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ADVOCACY ANYWHERE

Advocacy Anywhere, Powered by AJC [link removed], is our online platform bringing you top-quality content during the pandemic. Tune in Monday, June 29 [link removed], for a wide-ranging discussion on antisemitism, migration, and terrorism in Europe with Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Promoting the European Way of Life. On Tuesday, June 30 [link removed], hear from Archbishop of Washington Wilton D. Gregory about how religion can be a source for good as America confronts the current health and race crises. View the Advocacy Anywhere [link removed] page for information on past and future programs. 

ON AIR

Eric Ward on Racial Justice; A Conversation with Benny Gantz [link removed]
People of the Pod / 44-minute listen
On this week’s episode of People of the Pod [link removed], we are joined by Eric Ward, Executive Director of the Western States Center, who discusses being a leader in the black community committed to fighting antisemitism, which he identifies as a leading driver of other forms of bigotry. Then, fresh from the AJC Virtual Global Forum stage, we hear from Alternate Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Israel Benjamin (Benny) Gantz. The conversation with AJC Jerusalem Director Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich is Gantz’s first major public appearance before an international audience since the formation of Israel’s government. Listen now [link removed]   

MUST-READS

We’ll Defend Annexation if Needed – But Here’s the Thing
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The Times of Israel / 2-minute read
If the new Israeli government unilaterally applies sovereignty to a portion of the West Bank, AJC will do what it has always done: explain Israel to the wider world. But as Jason Isaacson, AJC’s Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer, writes in The Times of Israel, there likely will be repercussions, regardless of how well Israel and AJC explain the decision. “It is not for the ardent friends and supporters of Israel, comfortable in our homes thousands of miles away, to tell the democratically elected Israeli government what to do,” Isaacson writes. “We will never abandon the Zionist vision of a Jewish and democratic state in our people’s native land, and we will never forsake our brethren.” As Israel’s advocates, AJC will always share in the joy of the Jewish state’s successes and share concerns when there is danger ahead. Read more [link removed]

AJC Calls for Race Amity, Action
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AJC.org / 1-minute read
AJC has called upon Americans to finally reckon with the systemic racism that has never stopped disadvantaging Black Americans. AJC’s founders created an organization to keep Jews safe, but they knew then what time has only made more evident — Jewish safety and success in the United States is bound up with that of other minorities, including our brothers and sisters in the Black community. Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC's Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, crafted a message for the June 14 celebration of Race Amity Day [link removed], calling on people to turn amity into action by urging passage of The NO HATE Act to improve hate crime reporting [link removed]. AJC observed Juneteenth by reiterating support for the NO HATE Act and other policy recommendations such as the creation of a national taskforce to examine systemic inequities, the designation of white supremacist groups as terrorist organizations, and the implementation of safeguards for honest elections. Read more [link removed]

Latino-Jewish Cooperation During COVID-19
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The Hill / 2-minute read
Simultaneous crises in the form of the pandemic, economic decline, and the consequences of systemic racism are straining the fabric of American society. Dina Siegel Vann, Director of AJC’s Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs and Ramiro A. Cavazos, President and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce write in The Hill that the relationship between U.S. Latinos and Jews may offer a model for pulling together disparate communities in challenging times. “Thankfully, U.S. Latinos and Jews can draw from a deep reservoir of historical, ethical and pragmatic affinities spanning many decades as they ... face the pandemic and its dire consequences head on.” The Latino Jewish Leadership Council (LJLC), convened by AJC in 2017, recently called [link removed] for measures to thank and protect immigrants, many of whom serve as essential workers and are suffering higher rates of infections, fatalities, and economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more [link removed]   

GOOD TO KNOW

Study: TikTok App Used to Aim Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial at Teens
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The Times of Israel / 2-minute read
TikTok, the short video platform popular with teens, has seen a recent uptick of posts from antisemites, Holocaust deniers, and other far-right extremists. Researchers from the University of Haifa and Israel’s Institute for Counter Terrorism found 196 postings from February through May related to far-right extremism, with one-fifth of them related to antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Researchers also spotted numerous videos featuring Nazi or neo-Nazi symbols and codes. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry released a report showing that coronavirus-inspired antisemitism has gone viral on social media networks. Watch the i24NEWS interview [link removed] with AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen to learn what those findings could mean for the Jewish community. Read more [link removed]

Pomona College Class President Apologizes for Sharing Post Calling Zionists Racists
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Jewish Journal / 2-minute read
The Pomona College senior class president has apologized for sharing and endorsing a social media post on her Instagram account that accused Zionists of being racists. The post contained a tweet comparing the 18.4 million deaths in Yemen to three Holocausts and blamed Saudi Arabia for doing nothing. Below that tweet, someone had added an antisemitic addendum: “[O]nce again, zionist-Israel-birthright-vacation-stuck-on-comparing-holocaust-to-racism-WW2-worshipping bitches, this should be right up ur alley. Oh wait u hate brown ppl.” She added an additional comment: “put into words all I’ve been thinking.” The class president, whose name has not been released, said she meant to highlight the lack of global responses to the atrocities in Yemen. AJC tweeted [link removed] : “Suggesting that Jews ‘worship’ World War II or ‘hate brown people’ is vile, twisted, and grossly antisemitic. @PomonaCollege [link removed] students deserve better than this from their senior class president.” Read more [link removed]

Spanish State Becomes First to Condemn BDS as Antisemitism
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JTA / 2-minute video
A Spanish state for the first time passed legislation declaring the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement against Israel a form of antisemitism, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism [link removed]. The parliament of the Balearic Islands Autonomous Community — one of 17 such entities that make up the semi-federal state kingdom of Spain — made the declaration in a June 11 motion that was passed unanimously and finalized last week. Separately, an appeals court on Wednesday ordered a suburb of Barcelona to throw out a 2013 resolution endorsing BDS and calling Israel an apartheid state. Read more [link removed]

UN Human Rights Council Repeatedly Condemns Israel at 43rd Session
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The Algemeiner / 2-minute video
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a series of resolutions this week condemning Israel. Votes condemned the Jewish state for its presence in the “occupied” Golan Heights, which the UNHRC considers Syrian territory, and condemned alleged Israeli abuses in the West Bank and in “occupied” East Jerusalem. A total of five resolutions have been adopted on Israel at the 43rd session of the UNHRC, compared with one each for North Korea, Syria and Iran, and none for Venezuela or China. AJC CEO David Harris tweeted [link removed] : “Majority of UN Human Rights Council members lacked moral clarity to condemn Iran -Not shocking since human rights ‘guardians’ include Libya, Pakistan, Qatar, Venezuela... -Democratic #Israel [link removed] is only UN member permanently targeted for criticism.” Read more [link removed]   

TIDINGS

St. Louis the Antisemite? [link removed] (The Forward)

Georgia Adopts Hate Crime Legislation [link removed] (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Israel, UAE Partner to Fight COVID-19 [link removed] (The Jerusalem Post)

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

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