Check out this week's episode of People of the Pod!

Click here to view in browser [link removed]   [link removed]     [link removed]

AJC SHABBAT TABLE
This week, in AJC Shabbat Table [link removed], we discuss how the Biblical story of the Golden Calf gives us insight into how we might put moments of anger with those we love into the larger context of a longstanding and strong relationship. We also provide conversation starters about the recent controversy surrounding Jewish comedian Seth Rogen who, on a podcast hosted by another Jewish comedian, said his Israel education contained “a huge amount of lies” and questioned why it was a good idea for Jews to be gathered in one country. Read more [link removed]   [link removed]

ADVOCACY ANYWHERE
Advocacy Anywhere [link removed] is AJC’s online platform bringing you top-quality content during the pandemic. Tune in Monday, August 10 [link removed] for a special event with Nick Cannon, who recently came under fire for making antisemitic comments on his podcast and YouTube show, Cannon's Class. AJC has engaged in a constructive dialogue with Nick and we look forward to this important conversation. Join us on Tuesday, August 11 [link removed] for a conversation with United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner Nury Turkel on the plight of the Uyghurs and Turkel’s advocacy efforts on this issue. On Wednesday, August 12 [link removed], Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) joins us. Then, on Thursday, August 13 [link removed], meet the United Nations' First Antisemitism Envoy, High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Morantinos. View the Advocacy Anywhere [link removed] page for information on past and future programs.  [link removed]

ON AIR
Election 2020: Biden’s VP Pick [link removed]
People of the Pod / 30-minute listen
On this week’s episode of People of the Pod [link removed], we’re joined by Jewish Insider national politics reporter Jacob Kornbluh for a discussion of the choice facing former Vice President Joe Biden as he selects a running mate ahead of the November presidential election. Then AJC Japan Representative Jerry Rosenberg joins us to talk about the legacy of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who helped save the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Listen now [link removed]    [link removed]

MUST-READ

Israel Offers Aid to Lebanon After Beirut Blast
[link removed]
Haaretz / 2-minute read
Israel has offered medical and humanitarian assistance to Lebanon after a massive explosion flattened much of Beirut’s port, damaged buildings, blew out windows, and filled hospitals to capacity. The offer of aid was made via the United Nations and several friendly governments since Lebanon does not recognize Israel. More than a hundred people have died, and thousands more are injured. On Wednesday, Tel Aviv City Hall [link removed] glowed in the colors of the Lebanese flag to show solidarity. AJC tweeted [link removed] : “Our hearts are with the people of Lebanon, victims of civil and regional conflict for nearly half a century, who today grieve for the dead and wounded from devastating blasts in Beirut port.” Read more [link removed]  

AJC Urges Administration to Consider Withdrawing Nomination for Envoy to Germany
[link removed]
CNN / 3-minute read
The nominee to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Germany, Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, has made disparaging remarks in the past about immigrants, refugees, Germany, and Jews. He has downplayed Germany’s Nazi history and described the country’s efforts to confront its World War II atrocities as a "sick mentality.” He also has accused “neocons,” or neoconservatives [link removed], of supporting or advocating “unconditional support for whatever the Israeli government wants to do.” In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo [link removed], AJC CEO David Harris urged him to withdraw the nomination. “It is because of our intensive engagement with Germany that we were so troubled by the reports of recent days regarding Col. Macgregor’s many incendiary comments over the years about the German government, Germany’s confrontation with its Nazi past, the NATO alliance, immigration policy, and other topics,” he wrote to Pompeo [link removed], who spoke to the AJC Virtual Global Forum in June on the same day as German Chancellor Angela Merkel [link removed]. In 1949, AJC became the first American Jewish organization to establish a post-Holocaust presence in Germany and the first permanent post [link removed] when it opened the AJC Berlin Ramer Institute in 1998. Read more [link removed]

Special Envoy Elan Carr Tackles Rise of Antisemitism in U.S., Abroad
[link removed]
Jewish Journal / 2-minute read
U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr joined AJC this week on Advocacy Anywhere for a wide-ranging discussion on the recent rise of antisemitism and the important role of the U.S government in this fight. Carr said his office is three times larger than those of his predecessors, with assistant envoys assigned to various manifestations of Jew hatred, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement; the Middle East; and online antisemitism. “There really is a focus on this on the part of the [Trump] administration,” Carr said. “They are determined to give antisemitism no quarter.” Watch Carr in conversation [link removed] with AJC Director of Combating Antisemitism Holly Huffnagle on Advocacy Anywhere. Read more [link removed]  

AJC Calls on WaPo to Correct Op-Ed Calling Israel ‘Ethnically Exclusive’
[link removed]
Jewish Journal / 2-minute read
AJC has called on The Washington Post to correct a column by three Palestinian-American delegates to the Democratic National Convention expressing dismay over the party’s 2020 platform. They lament the absence of language “to support Israel as a state for all its citizens rather than an ethnically exclusive ‘Jewish state,’ which is an endorsement of institutionalized racism.” AJC tweeted [link removed] : “You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Calling Israel ‘ethnically exclusive’ is a lie and an insult to 25% of Israel's population who aren't Jewish but are full participants in its democracy. Issue a correction, @WashingtonPost.” Read more [link removed]    [link removed]

GOOD TO KNOW

Fight for Justice Is Inextricably Linked for Black, Jewish Communities
[link removed]
Philadelphia Magazine / 2-minute read
The Black and Jewish men and women who together founded the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) worked in solidarity and shared the struggle against oppression – a history that seems to have been forgotten by some in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. There, Rodney Muhammad, president of the NAACP’s Philadelphia chapter, posted a blatantly antisemitic image to Facebook that suggested Jews are trying to silence prominent Blacks, who recently committed antisemitic blunders. In this column, Jared Solomon and Jordan Harris, two members of the Pennsylvania statehouse, call for a more holistic and less divisive approach to the pursuit of social justice. Meanwhile, in The Jerusalem Post, AJC Director of Media Relations Kenneth Bandler [link removed] writes that the partnership AJC and others established decades ago with the Black community, and more recently with some in the Muslim community, is resilient. But those responsible for modern antisemitism must be held accountable. Tune in Monday, August 10 for a special Advocacy Anywhere conversation about Black-Jewish relations with entertainer Nick Cannon [link removed], who recently apologized for making antisemitic remarks. Read more [link removed]

Why are Arkansas, South Carolina, Wyoming holding back on adopting hate crime laws?
[link removed]
The Hill / 2-minute read
AJC is urging the U.S. Senate to join the House in adopting the National Opposition to Hate, Assaults and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act [link removed], a bipartisan bill that aims to provide resources to adequately track and prosecute hate crimes in all 50 states. But Dov Wilker, AJC Director of Black-Jewish Relations, writes in The Hill that the NO HATE Act cannot take the place of state laws. Arkansas, Wyoming, and South Carolina need to join the other 47 states, distinguish crimes driven by prejudice, and charge them as felonies. Read more [link removed]  

Virginia Jewish, Black Cemeteries Vandalized
[link removed]
JTA / 2-minute read
Monuments in two Virginia cemeteries, one Jewish and one African American, were spray painted this week with the same hate symbol. The vandalism was discovered Monday at Richmond’s Evergreen Cemetery and at the Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery in Henrico County on the border with Richmond. The symbol, called a triskele, which looks like three interlocking sevens, was one of many ancient European symbols appropriated by the Nazis and later by white supremacist groups. AJC U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism Holly Huffnagle tweeted [link removed] : “Lest we forget anti-Jewish and anti-Black hatreds both lie at the core of white supremacist ideology. We condemn these acts of hate against our two communities.” Read more [link removed]

The Siren Song of One State Solution
[link removed]
The New York Times / 2-minute read
“How can anyone imagine Israelis and Palestinians, with rivers of blood between them, joining hands in a common political enterprise?” That’s the question Bret Stephens poses to anyone who thinks one state is the answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The proposal ignores the fact that such a utopian vision has very little support among Palestinians and no support among Jewish Israelis or Israeli Arab leaders, he writes. Not to mention, if it attracts a critical mass among American Jews, it jeopardizes hopes of a peaceful two-state solution, widens the chasm between American Jews and Israel, and endangers Palestinians who embrace the fantasy and continue to fight a futile war to return, which no Israeli government can ever concede. Watch a special Advocacy Anywhere program [link removed] with AJC Director of Contemporary Jewish Life Laura Shaw Frank in conversation with author Daniel Gordis about why he hasn’t given up on a two-state solution. Read more [link removed]    [link removed]


TIDINGS

In a Pickle, Seth Rogen Says Israel Should Exist [link removed] (Haaretz)

Amazon renews ‘Hunters’ [link removed] (JTA)

How Pandemic Has Reshaped Shabbat Dinner [link removed] (Tablet magazine)

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. [link removed]  

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

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.

© Copyright American Jewish Committee 2020

To unsubscribe or to manage your email preferences, please click here [link removed].