Media center
Highlights from Sebastian Kurz's Keynote Speech on EU-Israel Relations and Jewish Life in Europe
Videos
Shine a Light on Antisemitism
Recent years have seen rising antisemitism on the streets, in schools, on college campuses, and expressed by elected officials across the political spectrum. As Hanukkah is a profound symbol of the resilience of the Jewish people, AJC experts joined the Shine a Light on Antisemitism campaign, a global movement to raise awareness of Jew-hatred and empower individuals to stand against it, and mitigate ignorance.
MEP David Lega: “The EU Should Not Inadvertently Fund Terrorism”
On October 22nd, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated six Palestinian NGOs as terror groups, operating under the cover of civil society organizations, but constituting an arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), blacklisted by the EU, U.S., Canada and Israel. While the European Parliament failed to hear Israel's voice on the matter, and rather gave a platform to one of the newly-designated terror groups’ representative, Swedish MEP David Lega of the EPP Group sat down with AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal and issued a powerful call for moral clarity.
Is France Being Torn Apart?
Over the last 20 years, France has seen not only rising antisemitism, Islamism, and challenges of integrating significant parts of its Muslim population, but also growing political polarization, all of which have tested the strength of France's Republican model. Join AJC and Tablet Magazine for an in-depth conversation exploring nuances of French society and the challenges that it faces in a changing world.
How the Jews Went Right in Britain
Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as British Labour party leader was fraught with antisemitic scandals. During his nearly five-years in his position, the Labour Party was poisoned with antisemitism, amplified hateful rhetoric, and failed to properly address Jewish concerns. Did the Corbynization of the Labour party move Jews to the right or leave them politically homeless? Has current party leader Keir Starmer been able to regain the confidence of the country’s Jewish population? Join AJC and Tablet Magazine as they unpack the political shift in the United Kingdom.
AJC’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel Opens Austrian Chapter - Video
After the launch of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) inter-parliamentary group in the EU Parliament in July 2019, the first national chapter opened on October 13 in the Austrian parliament, under the leadership of Chair MP Martin Engelberg and the support of lawmakers from the Greens, the Social-Democrats and NEOS, the liberal party. With over 150 parliamentarians from both sides of the Atlantic as members, the growing TFI network is the first-ever cross-party friendship caucus specifically committed to strengthening the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Israel, and Europe.
The Impact of the UN Antisemitic Durban Conference: 20 Years Later
At the sidelines of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the 2001 Durban conference was meant to unite countries in the fight against racism. Instead, it became an antisemitic hate fest. While its ugly legacy has fueled Jew-hatred for over two decades, 30+ countries decided to skip the anniversary event last month. Gilad Erdan, Ambassador of Israel to the United States and the United Nations, and Joëlle Fiss, Author of The Durban Diaries, joined AJC’s Felice Gaer and Simone Rodan-Benzaquen for a timely conversation on Durban’s ugly legacy.
European Parliament Hearing on Palestinian Textbooks that Violate UNESCO Standards
In a recent European Parliament hearing, lawmakers across the aisle condemned the teaching of antisemitism and glorification of terror in Palestinian school books, urging the EU to show zero tolerance for such incitement. The Georg-Eckert Institute, which carried out an EU-commissioned study on the Palestinain textbooks, clarified that those books that contain antisemitism and other forms of incitement clearly violate UNESCO standards. The study’s executive summary had given rise to misinterpretation on this issue.
Israel’s Security and Political Challenges Under the New Government
On 12 June 2021, Naftali Bennett, leader of Israel’s New Right party, was sworn in as Prime Minister as part of a rotation agreement with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party. The unprecedented coalition holds only a wafer-thin majority and brings together political parties with vast ideological differences, including for the first time an Arab party. MEP Lukas Mandl, Lahav Harkov, Jerusalem Post Senior Contributing Editor and Diplomatic Correspondent, Daniel Schwammenthal, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director, and Roland Freudenstein, Wilfried Martens Centre Policy Director discussed how the new government will address domestic issues and foreign affairs.
European Commission President Vows to Strengthen Ties with Israel and Fight Antisemitism at AJC Global Forum
Addressing thousands of participants worldwide at AJC Global Forum 2021, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to strengthen ties with Israel, “a vitally important country for the European Union, not only because of our common past, but also because of our common future,” and underlined the EU’s commitment to fight rising antisemitism across the continent.
French President Macron Pledges Commitment to Israel’s Security and Fight against Anti-Jewish Hatred at AJC Global Forum
"France's profound attachment to Israel's security [...] has never wavered," declared French President Emmanuel Macron to an international audience at AJC Global Forum 2021. Stressing France’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in December 2019, President Macron reiterated his commitment to combat hatred and extremism across the country.