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AJC VIRTUAL GLOBAL FORUM 2020
For the first time in AJC history, we will be holding a Virtual Global Forum, which will take place during the same week we were scheduled to be together in Berlin – June 14-18! This five-day online event will feature a moving opening plenary, conversations with world leaders, spirited debates, and the high-level content you have come to expect at an AJC Global Forum. Together, we will discuss the most important issues facing the Jewish people and the world, including the rise of antisemitism and other forms of hate in the era of the coronavirus, the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Israel’s quest for peace and security, and the future of the transatlantic relationship. View the AJC Virtual Global Forum page and register today. [link removed]  ADVOCACY ANYWHERE Whether you are quarantined, working or studying from home, or simply looking for a chance to delve into the issues that matter most to you and to our community, Advocacy Anywhere, Powered by AJC [link removed], will connect you to the top-notch content and opportunities you have come to expect from AJC. Tune in Tuesday, May 26 for a conversation with H.E. Jusuf Kalla [link removed], the only vice president in Indonesian history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. On Wednesday, May 27 hear from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti [link removed] and Fort Worth, Texas Mayor Betsy Price. Then on Thursday, May 28 we are joined by Dr. Richard Haass [link removed], President of the Council on Foreign Relations. View the Advocacy Anywhere page for information on past and future programs. [link removed]  

ON AIR
Facebook Oversight, New Israeli Government [link removed]
People of the Pod / 37-minute listen
Earlier this week, Israel's new government was sworn in. The government will be jointly led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White Party, after the two signed a coalition agreement in April. Gil Hoffman, Chief Political Correspondent and Analyst for The Jerusalem Post, joins us to explain what we can expect from this new government. Then, we sit down with Emi Palmor, former Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Justice and one of the first appointees to an independent oversight board charged with making policy recommendations about Facebook content. She discusses her new role. Listen now [link removed]   

MUST-READS

A Leader’s Leader In A Time Of Crisis: Winston Churchill
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The Times of Israel / 3-minute read
What would Winston Churchill do? Faced with the profound uncertainty created by the global coronavirus pandemic, AJC CEO David Harris keeps asking a similar question. Having read countless books and essays by Churchill and other authors about his wartime years, including, most recently, Erik Larson’s acclaimed The Splendid and the Vile, Harris shares 10 leadership takeaways from the former two-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who led his country to victory in World War II. Read more [link removed]

Abbas Says Security Cooperation Will End, Citing Annexation
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The Washington Post / 3-minute read
Pointing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s publicized plans to annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank [link removed], Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced that he will withdraw from all long-term peace agreements negotiated by Israel, Palestinians and the United States, including the 1993 Oslo Accords. The Trump peace plan released earlier this year endorsed the annexation proposal and created a pathway to a Palestinian state on the remaining 70% of the West Bank. Former Vice President and presumptive 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden told Jewish supporters this week [link removed] that he opposes the plan for annexation, saying such unilateral steps “undercut the prospects for peace.” He also opposes calls to condition military aid to Israel, as a tactic to sway its policy toward the Palestinians. AJC tweeted [link removed] : “After years of refusing to talk to America or Israel, President Abbas now proposes a move that would make peace even harder to achieve and is liable to lead to more death and suffering. How does any of this serve the interests of the Palestinian people?” Read more [link removed]

Final Solution: Destroy Israel
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The Times of Israel / 2-minute read
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei clarified this week that a poster calling for a “final solution,” a term associated with the Nazis’ goal of murdering all Jews, only referred to the destruction of Israel. He doesn’t want to kill all Jews. On Twitter, Khamenei called Zionists an “usurping, evil, wolf-like enemy” that acts like a “cancerous tumor.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the language as “disgusting and hateful” antisemitism. AJC tweeted [link removed] : “Thank you, @SecPompeo for your unequivocal condemnation of Iran’s genocidal intentions and your unwavering support for Israel and the Jewish people.” More than a half dozen countries, including Germany and the U.S., have banned all activities of Hezbollah, the long arm of Iran [link removed]. Join AJC’s campaign urging the rest of the European Union to designate all of Hezbollah [link removed] as a global terrorist organization. Read more [link removed]   

GOOD TO KNOW

Saudi TV Drama Sparks Debate About Arabs, Jews
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NPR / 3-minute listen
Israel and the Jewish people are sensitive subjects across the Middle East. But a new drama called Um Haroun - "Aaron's Mother, " a Ramadan special that has been broadcast across the region by a Saudi TV channel, has fueled a conversation about whether Arab countries are ready to reconcile with Israel. Earlier this year, AJC launched ‘An al-Yahud [link removed], or “About the Jews [link removed],” a groundbreaking Arabic-language online video series [link removed] aimed at increasing understanding of the Jewish people in the Arab world. The series includes an introduction to the Jewish people, a history of Muslim-Jewish relations, and an explainer about the Holocaust. Listen now [link removed]  

BDS Activist Tapped to Lead University’s International Affairs School
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Jewish Insider / 2-minute read
This week, at the urging of Jewish organizations including AJC, George Washington University issued a letter affirming academic freedom after BDS activist Ilana Feldman was appointed interim dean of the university’s Elliott School of International Affairs. At issue is not her misguided ideology, but her past leadership of a campaign in the American Anthropological Association to discriminate against Israeli scholars. In an interview, AJC Director of Campus Affairs Zev Hurwitz told JI that Feldman is not simply “somebody who signed a petition a few years ago. This is someone who was active in leading an academic boycott movement, who has also signaled through an official hiring announcement that that activism continues in this role." AJC tweeted [link removed] : “The right of students to academic freedom must never depend on the beliefs of individual administrators. Thank you, @GWTweets [link removed], for making clear your opposition to the bigoted BDS movement and your expectation that all GWU employees will uphold that policy.” Read more [link removed]

Should Shul Remain Shut?
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The Forward / 3-minute read
As coronavirus cases plateau in Los Angeles County and restrictions loosen, Orthodox rabbis from more than a dozen institutions are sticking to a timeline suggested by the Orthodox Union and Rabbinical Council of America that postpones reopening for at least two more weeks. Meanwhile, New York [link removed] Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that no more than a minyan – 10 people – can congregate in religious facilities. But worshipers must wear masks and stay six feet apart. He also announced the formation of an interfaith advisory council to help settle how to safely bring back religious services. Earlier this week, Los Angeles Rabbi David Wolpe and Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, discussed how the pandemic will transform houses of worship and faith communities on Advocacy Anywhere [link removed], AJC’s digital platform. Read more [link removed]   

TIDINGS

Erasing the Jewish Hyphen
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Counting Jews of Color
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Mad Mensch
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The articles featured here do not necessarily reflect AJC’s positions. 

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