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

Click here to view in browser [link removed]  

[link removed]    

SPOTLIGHT

On this week’s episode of People of the Pod [link removed], Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of AJC’s Transatlantic Institute, joined us from Brussels to talk about Jewish life in Belgium. Despite the country’s recent election of its first Jewish prime minister, there has been a troubling nonchalance about a number of antisemitic incidents. And we sat down with Ambassador Matan Vilnai, Israel’s former envoy to China, to discuss Israel's relationship with China and what it means for the future of the Jewish state. Listen now [link removed]   

MUST-READS

Jews Who Hide Their Jewishness: ‘I’m Not Taking Any Chances’
[link removed]
The Forward / 2-minute read
They were among the more disquieting findings from AJC’s landmark survey of American Jewish attitudes about antisemitism [link removed]. Nearly one out of every three American Jews say they have avoided publicly wearing, carrying, or displaying things that might help people identify them as Jewish. And one in four say they avoid certain places, events or situations out of fear for their safety or comfort as a Jews. To find the stories behind those numbers, The Forward asked readers whether they had hidden their Jewishness or avoided Jewish places out of a sense of insecurity. While some said recent threats had actually strengthened their desire to display their Jewishness, more than two dozen described painful steps they had taken to protect themselves and what it’s like to fear for their lives as Jews. AJC tweeted [link removed] : “This @jdforward piece on responses to AJC’s survey should trouble all Americans.” AJC also went behind the numbers [link removed] to talk to leaders about their encounters with antisemitism. Read more [link removed]

A German City Has Declared a ‘Nazi Emergency.’ Now What?
[link removed]
AJC Global Voice / 1-minute read
The eastern German city of Dresden has declared a “Nazi emergency“ to call attention to the rise of far-right wing extremists in local elections and virulent hatred toward Muslims and migrants amid the refugee crisis. Dresden, the capital of Saxony, has become an epicenter for both the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the anti-Muslim Pegida movement, which protests the prospect of Islamic rule. While AfD and Pegida aren’t the same as neo-Nazis, they do form a breeding ground for antisemitism, which is on the rise across Germany. Read more [link removed]  

FBI Arrests White Supremacist in Bomb Plot on Colorado Synagogue
[link removed]
The Washington Post / 2-minute read
A self-proclaimed white supremacist planned to blow up the historic Temple Emanuel synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado and poison congregants there, according to federal authorities. Richard Holzer, 27, had posted a torrent of hate-filled, antisemitic messages on social media, which prompted an undercover agent to contact him on Facebook in late September. Holzer boasted to the agent that he had paid a cook to put arsenic in the water pipes and that he intended to do it again. The FBI arrested Holzer this week after he picked up what he thought were pipe bombs and dynamite from undercover agents. The suspect was wearing a Nazi armband and carrying a copy of Mein Kampf when he came to pick up his package, authorities said. Read AJC’s explainer [link removed] on how to combat white supremacy. Read more [link removed]

GOOD TO KNOW

Iran’s Network of Influence Is Growing in Middle East
[link removed]
BBC.com / 2-minute read
Iran enjoys outsized influence across the Middle East, according to a study just released by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). By way of proxy militias, or non-state alliances that make the Islamic Republic virtually immune from sanctions, Iran exercises control over affairs in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and of course in Lebanon, through its proxy Hezbollah. The 217-page report details how Iran has become a powerful force in the region with its Quds Force, the external operations wing of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). Read AJC’s explainer [link removed] on the U.S. designation of the IRGC as a terrorist group. Join AJC [link removed] in urging the international community to recognize Hezbollah for what it is – a proxy for Iran and a global terrorist operation. Read more [link removed]  

Bipartisan Group of U.S. Congresswomen Visits to Show No Daylight on Israel
[link removed]
The Times of Israel / 2-minute read
Strengthening the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is one mission on which U.S. Republicans and Democrats in Congress can agree, according to a bipartisan group of congresswomen who visited Israel this week. The delegation met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, and former chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. The delegation’s itinerary also included a tour of the northern border area, where Israeli political and military leaders have sounded an alarm about Iranian-backed aggression against Israel. AJC knows Israel and antisemitism are bipartisan issues. Join AJC and urge your representative [link removed] to join the House’s Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism. Read more [link removed]

Gaza Again and Again
[link removed]
AJC Global Voice / 2-minute read
Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, more than 15,000 rockets have been fired from the coastal region into the Jewish state. Conflicts erupted in 2008 and 2012 and boiled over in 2014 during a seven-week standoff initiated by the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers. In the past year alone, there have been at least a dozen exchanges of rocket fire between Israeli forces and Hamas operatives. Now, with an interim Israeli government in place until a coalition can be formed, Hamas has resumed its attacks. Why won’t the vicious cycle end? Read more [link removed]    

TIDINGS

The First Refuseniks: How 18 Georgian Jews Paved Exodus For Soviet Jews [link removed] (Tablet Magazine)

Jewish Political Voices Project [link removed] (Moment Magazine)

Time Capsule Opened at Original Tree of Life Synagogue [link removed] (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

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]

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 2019

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