AJC Podcasting Now Available  AJC has launched podcasting. Now you can download to your computer and Ipods audio produced by AJC, beginning with David Harris's weekly radio messages. We will soon provide interviews with leading figures and AJC experts around the world. Much more audio material is being planned for the coming months. To get started, please subscribe to the AJC podcast feature at www.ajc.org. You will find there instructions on this exciting new feature.
Solidarity Mission to Israel More than 120 AJC members and guests are participating in the AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel, September 4 to 7, the second mission since the Hezbollah war began in mid-July. The large delegation will meet with Israeli officials, academics and journalists in Jerusalem. They will travel to Haifa, Nahariya, and Kiryat Shemonah to visit communities that took direct hits from the Hezbollah rockets, and also will spend a day in the south to visit, among other places, Sderot, which has been the target of Hamas rockets from Gaza. The mission will visit several of the communities and organizations that have been the beneficiaries of the AJC Israel Emergency Assistance Fund. Watch the AJC website for reports from the mission.
Israel Emergency Assistance Fund  With the generous support of donors to AJC's Israel Emergency Assistance Fund, we have been able to provide life-saving medical equipment to three hospitals damaged by Hezbollah rockets – Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya and Seiff Hospital in Safed. AJC is purchasing search and rescue vehicles for the highly respected Israeli relief organization, F.I.R.S.T, which has been a leader in carrying out rescue operations in collapsed buildings. In addition, as previously announced, AJC is purchasing two cardiac care ambulances for Magen David Adom, and has delivered 500 first-aid kits to bomb shelters across the north. AJC will continue to deliver assistance as the rebuilding begins. DONATE NOW.
AJC Diplomatic Mission to Italy An AJC senior leadership delegation arrived in Rome today for a series of meetings with top Italian officials. Italy's role in the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, and Europe's strategy for dealing with Iran will be high on the agenda. The AJC group will be meeting with Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato, and high-level Foreign Ministry officials. Meetings also are planned with Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, as well as with American and Israeli Embassy officials, and leaders of the Italian Jewish community.
Iranian Schools Teach Hatred of Christians, Jews, United States Iranian children are indoctrinated in basic hatred of Christians, Jews and the West, concludes a new study of textbooks used in Iran, prepared by AJC and the Center for Monitoring Peace in the Middle East (CMIP). Researchers with the CMIP analyzed 115 textbooks and teachers' guides currently used in grades 1 to 12 in Iran. The full report, which will be released later this year by AJC and CMIP, offers a comprehensive survey of the official Iranian worldview to which school-age children are exposed. "Examining Iranian schoolbooks is a chilling reminder that the words of violent confrontation espoused by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are not mere rhetoric, but need to be regarded with the utmost gravity," said David Harris. AJC and CMIP have previously jointly published studies of schoolbooks used in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Read news release.
UN Watch Calls for Investigation of UNIFIL Aiding Hezbollah UN Watch is urging UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to investigate allegations that UNIFIL aided Hezbollah forces as they fired more than 4,000 deadly rockets at Israeli civilians. "We are deeply troubled by new evidence that the supposedly neutral United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) assisted Hezbollah terrorists by publishing detailed, sensitive information on Israeli troop movements on its website during the recent Israel/Hezbollah conflict," wrote Ambassador Alfred H. Moses, chair of UN Watch, and Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, in their letter to Annan. "If true, such conduct is unconscionable — although not entirely surprising, given UNIFIL's sad history of both tacit and active bias towards Hezbollah and against Israel — and raises troubling questions as to whether UN forces can be trusted to even-handedly police this area, just as more are being readied to deploy."
Transatlantic Institute Names New Director The Transatlantic Institute has named Emanuele Ottolenghi as its new executive director. The Oxford University scholar, a recognized expert on transatlantic relations and Middle East affairs, will join the institute's staff in Brussels on September 4. "The Transatlantic Institute is a unique initiative that has made an indelible mark on relations between Europe and the United States, deepening mutual understanding in the cause of our shared interests as western democracies," said Ottolenghi. "I am a strong believer in the importance of transatlantic relations," said Ottolenghi. "Despite recent tensions, I am convinced that what binds Europe and the U.S. is stronger than what may occasionally divide them." Read news release.
Letter of Appreciation to German Chancellor AJC sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to express deep appreciation for her "unwavering stand on Germany's partnership with Israel and unflinching support of Israel's self-defensive actions." The AJC letter praised Germany for offering military assistance to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, and for Germany's resolute stance regarding Iran. "We are confident that Germany will stand strong on its opposition to Iranian nuclear ambitions and play a continued role in UN attempts to counter Iran's nuclear build-up," AJC wrote.
AJC Atlanta Hosts Meeting with Andrew Young  Atlanta Chapter President Kent Alexander and Past President Steve Selig met with Ambassador Andrew Young at a meeting at the chapter's office to discuss his recent controversial comments about Jewish and Korean storeowners. Members of the AJC Atlanta Chapter, the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition and the Korean American Coalition attended. Ambassador Young reiterated his apology and discussed with the Jewish, Korean and African American leaders ways that all of the communities can move forward together.
AJC Executive Director Addresses European Jewish Students David Harris was a keynote speaker at the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) Summer University, held near Barcelona, Spain. The weeklong annual event drew 500 Jewish students from 40 countries. This is the fourth year Harris has spoken. Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, AJC's affiliate in Geneva, led a workshop on the UN. EUJS and AJC signed an association agreement in 2005. A number of EUJS members participated in AJC's 100th Annual Meeting. Each summer an AJC fellow works in the EUJS office in Brussels. Five EUJS students have been invited to join the AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel that begins on September 4.
AJC Briefs Students for Israel Advocacy on Campus Rebecca Neuwirth, AJC's representative to the Israel on Campus Coalition, spoke about ICC and AJC opportunities at a meeting for former and current participants in the New York Jewish Week's Write on Israel program, which works to prepare student writers to be active in campus journalism on behalf of Israel. AJC also convened a meeting of Jewish organizations, the Israeli Consulate, and New York-area Hillels under the banner of the New York Israel Roundtable to discuss how to face campus challenges in the upcoming academic year.
AJC in Kyoto for World Interfaith Gathering Rabbi David Rosen, AJC's international director of interreligious affairs, addressed the 8th assembly of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. He spoke about why religious conflicts so often seem insoluble. In his remarks, Rosen urged the 2,000 in attendance to acknowledge that terrible things have been done in the name of religion and referred to the Holy Land as an area where conflict resolution has failed because politicians did not work together with religious leaders.
Florida Chapter Director Honored Bill Gralnick, director of AJC's Palm Beach County Chapter, was honored by the Hispanic Jewish Committee for his "foresight" in establishing the first ongoing contact between Hispanics and Jews in Palm Beach County. Speakers reminisced about the many projects and conferences, including the first multi-ethnic advocacy mission to the state capital. Gralnick was presented an album that traced the history of the Hispanic Jewish Committee and contained personal reflections of members about their work with him.
AJC Mideast Briefing: Understanding Israel's Budget Eran Lerman, director of AJC's Israel/Middle East Office in Jerusalem, assesses the emerging debate over Israel's budget and offers his insights into the demands for defense expenditures in order to prepare Israel for the continuing threats from Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Read briefing.
In the Media The Jerusalem Post published an op-ed article by David Harris on the importance of U.S. support for Israel during the recent war in Lebanon. The Miami Herald quoted Eran Lerman on Syria's arming of Hezbollah after the recent war. In his New York Post column, in which he described the heroism and challenges of Israel's navy, Ralph Peters mentioned his visit to Israel, sponsored by AJC's Project Interchange, during which he and other military analysts met with the deputy commander-in-chief of the Israeli Navy. The Japan Times interviewed Rabbi David Rosen during his visit to Kyoto to address the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Rosen also was quoted in the Inter Press Service News Agency article on the conference, and did an extensive interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . The New York Times quoted Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC's director of international Jewish affairs, in an article on a survivor's efforts to retrieve paintings she made while at Auschwitz. The New York Jewish Week quoted David Harris in an article on possible peace process moves in the wake of the Lebanon war. The International Herald Tribune published a letter by Maxine Kaye, senior assistant to AJC's executive director, on Hezbollah. Read letter. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel published a letter by Harriet McKinney, director of AJC's Milwaukee Chapter, on Hezbollah. CNS News and The Press Trust of India cited UN Watch's new email campaign for Darfur victims, in which the AJC affiliate is calling for Sudan's expulsion from the UN. NOTE: The next issue of AJC News Update will be published on September 13. | 
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