Latin American and Latino Institute. The institute's director, Dina Siegel Vann, is staffing the trip.
Darfur: Long Island Chapter AJC's Long Island Chapter, in cooperation with Congressman Steve Israel, hosted a day-long program on Darfur at Suffolk Community College. Featured speakers included Congressman Steve Israel; Stanley Bergman, chair of AJC's Africa Institute; Allison Cohen of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute; Rev. Calvin Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem; and Suliman Giddo, a Darfur survivor and founder of the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. More than 500 people attended the panel discussion and engaged in discussions on what action needs to be taken to stop the genocide.
Sudan: Stop the Atrocities Felice Gaer, director of AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute, who also serves as vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, joined with Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Frank Wolfe (R-VA), and Donald Payne (D-NJ), for the launch of a new report on Sudan. At a Capitol Hill press conference, they examined problems in implementing the historic peace treaty ending the 21-year north-south conflict in Sudan, along with concerns over similar patterns of abusive action in the Darfur region. Roman Catholic Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of New Mexico and Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center also participated.
France Honors Los Angeles Chapter Director Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, director of AJC's Los Angeles Chapter, was honored by the French government with one of the highest presidential awards, the Insignia of Officer of the French National Order of Merit. Ambassador Jean David Levitte, France's ambassador to the U.S., presented the award at a dinner in Los Angeles. Greenebaum was honored for the role he has played in cultivating close relations with the French Consulate. "The relationship between AJC and the French Consulate here in Los Angeles has deepened and ripened over the last 16 years," said Greenebaum. "This relationship mirrors the relationship between AJC and France through our New York and Washington offices, as well as in Paris."
Israel Embassy Distributes AJC Publication Shimon Stein, Israel's ambassador to Germany, has ordered an additional 1,500 copies of the recently updated German-language edition of The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Brief Guide for the Perplexed to distribute it widely to officials and other German influentials. The embassy had previously disseminated several thousand copies of the booklet when it was first published a few years ago. One of the most demanded AJC publications for pro-Israel advocacy, the Guide by David Harris also is available in English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Westchester Jewish Film Festival AJC's Westchester Chapter sponsored its fifth annual festival of Jewish film in cooperation with the Jacob Burns Film Center. This year's 31 films from around the world celebrate the diversity of Jewish experience through a wide range of voices, images, and points of view. Several of the films were followed by discussion programs with AJC staff, including Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC's director of international Jewish affairs, who discussed Belzec, and David Harris, who discussed Five Days, a film about the disengagement from Gaza.
ACCESS Diplomatic Event  AJC's program for young professionals in their 20s and 30s, ACCESS: AJC's New Generation, hosted its first diplomatic event. More than 80 diplomats and young Jewish leaders attended the cocktail party at a New York art gallery, and viewed the exhibit on art with Middle Eastern roots. The event served as a catalyst for ACCESS members to develop relations with younger members of the diplomatic community based in New York, part of AJC's diplomatic outreach efforts.
AJC Campus Programs AJC's Cornell Society hosted a screening of the film Walk on Water and a discussion with German Consul Carsten Ruepke and Eugene DuBow, founding director of AJC's Berlin Office. The Cornell Society is in one of two recently-launched AJC initiatives on university campuses aimed at engaging college students in the advocacy work of AJC. The other society is located at Princeton, where its members met with members of AJC's Board of Governors and New Jersey Chapter (Princeton) to discuss past priorities and future visions of the Jewish community.
Berkshire Institute for AJC Leaders AJC will host its first summer institute for lay leaders on Israel. The AJC Israel Institute at Brandeis in the Berkshires is designed to deepen understanding of Israel as a vibrant Jewish state and modern democracy. Participants will be exposed to a diversity of opinions and expertise presented by noted scholars under the leadership of Dr. S. Ilan Troen, Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies at Brandeis University and director or the Brandeis Summer Institute, and by Dr. Steven Bayme, director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish Life Department and Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations. For more information, contact Steve at baymes@ajc.org.
German Broadcast Media Visit AJC A delegation of German television and radio journalists visited AJC headquarters. The visit was part of a regular program where representatives of German electronic and print media come to AJC twice a year, as part of a larger visit to the U.S. Relations with German media are part of a broad network of ties with Germany.
Immigration Reform AJC welcomed the Senate Judiciary Committee's passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. "While this initiative is still a work-in-progress, it strikes the right note in striving for the appropriate balance of enhancing our national security while protecting those who are most vulnerable in society," said Richard Foltin, AJC's legislative director. The bill seeks to replace the existing system by regulating immigration in a more efficient, safe, and legal manner. Click for news release.
AJC Experts Recall Yeshiva College Steven Bayme, AJC's director of Contemporary Jewish Life, and Lawrence Grossman, editor of the American Jewish Year Book, both published essays in My Yeshiva College: 75 Years of Memories, a new volume on the history of Yeshiva University, co-edited by AJC Senior Fellow Zev Nagel.
Obituary: Irma Krents AJC is saddened by the passing of Irma Krents, who was AJC's Oral History Library Coordinator from 1977 until her retirement in 1984. She took over this position when her husband, Milton Krents, retired in 1977 after 40 years with AJC. All who knew Irma will miss her. Irma is survived by two children, Elisabeth Krents and Larry Krents, and their families. In the Media
Dow Jones news service reported that Iran has reacted with anger after seeing the AJC full-page ad in the Financial Times focused on the threat a nuclear Iran would pose to any nation within range of Iranian missiles. BBC Radio interviewed Deidre Berger, director of AJC's Berlin Office, about the AJC ad on Iran in the Financial Times. The JTA ran a long feature on AJC celebrating our record of global diplomacy as we mark the centennial. The article, 100 Years of Global Diplomacy, reported on the Board visits to Israel, Germany and Tunisia last month. The New York Jewish Week quoted David Harris and Eran Lerman, director of AJC's Jerusalem office, on the Israeli elections. The Associated Press quoted Rabbi David Rosen on Pope Benedict XVI reaching out to Jews. The Washington Post quoted Laurie Wexler, director of AJC's Project Interchange, regarding a planned seminar for congressional staff. The Forward and the New York Jewish Week quoted Richard Foltin, AJC's legislative director, on the immigration reform bill. The Rocky Mountain News published a letter by Denver Chapter Director Gale Kahn and President Stephen Weinstein, on the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem's anti-Jewish statements. The JUF News reported on a talk to the Chicago Chapter board by Project Interchange participants Juan Ochoa and Gloria Castillo. Also highlighted in paper was the visit of Romanian Prince Radu to the Chapter. | 
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