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Dear AJC Friend, Shabbat Shalom. Welcome to a new and improved AJC Dispatch, bringing you everything you need to know about Israel and the Jewish world from the past week.

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This week, as the nation recovers from the Capitol siege, impeaches the outgoing president, and prepares to inaugurate a new commander-in-chief, examples of antisemitism continue to emerge in the public square.

WATCH: On January 6, our democracy came under attack. Many of the rioters proudly displayed antisemitic clothing and emblems of conspiracy theories. Holly Huffnagle, AJC’s U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism, reminds us what's at stake when antisemitism becomes normalized in our society.

Top Stories

AJC Welcomes Impeachment Resolution

AJC.org | 1-minute read

AJC welcomed this week’s House passage of the impeachment resolution and reiterated our unqualified condemnation of President Trump’s actions, which run counter to democratic values and disqualify him from continuing to occupy the highest office in the land. READ MORE

Antisemitism Seen in Capitol Siege Raises Alarms

Associated Press | 4-minute read

For some Jewish American leaders and human rights watchdogs, the presence of antisemitism at the Capitol riots was simply the latest expression of an alarming trend that must be stopped. READ MORE

AJC CEO David Harris quoted: Not everyone who came to Washington, D.C. to support Trump on the day of the insurrection shared extremist and hate-fueled ideologies. But Harris, who has strongly denounced the actions at the Capitol that day, urged those who claimed to not hold such ideologies to ask themselves: “’Who am I enabling, however unintentionally, and how do I channel my own protest without being coopted by the lunatic fringe?’” (View on AP)

More News

Kushner Handing Off Middle East Policy to Biden Team

Axios | 3-minute read

Jared Kushner briefed incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan weeks ago on the Trump administration’s Middle East policies, in hopes President-elect Biden will encourage other countries to join the Abraham Accords. READ MORE

AJC Analysis: AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson on what the Middle East should anticipate from the Biden administration: “Continuity can be expected in American support for the recent dramatic widening of the circle of Arab-Israeli peace ...” (View on AJC Global Voice)

Fringe Groups Scatter After Facebook, Twitter Bans

The New York Times | 4-minute read

After Facebook and Twitter banned President Trump and his far-right supporters, including armed militias and QAnon conspiracy theorists, fringe groups are now organizing their next steps on less visible encrypted messaging apps. Meanwhile, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck likened the ban to how Germans put Jews in ghettos during World War II. “This is the digital ghetto,” he said. READ MORE

AJC responds: “The constant weaponization of history's darkest chapter is deeply offensive and an affront to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. There's no comparison between big tech companies enforcing their community standards and the Holocaust. None. Apologize, @GlennBeck” (View on Twitter)

ICYMI: Watch this exclusive conversation between Monika Bickert, Facebook's Vice President of Content Policy, and AJC CEO David Harris on how Facebook determines what content is and is not permitted and what it is doing to keep its platform free of antisemitism and all forms of hate. (View on Advocacy Anywhere)

Antisemitism is a Social Injustice

Social Justice in America | 4-minute read

Ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, The King Center—founded by Coretta Scott King and today led by their daughter, Bernice King—invited Dov Wilker, AJC Director of Black-Jewish Relations, to write about the importance of seeing antisemitism as a social justice issue. “Antisemitism isn't a Jewish issue. It's a societal ill that must be cured,” Wilker wrote. The article starts on page 129. READ MORE

What happened this week?

Advocacy Anywhere is AJC’s online platform bringing you top-quality content during the pandemic. View the Advocacy Anywhere page for information on past and future programs:

A Dark Day for Democracy: A Bipartisan Conversation on Healing our Nation: Following the horrific events of January 6, which brought bloodshed, mayhem, and dishonor to the temple of American democracy, Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) joined us for a special conversation about the resilience of democratic values and the crucial importance of the peaceful transfer of power. WATCH

AJC's Shabbat Table

This week, in AJC’s Shabbat Table, we reflect on how the Nile River helped shape Moses into a leader who understood the importance of every interaction with the world around him. We remember Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon 18 years after the launch of the doomed space shuttle Columbia. And we provide some talking points and resources for a discussion about far-right extremism in America. Read more

People of the Pod

AJC’s weekly podcast analyzing global affairs through a Jewish lens

Inside America’s Far Right; Congressman Ritchie Torres

This week, we sit down with Daniel Lombroso, director of The Atlantic's first feature documentary, White Noise, an inside story of the far right in America. Lombroso, who spent four years with the leaders of white supremacist and antisemitic movements, joins us to discuss how that period informs his perspective on the horrific events of January 6 at the United States Capitol and the ensuing fallout. Then, if you missed our special episode earlier this week, freshman Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) shares his reflections on the antisemitism, racism, and white supremacy he witnessed on January 6; impeachment proceedings in Congress; and how the nation can move forward. LISTEN NOW

Tidings

Sheldon Adelson: A Proud, Tough Jew (The Forward)
Germany Hands Over Rest of Gurlitt Trove (Associated Press)
House Hunting in Jerusalem (The Times of Israel)

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*The articles highlighted above do not necessarily reflect AJC’s positions.

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