American Jewish Committee

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The American Jewish Committee is a Zionist lobby and political action group which serves as the foreign policy wing of the Israel lobby. It has 33 chapters across the United States, which engage in pro-Israeli/Zionist proselytizing and propaganda.

AJC engages in the following activities:

  1. Lobbying political leaders; networking
  2. Organising political action (for voting in Congress, etc.) [1]
  3. Coalition building (It organises/helps other groups, e.g., Hispanic-Americans, to become more effective lobbyists, and they seek to obtain political advantage from such alliances). [2]
  4. Send journalists, student leaders, opinion formers, etc., to Israel for a coordinated program educating them on the Israeli perspective. [3]
  5. Create pressure groups to affect organisations that are seen as hostile to Israel, e.g., UN Watch is such an AJC-instigated project.[4]
  6. Create organisations to lobby and influence large constituencies about Israel and other AJC pet projects.
  7. Production of nefarious propaganda to smear those opposed to Israel, e.g., Hezbollah. [5]

While AIPAC is usually touted to be the main pro-Israeli lobby, or "The Lobby", in reality this is an erroneous appreciation of the Zionist lobby. AIPAC's role is mostly related to influencing the U.S. political scene, but other organisations, e.g., AJC do the same. Some of their activities overlap, and on occasion the responsibilities are shifted from one to the other. For example, when AIPAC became notorious due to the spying scandals some of its functions were passed to the other zionist organisations to allay public attention. The leadership of these organisations meet on a monthly basis.

Overseas Offices/International affiliates

The AJC operates a network of front groups and in tandem with affiliated organisations.

Affiliated or AJC Instigated projects

International Partners (Jewish groups)

Partners

Principals

Supporting Israel Herzliya Conference 2008

In 2008, the American Jewish Committee supported the 8th Herzliya Conference in Israel[27].

Strengthening ties to British Jewry

In 2006, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) meeting with members of London's Jewish community in 'an effort to strengthen AJC’s ties to British Jewry'

The report states that:

'AJC President E Robert Goodkind led a leadership delegation to London to meet with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the main community organizing body for British Jews, as well as with the Community Service Trust and the newly formed Jewish Leadership Council. The group also met with British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, longtime Jewish community leaders Lord Greville Janner and Sir Trevor Chinn, and with leadership from the Reform, Liberal and Conservative Masorti movements. In addition, the group held meetings with those Members of Parliament who initiated a serious parliamentary investigation of anti-Semitism, and with younger leaders of Conservative Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Israel. AJC Board members Stanley Bergman and Peter Rosenblatt joined Goodkind on the mission. [28]

Contact, References and Resources

Resources

AJC Weekly News Updates

The News Updates are a valuable source of information on: the personnel involved, the contacts, the coalition building, the networks, the current issues that are important to the organization, and the lobbying effort. The News Updates are held in the Cork PSC PIWP database, and the links below take one to an abstract, comment, and links to related topics and people -- these aid in the research of this organization. See lists here:

References

  1. 'Reaffirming Our Commitment To Voting Rights', AJC website, 8 November, 2005.
  2. 'The American Jewish Committee', AJC website
  3. 'AJC on Israel-Diaspora Relations', AJC website
  4. 'United Nations', AJC website
  5. Muriel Asseraf, 'Prospects for Adding Hezbollah to the EU Terrorist List', AJC website, September, 2007.
  6. American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Committee starts Africa Institute, ImpactWire, 11 April 2006.
  7. 'Interethnic/About Us', AJC website
  8. American Jewish Committee, ibid.
  9. Center for Catholic Jewish Studies website
  10. 'AJC Humanitarian Fund Aiding Recovery Efforts in Dominican Republic, Mexico', AJC website
  11. 'Links' (AJC is listed third from the top of the page),The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute website
  12. 'Israel-Diaspora Relations', AJC website
  13. American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Committee starts Africa Institute, ImpactWire, 11 April 2006.
  14. 'AJC's Helen and Martin Kimmel Young Leadership Institute', AJC website
  15. Project Interchange website
  16. 'AJC Experts: Rebecca Neuwirth', AJC website
  17. 'About Us','Z' Word website
  18. AMIA website
  19. AIJAC website
  20. Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica website
  21. AJC website, AJC Newsletter, Update 283, 28 November, 2007.
  22. Tribuna Israelita website
  23. ECJC website
  24. EUJS website
  25. Ulrich Niemann and Stoyanka Manolcheva, 'Promoting Tolerance Programme 2008 Started in Tbilissi', Friedrich Naumann Foundation website
  26. --AJC Principals (5 July 2006)-- Contains members found in other listings too.
  27. The Annual Herzliya Conference Series: on the Balance of Israel's National Security (2008) Conference Conclusions. Accessed 12 August, 2008
  28. American Jewish Committee London Jewish Community Greets AJC President Update 236, 20 December 2006. Accessed 21 August, 2008.