AJC Dispatch

Spotlight

This week on AJC Passport AJC CEO David Harris discussed the controversy surrounding a planned visit to Israel by U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. California Senator Ben Allen also joined us to discuss the state’s proposed Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.

Must-reads

Controversy Continues Between U.S. Congresswomen, Israel Over Planned Visit
Washington Post / 2-minute read
On Friday, Israel granted a request from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib to visit her grandmother in the West Bank, as long as she refrains from promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. She promptly declined. Israel had announced in July that it would welcome U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Tlaib to visit — waiving a 2017 Israeli law barring any foreigner from entering the country who “knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel.” But on Thursday, shortly after Tlaib and Omar released an itinerary titled “Delegation to Palestine” that included no meetings with Israeli officials, Jerusalem reversed its decision. AJC tweeted: "AJC believes that, out of two less-than-ideal options, neither of which was risk-free, Israel did not choose wisely by reversing its original decision." Read more. Listen to AJC CEO David Harris on NPR and read AJC’s statement on the decision.

NY Governor Decries Growing Cancer of Antisemitism After Attacks on Hasidic Jews
Newsweek / 1-minute read
The New York Police Department is investigating three attempted robberies and assaults in one hour against three Hasidic Jewish victims in Brooklyn Monday. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating because the suspects appeared to target ultra-Orthodox men in religious attire. Similar attacks against Hasidic victims in Brooklyn have spiked in recent months. In a statement, Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was directing the state police’s hate crimes unit to assist the NYPD, adding that antisemitism is "a growing cancer that has been injected into the nation’s body but in New York we will continue to ... condemn any and all acts of hatred and intolerance." AJC tweeted: “Thank you, @NYGovCuomo and @NYCMayor for your strong condemnation of these attacks and ongoing efforts to protect the Jewish community.” Read more

Trump official defends new immigration rule by revising words of Emma Lazarus poem
NPR / 8-minute interview
Thirteen U.S. states sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday, seeking to block a new rule that would deny entry to poor migrants. The new “public charge rule” would allow the U.S. government to deny visas and permanent residency to people if they seem likely to need public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing, or Medicaid. During a radio interview, Ken Cuccinelli, acting head of Citizenship and Immigration Services, defended the new rule by saying the Emma Lazarus poem etched on the Statue of Liberty refers to “the tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” AJC tweeted: “How many Americans wouldn’t be American – or alive – if this standard had been applied to our parents and grandparents?” Read more or listen.

California’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum Goes Back to the Drawing Board
LA Times / 2-minute read
As California lawmakers attempt to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement in high schools, the first draft of a proposed curriculum that focuses on the state’s major communities of color “falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned,” education leaders conceded this week. The revisions follow complaints from Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, that the curriculum omitted the term antisemitism from a glossary that included other forms of bigotry such as Islamophobia. The curriculum also gave a one-sided explanation of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. AJC Los Angeles Assistant Director Siamak Kordestani wrote in the Jewish Journal: “California’s Jewish population does not exist, a new state-mandated ethnic studies curriculum for high school students implies.” AJC tweeted: “AJC was privileged to work with the CA Jewish Caucus … to challenge this biased curriculum.” Read more

False Binary: Israeli Politicians Say Two State Solution Is Far More Dangerous Than BDS
Times of Israel / 1-minute read
A group of right-wing lawmakers in the Israeli Knesset wrote to four U.S. representatives this week, urging them to refrain from calls for a two-state solution, which they said are “far more dangerous to Israel” than efforts to boycott the Jewish state. The letter, signed by 21 Knesset members, including two deputy ministers, follows a resolution passed last month by the U.S. House of Representatives that rejects the anti-Israel BDS movement, but expresses support for a two-state solution. AJC tweeted: “The search for an enduring 2-state solution is aimed at bringing about Israeli-Palestinian peace & securing Israel's Jewish & democratic future. BDS is a hateful movement led by bigots who’d like to see Israel disappear. Comparing the two is wrongheaded.” Read more

Good to Know

UN Asks Palestinians to Explain Hate Speech, Antisemitism
Jerusalem Post / 1-minute read
During the Palestinian Authority’s first ever review by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this week, the Palestinian representative was asked to address reports of antisemitism and hate speech used in the media, in textbooks, and in the speeches of state officials. In response to the questioning, Palestinian representative Ammar Hijazi accused the committee members of accepting reports from NGOs at face value, insisting that the organizations reporting the allegations are “founded and funded to deny Palestinians their rights, their narrative and to spread untruths about them.” Read more

Denier Denied: Antisemitic Performer Barred From France for 40 Years
The Jewish Chronicle / 1-minute read
A renowned British Holocaust denier who was convicted last year of sending obscene material on a social media network, has been barred from entering France until 2059. Alison Chabloz, who refers to herself as “a fierce anti-Zionist campaigner for freedom of expression and, in particular, Holocaust revisionism” was given a suspended prison sentence of 20 weeks last June for posting clips of herself singing “grossly offensive” antisemitic songs, including lyrics mocking Holocaust victims and claims about Jews controlling the world. She was also banned from posting on social media for 12 months. AJC CEO David Harris tweeted: “#Holocaust is among most documented facts ever. Yet some are obsessed w/ denying it ... If Holocaust denial isn’t unadulterated antisemitism, what is?” Read more

Jordan halts film that refers to historical Jewish presence
Israel Hayom / 1-minute read
The Jordanian government has put the kibosh on a new film because it portrays the Jewish people’s historic ties to Jordan. The movie, titled “Jaber,” sparked concern after actors shared its plot line on social media. The movie, based on a novel of the same name, tells the tale of a Jordanian boy who uncovers a stone in Petra containing a Hebrew inscription. When Israel hears about the discovery, they send Russian mobsters after the boy to retrieve the stone. Pointing to Israel's claims over the West Bank and east Jerusalem, critics of the film say discussing a historical Jewish presence in Jordan could lead to Israeli territorial claims to the Jordanian kingdom. Read more

U.S. Verdict Allowing Seizure of Iran-linked Skyscraper Overturned
Reuters / 1-minute read
Citing procedural errors on the trial level, a federal appeals court has overturned a jury verdict allowing the U.S. government to seize a midtown Manhattan skyscraper. The Justice Department had sought to sell the 36-story tower and distribute the proceeds to victims of terrorist attacks tied to Iran. The nonprofit Alavi Foundation, which owns a 60% stake in the building at 650 Fifth Avenue, violated U.S. sanctions against Iran in 1995 because it knew that the 40% owner, Assa Corp, was a front for an Iranian state-owned lender, Bank Melli. The appeals court said victims could pursue some claims in a retrial, but not others because the partnership that owned the building was not a “foreign state.” Read more

Tidings

Travel Channel Star Transformed by Visit to Israel (Israel Hayom)
Miss Universe Could Be Crowned in Israel (JTA)
Protest Is a Sacred Jewish Practice (The Forward)

The articles featured here do not necessarily reflect AJC’s positions.

Enjoy receiving the AJC Dispatch each week? Forward it to your friends! They can sign up for their own Dispatch here.

AJC’s mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world.

To unsubscribe or to manage your email preferences, please click here.