 | Remembering September 11, 2001 AJC marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks with a solemn ceremony at the opening of the Board of Governors meeting. “We learned on September 11, 2001, that we no longer could dismiss the rhetoric of fanatics based in far-away lands. For them, globalization is a means to break down civilization as we know it,” said AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, reading the AJC statement on the anniversary. “The New York City skyline will never be the same. The absence of the World Trade Center's proud towers is a searing wound for all who live in or near New York, and for the millions more who visit, dream of, and adore this great city. Our sense of security as a nation will never be the same. We now are confronted with a new reality, a new paradigm. Terror has moved to the center of our thoughts, our vocabulary, our politics, and our daily lives.” The AJC national leadership was in New York on that fateful day five years ago, and together witnessed the unfolding tragedy. “We have come together to remember, to pay our respects – and to reaffirm our vigilance in defending our country, our people, and our values against the terrorist organizations that would destroy them, against the states that sponsor these jihadist killers,” Goodkind said. Read full statement.
 AJC Radio Message: Remembering 9/11  “We must not falter in the defense of what we aspire to – freedom, human dignity, gender equality, religious pluralism, and mutual respect,” said David Harris in his national radio message on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. “We weren’t attacked for any specific policy, but for what we stand for. This September 11th, let’s remember, reflect and recommit.” Harris’s radio commentaries air on the national CBS radio network during the Osgood File. Listen.
Charity Navigator: AJC Outperforms Most Charities in U.S. The largest independent evaluator of philanthropies in the U.S., Charity Navigator, has given AJC its highest 4-star rating for the second consecutive year. “We are proud to announce that the American Jewish Committee has earned our 4-star rating for its ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances,” wrote the Charity Navigator executive director. “Only 12 percent of the charities we’ve rated have received at least two consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that the American Jewish Committee outperforms most charities in America in its efforts to operate in the most fiscally responsible way possible. This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator differentiates the American Jewish Committee from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust.”
AJC Adopts Resolutions on Middle East Peace, Darfur Two resolutions were adopted on Monday. The Board of Governors adopted a Statement on Israel’s Security and Prospects for Peace. It reaffirms AJC’s longstanding support for a peaceful settlement of the conflict based on a two-state solution, our concerns regarding the Iranian nuclear threat and the Syrian regime's reckless policy. It calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists on June 25, and of Ehud Goldwasser and Elad Regev, the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah on July 12. The statement concludes by applauding the principled U.S. efforts to advance security and freedom in the Middle East and around the world, and pledging AJC's continued efforts to achieve the goals of peace, security and reconciliation. Read Middle East statement. The International Relations Commission adopted an updated statement on Darfur, urging the international community to take immediate and decisive action in support of the people of Darfur and to consider all diplomatic avenues to vigorously exert pressure on the government of Sudan to ensure that the UN peacekeeping force can be deployed quickly and effectively to the region. Read Darfur statement.
AJC Media Center Dedicated A new audio and video studio has been completed at AJC headquarters. The media center will be used to produce a variety of audio materials, including David Harris’s weekly national radio messages, interviews with AJC experts and visiting dignitaries, and a regular AJC radio show. Equipment in the studio also will enable AJC to create short films, television ads, and web casts. The media center, made possible by a generous donor, is the latest initiative in the Public Relations and Communications Department efforts to use state-of-the-art technologies to expand the reach of AJC.
AJC TV Ad Calls on UN to Treat Israel Equally With world leaders gathering in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly, AJC has re-launched its campaign to end the isolation of Israel at the world body. This will be on the agenda of the meetings AJC will hold with presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers. AJC’s television ad is currently on CNN and FOX in New York, and in other major cities. The AJC ad opens with the UN building in New York covered in flags of most UN member states, and then suddenly the flag of Israel peels away. “The inspiring promise that every member state, regardless of size, will be treated equally is the idea that gave the UN moral force,” states the AJC ad. “But what happens when one member state is not treated equally?” The ad also can be viewed at AJC’s website, where you also will find important resource materials on the UN and Israel, in particular the useful AJC publication, A Diminished World Body.
UN Secretary General Calls AJC President UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called AJC President E. Robert Goodkind last night to give him a personal report on his just concluded trip to the Middle East. Goodkind, who introduced Kofi Annan at AJC’s 100th Anniversary Gala Dinner in Washington, D.C., and recently met with him at the UN, reports that the conversation was warm and indicates again Annan’s desire to build a positive relationship with AJC and the American Jewish community. “The Secretary General emphasized that the speedy freeing of Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, is a primary objective of his,” said Goodkind, adding that Annan voiced confidence that the enhanced UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon will lead to a stabilized border with Israel and the disarmament of Hezbollah. “I reminded the Secretary General of our letter to him regarding his condemning the Tehran Holocaust cartoons exhibition, and I expressed our gratitude for his positive action in this regard when he was there,” said Goodkind. Read AJC letter to Annan.
AJC Completes Second Solidarity Mission to Israel “You have always demonstrated solidarity and friendship with Israel,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who left a budget meeting to welcome the AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel at his office last week. More than 120 AJC members from across the U.S., as well as several U.S. Christian leaders, a former deputy prime minister of Sweden, and Jewish students from the U.S., Europe and Latin America, participated. This was the second AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel since the war broke out in mid-July. During the three-day visit, the mission met with officials at the Foreign Ministry, with several leading Israeli political and strategic analysts, with Education Minister Yuli Tamir, and with the parents of soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah. On a daylong visit to Israel’s north, the mission met with Israelis who took direct hits from Hezbollah rockets in Haifa, Kiryat Shemonah, Nahariya, and Safed, and also visited organizations that have received support from AJC’s Israel Emergency Assistance Fund. A full report on the Solidarity Mission will be available next week.
AJC Israel Emergency Assistance Fund Tops $1.9 Million  During the AJC Solidarity Mission, officials at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya and Sieff Hospital in Safed thanked AJC for the donations of life-saving medial equipment, all made possible by the generous contributions to AJC’s Israel Emergency Assistance Fund. The mission also met with the Israeli volunteer search and rescue organization, First Israel Rescue and Search Teams (FIRST). AJC is purchasing search and rescue vehicles for F.I.R.S.T, which can be used to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. In addition, the Fund has purchased two cardiac care ambulances for Magen David Adom. Moreover, the mission visited the bomb shelter at Or Hadash, a reform synagogue in Haifa, where Rabbi Edgar Nof placed a plaque of appreciation to AJC for funding completion of the shelter.
AJC Mideast Briefing: What’s Next for Israel In his weekly analysis, Eran Lerman, director of AJC’s Israel Office, assesses the internal debates taking place in Israel in the aftermath of the war in Lebanon. Lerman presents four possible avenues – resuming peace talks with the Palestinians; changing the current Israeli government; restructuring Israel's political system; and, reforming the country’s economic, political, intellectual and legal elites. “Given that the country, at large, looks upon the complex outcome and the painful events of the war as an opportunity for profound reform, each and every one of these avenues would merit close attention in the weeks and months to come,” writes Lerman. Read briefing.
Egypt Hosts AJC Delegation in Cairo  “The foundation of Egyptian-Israeli relations is solid,” said AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, after a day of meetings with Egypt’s top foreign policy officials. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit hosted the AJC delegation for a private lunch. The delegation, which included Barry Wallach of Chicago and Jason Isaacson, AJC’s director of international affairs, also met separately with Gen. Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s national intelligence chief, and Dr. Osama El Baz, political advisor to President Hosni Mubarak. “The main message we take away from our meetings in Cairo is that Egypt and Israel need each other more than ever – that the two nations share concerns about Iran, regional extremism, and the urgency of advancing peace, concerns heightened by the war in Lebanon,” said Goodkind. The Cairo visit took place on the eve of the Solidarity mission to Israel.
AJC Discusses Lebanon, Iran with Italian Prime Minister Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi met with an AJC leadership delegation, visiting Rome on the eve of the AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel. David Harris expressed appreciation to the Italian premier for contributing the largest number of forces to the new international peacekeeping force created by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for an end to Hezbollah’s armed presence on Israel’s northern border. The delegation also discussed with Prodi the perils of – and the international community’s response to – Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In addition, the delegation met with Interior Minister Giuliano Amato; European Affairs Minister Emma Bonino; Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro; Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni; senior Italian foreign affairs officials and policy analysts; U.S. and Israeli diplomats; and leaders of the Italian Jewish community.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister Hosts AJC in Lisbon An AJC delegation discussed Middle East political and security issues with Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado on a visit to Lisbon, a day after the AJC Solidarity Mission to Israel. David Harris praised Portugal's commitment of troops to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. The meeting focused on the international effort to stabilize the Israeli-Lebanese border, concerns in Europe and among moderate Arab states about the spread of Islamic radicalism, and the threat to regional and global security posed by Iran's continuing defiance of the international consensus against its nuclear program. Jason Isaacson, AJC’s director of international affairs, and Marta Mucznik, of the Transatlantic Institute, joined Harris.
AJC Interreligious Director Key to Anglican Church, Israel Accord Rabbi David Rosen, AJC’s international director of interreligious affairs, accompanied the chief rabbis of Israel to a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, which resulted in an agreement to create a formal dialogue between the Anglican Communion and Judaism. Rosen, who also serves as president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), has been working on the meeting with the archbishop since January. Rosen says the agreement will launch a bilateral commission, modeled on the current Roman Catholic-Jewish dialogue.
Los Angeles Chapter Criticizes Plan to Honor Radical Muslim AJC’s Los Angeles Chapter has sharply criticized the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ decision to award Dr. Maher Hathout with the prestigious John Allen Buggs Award. “Dr. Hathout is a radical Islamic leader masquerading as a moderate and deceiving the American public,” said Sherry Weinman, president of AJC’s Los Angeles Chapter. “I expect that when the Commission on Human Relations and the Board of Supervisors under which it serves understand the facts, they will reconsider.” The award is named after John Allen Buggs, former director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
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 because they are being taught to younger generations," said David Harris. AJC and CMIP have previously jointly published studies of schoolbooks used in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Read news release.
Muslim Educators from Israel Visiting U.S. on AJC Program A group of professors from a leading Muslim college in Israel are visiting four American cities to dialogue with American Jews and Muslims about the challenges and opportunities religious minorities encounter in democracies like the United States and Israel. The program is sponsored by AJC, in cooperation with the Al-Qasemi Academy, which is located in Baqa el Garbiya in Israel and is known for its moderation and openness. AJC and the college have been working together to deepen understanding between Jews and Muslims. Their itinerary included stops in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Obituary: David Hirschhorn The AJC mourns the passing of David Hirschhorn, one of our most devoted leaders and generous benefactors for more than half a century. "David Hirschhorn was a highly principled, steadfast leader of AJC, especially devoted to that aspect of its mission to secure the health and vibrancy of the Jewish people and to advocate for human rights the world over,” said AJC President E. Robert Goodkind, who spoke at the funeral in Baltimore. Hirschhorn was an AJC Honorary Vice President, member of its National Leadership Council, and served with great distinction on the Board of Governors and International, Interreligious and Jewish Communal Affairs Commissions. In his hometown of Baltimore, he was a former Chapter Chair.
UN Watch Testifies on Capitol Hill Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, AJC’s affiliate in Geneva, testified in Washington before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations about the UN Human Rights Council’s record in its first three sessions. After the hearing, the Chair personally expressed his appreciation and said he wanted to invite Neuer again. Read the full testimony and view the video at www.unwatch.org.
Project Interchange Brings Thai Police to Israel In cooperation with AIJAC, AJC’s partner in Australia, a group of police officers and military officials from Thailand are visiting Israel on a Project Interchange educational seminar. This is the second group from Asia – the first was from India in July – to visit Israel under the auspices of Project Interchange, an AJC institute. The Asian groups are part of Project Interchange’s expanding international reach.
French Minister Dines with AJC in New York AJC leaders were the only Jewish representatives at a private dinner in New York with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Minister of the Interior and presidential aspirant. AJC has met with Minister Sarkozy on numerous occasions, and Valerie Hoffenberg, AJC’s Paris representative, has developed a close relationship with the minister and his office.
In the Media The International Herald Tribune published an op-ed by Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, on the dismal performance of the new UN Human Rights Council, especially its focus on criticizing Israel.
The Washington Post published an op-ed by Felice Gaer, director of AJC’s Jacob Blaustein Institute, on former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami’s visit to Washington, D.C. Gaer, who also is chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, co-authored the piece with Nina Shea, the commission’s vice char. Gaer also discussed the issue in a live TV appearance on the O’Reilly Factor on FOX News.
The Jerusalem Post quoted Jason Isaacson in a front page story on the AJC delegation visit to Cairo. The New York Jewish Week quoted AJC President Goodkind on his visit to Cairo. The JTA also reported on the meetings in Cairo.
During the Solidarity Mission to Israel, David Harris was interviewed by Kol Israel radio (English) and Israel TV (English). Shula Bahat was interviewed in Hebrew on Kol Israel radio and Channel 1 TV.
Reuters quoted extensively from the AJC letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urging him to speak out against the Holocaust cartoon exhibit in Tehran.
The Forward quoted David Harris in a story on the new AJC report on Iranian schoolbooks.
Deidre Berger, director of AJC’s Berlin Office, was interviewed on the NPR program “All Things Considered” about anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel.
The Los Angeles Times quoted Sherry Weinman, president of AJC’s Los Angeles Chapter, on the controversial decision of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations to honor a radical Muslim. Read AJC statement.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted John Hexter, director of AJC’s Cleveland Chapter, in an article about Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s visit to the Middle East, a trip sponsored by an Arab American organization.
The New York Jewish Week published a letter to the editor by Rebecca Neuwirth, AJC’s director of special projects, on AJC’s IKAR curriculum on Israel advocacy for high school students.
J, the Jewish weekly newspaper of northern California, published David Harris’s op-ed article, on the need for American Jews to nurture the U.S. relationship with Israel. The piece originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post. Read op-ed.
The JTA will publish an op-ed by David Harris, entitled What Being Jewish Means to Me. Read op-ed.
Several Italian newspapers and wire services carried articles on an hour-long news conference given by David Harris in Rome, in “excellent Italian,” according to one report. The news conference focused on developments in the Middle East. It also was broadcast in its entirety by a leading national radio station in Italy. | |
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