American Jewish Committee

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:
#Lobbying political leaders; networking
#Organising political action (for voting in Congress, etc.) 'Reaffirming Our Commitment To Voting Rights', AJC website, 8 November, 2005.
#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). 'The American Jewish Committee', AJC website
#Send journalists, student leaders, opinion formers, etc., to Israel for a coordinated program educating them on the Israeli perspective. 'AJC on Israel-Diaspora Relations', AJC website
#Create pressure groups to affect organisations that are seen as hostile to Israel, e.g., UN Watch is such an AJC-instigated project.'United Nations', AJC website
#Create organisations to lobby and influence large constituencies about Israel and other AJC pet projects.
#Campaigning against those opposed to Israel, e.g., Hezbollah. Muriel Asseraf, 'Prospects for Adding Hezbollah to the EU Terrorist List', AJC website, September, 2007.
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. 
==Overseas Offices/International affiliates==
The AJC operates a network of front groups and in tandem with affiliated organisations.
===Affiliated or AJC Instigated projects===
*Africa Institute
*Asia and Pacific Rim Institute American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Committee starts Africa Institute, ImpactWire, 11 April 2006.
*Belfer Center for American Pluralism 'Interethnic/About Us', AJC website
*Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human RightsAmerican Jewish Committee, ibid.
*Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, co-founded by AJC and Saint Leo University in Florida. Center for Catholic Jewish Studies website
*Commentary Magazine AJC's flagship publication, considered "the intellectual home of the neoconservative movement" (in Feb. 2007 AJC announced that Commentary would be published by another zionist organisation).
*European Forum on Antisemitism
*Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Humanitarian Fund 'AJC Humanitarian Fund Aiding Recovery Efforts in Dominican Republic, Mexico', AJC website
*Israeli Coalition for the Refugees of Darfur and Sudan
*Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Affairs 'Israel-Diaspora Relations', AJC website
*Latino and Latin American Institute American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Committee starts Africa Institute, ImpactWire, 11 April 2006.
*Lawrence & Lee Ramer Center for German-Jewish Relations Berlin
*Martin Kimmel Young Leadership Institute 'AJC's Helen and Martin Kimmel Young Leadership Institute', AJC website
*Project Interchange Project Interchange website
*Ramer Center for German-Jewish Relations
*Thanks to Scandinavia 'AJC Experts: Rebecca Neuwirth', AJC website
*Transatlantic Institute Brussels 
*UN Watch Geneva
*Z Word 'About Us','Z' Word website
===International Partners (Jewish groups)===
*Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA)AMIA website
*Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC)AIJAC website
*Shalom (Organization of Jews in Bulgaria)
*Comité Representativo de las Entidades Judías en Chile (CREJ)
*Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica (CISCR)Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica website
*Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic
*Romanian Federation of Jewish Communities AJC website, AJC Newsletter, Update 283, 28 November, 2007.
*Conseil des Communautés Israelites du Maroc (CCIM)
*Tribuna Israelita (TI)
*Comite Central de la Comunidad Judia de Mexico Tribuna Israelita website
*Asociación Judía del Peru
*Association of Religious Jewish Communities of Poland
*Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Slovak Republic (UZZNO)
*Federacion de Comunidades Israelitas de España (FCIE)
*Communaute Juive de Tunisie (CJT)
*Turkish Jewish Community (TJC)
*Confederación de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela (CAIV)
*European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC)ECJC website
*European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS)EUJS website
===Partners===
*Friedrich Naumann Foundation Ulrich Niemann and Stoyanka Manolcheva, 'Promoting Tolerance Programme 2008 Started in Tbilissi', Friedrich Naumann Foundation website
==Principals==
*David A. Harris - Executive Director 
*Robert E. Goodkind - President
*Shula Bahat - Associate Executive Director 
*Ann Schaffer - Director, Belfer Center for American Pluralism 
*Felice D. Gaer - Director, Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights 
*Steven Bayme - Director, Contemporary Jewish Life 
*Noam Marans(Rabbi) - Associate Director, Contemporary Jewish Life 
*Jeffrey Sinensky - Director, Domestic Policy and AJC general counsel
*Kenneth Stern, Program Specialist on anti-Semitism and Extremism, Domestic Policy
*David Rosen (Rabbi) - International Director of the Department of Interreligious Affairs & Director of the Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding, Interreligious Affairs 
*David Elcott - U.S. Director of Interreligious Affairs 
*Eran Lerman - Director, Jerusalem Office 
*Beit Moses, Middle East Office of the AJC
*Dina Siegel Vann - Director, Latin American Affairs
*Jacob Kovadloff - Consultant, Latin American Affairs 
*Yehudit Barsky - Director, Middle East and International Terrorism 
*Jason Isaacson - Director, Office of Government and International Affairs 
*Aaron Jacob - Associate Director of International Affairs 
*Richard Foltin - Legislative Director and Counsel, Office of Government and International Affairs 
* Barry Jacobs - Director of Strategic Studies, Office of Government and International Affairs
*Stanislaw Krajewski AJC Poland office
*Andrew Baker (Rabbi) - Director of International Jewish Affairs 
*Roselyn Bell - Director, Publications 
*Deidre Berger - Director, Ramer Center for German-Jewish Relations, Berlin 
*David Singer - Director, Research 
*Sam Kliger - Director, Russian Affairs 
*Rebecca Neuwirth - Director of Special Projects --AJC Principals (5 July 2006)-- Contains members found in other listings too.
==Supporting Israel Herzliya Conference 2008==
In 2008, the American Jewish Committee supported the 8th Herzliya Conference in IsraelThe Annual Herzliya Conference Series: on the Balance of Israel's National Security (2008) Conference Conclusions. Accessed 12 August, 2008.
==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. American Jewish Committee London Jewish Community Greets AJC President Update 236, 20 December 2006. Accessed 21 August, 2008.
==Contact, References and Resources==
=== Resources===
American Jewish Committee - excerpt from Lee O'Brien, American Jewish Organizations and Israel, 1986
====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:
*AJC News releases 2006
*AJC News releases 2007
*AJC News releases 2008
===References===
Category:Middle East Watch Category:Israel LobbyCategory:Zionist movement USCategory:Zionist movement