American Jewish Committee

Now Is the Time

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On Air

Georgia Runoff Elections and Tackling Hate in America
People of the Pod / 31-minute listen
This week, Atlanta Journal-Constitution political reporter Greg Bluestein joins us to break down the January 5th runoff elections in Georgia that will decide which party controls the United States Senate. Next, we hear from Melanie Maron Pell, AJC’s Managing Director of Regional Offices, on an antisemitic attack over this Hanukkah at the University of Kentucky and the importance of passing the NO HATE Act, Manya Brachear Pashman on Gal Gadot and the new Wonder Woman movie, and Seffi Kogen on two Israeli TV recommendations for the long winter nights ahead. Listen now

Must-reads

Shwaya Shwaya
The Times of Israel / 3-minute read
President-elect Joe Biden's administration shouldn't be quick to throw out Trump's Middle East playbook. What has been accomplished — normalization deals between Israel and four Arab nations — is noteworthy and should be preserved. In his latest piece for The Times of Israel, AJC CEO David Harris underscores why officials should consider the Arabic phrase "shwaya, shwaya (slowly, slowly)" while approaching this evolving region. “The number of Arab countries at peace with Israel has tripled practically overnight,” Harris writes.“There‘s no reason why there couldn’t be still more breakthroughs on Israeli-Arab peace agreements, a chance to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks and achieve tangible progress, and a more hard-nosed approach to any new deal with Iran.” Read more

Israel Heads to New Election in March
The Jerusalem Post / 2-minute read
For more than 72 years, Israel has remained a genuine and vibrant democracy, alone among the countries of the Middle East. That democracy will once again be on display when, for the fourth time in two years, Israelis return to the polls. Israeli lawmakers failed to broker an agreement on a budget, which led to an automatic dissolution of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Tuesday, triggering snap elections, to be held in March 2021. Prime Minister Netanyahu remains in office as head of the transitional government until the elections are held and a new coalition government is formed. Read more

Legislation Honoring Julius Rosenwald Clears Congress
Jewish Insider / 4-minute read
This week, Congress approved a plan to create the first U.S. national park dedicated to a Jewish American. The bill requires the U.S. Department of Interior to study the legacy of Julius Rosenwald, the former chairman of Sears Roebuck and a renowned Jewish philanthropist who financed thousands of schools for African-Americans neglected by public schools and was a founder of AJC. A national park honoring Rosenwald would include a museum in Chicago, and satellite sites at several of the remaining Rosenwald schools in the South. AJC tweeted: “Great news! Congress has passed legislation to establish the first national park named after a Jewish American: Julius Rosenwald, a founder of AJC, a pillar of Chicago's Jewish community, and a pioneer in #BlackJewishUnity.” Read more

Good to Know

Morocco, Israel Seal Historic Diplomatic Agreements
The Wall Street Journal / 2-minute read
Passengers boarding El Al Flight 555 on Tuesday received face masks emblazoned with the flags of Morocco, Israel, and the U.S. for the historic trip from Tel Aviv to Rabat. Once in the Moroccan capital, a team from the White House, Israeli officials and Moroccan leaders signed diplomatic and economic agreements between the U.S., Morocco, and Israel. The deal is the fourth peace agreement between Israel and an Arab country this year. In August, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords. Sudan also has normalized relations. Read more

Miss Provence Targeted by Antisemitic Tweets
Forbes / 1-minute read
Prosecutors in Paris are investigating who is behind a torrent of antisemitic tweets that targeted beauty pageant contestant April Benayoum. Shortly after Benayoum, or Miss Provence, revealed in the contest for Miss France 2021 that her father was Israeli, social media posts called for her disqualification because of her Jewish heritage and declared, “Hitler forgot to exterminate you, Miss Provence.” Read about the rise of anti-Jewish hatred in France in this AJC Global Voice series on antisemitism around the globe. AJC tweeted: “Benayoum's Israeli and Jewish identity should be celebrated, not shamed. We stand with April and France's Jewish community.” Read more

Synagogue Attacker Sentenced to Life in Prison
Deutsche Welle / 3-minute read
The far-right extremist who broadcast his shooting spree near a Halle synagogue on Yom Kippur 2019 was sentenced to life in prison this week. The sentencing caps a frustrating five-month ordeal that mischaracterized the defendant as a lone wolf who trolled the internet and built an arsenal of homemade weapons. Some believe the German court missed an opportunity to explore whether he was part of a more extensive terrorist network. The sentencing coincides with recent revelations that Neo-Nazis have infiltrated elite German military forces and police departments across Germany. Read more about the troubling climate in Germany in this AJC Global Voice series on antisemitism around the globe. AJC tweeted: “A right-wing terrorist used firearms and explosives to try to blast his way into a synagogue in Germany on Yom Kippur 2019. Then he walked down the street and killed two people. We welcome the news that a German court has sentenced him to life in prison.” Read more

AJC Shabbat Table

This week, in AJC’s Shabbat Table, we read the climactic confrontation between Joseph and his brother Judah through the lens of repentance as defined by Maimonides. Are there situations in which we are offered another chance to get something right? Can we strive to see beyond ourselves and make better choices this time around? We also celebrate the 160th birthday of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah and “mother of thousands” who created a Youth Aliyah system to rescue European Jewish children from the Nazis and house them in Youth Villages in what was then Palestine. And we provide some discussion prompts about the normalization agreement between Israel and Morocco, two countries that developed quiet but warm relations in recent decades, but only established more official diplomatic ties after the UAE and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords. Read more

Tidings

Mossad in the Movies (WaPost)
Hungary Ambassador Wears Two Hats (Jewish Insider)
Los Angeles Jews Get Lit (LAT)

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

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