From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


[AJC] Excerpts from the Weekly Update


From "Ari Gordon" <gordona@ajc.org>
Date Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:35:01 -0500

AJC Leaders Meet Top French Officials, Attend CRIF Dinner

On a two-day visit to Paris an AJC leadership delegation met with top French officials, including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, Interior Minister and presidential aspirant Nicolas Sarkozy, Socialist Party spokesman Julien Dray, and former Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Dominque Strauss Kahn. They discussed the Iranian nuclear threat, prospects for advancing the Arab-Israeli peace process, and the foreign policy platforms of the leading candidates in the French presidential elections.

The AJC delegation also met with the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors, and leaders of the Consistoire, the umbrella body for French Jewish communities. David Harris and Valerie Hoffenberg, AJC's Paris representative, were each honored with the "Medal of the Republic" by Nicolas Sarkozy in his capacity as Interior Minister. It was the third time Harris has been honored by the French government. Harris spoke at one of France's preeminent think tanks, Geostrategy 2000, on the Middle East, and addressed students at one of France's leading universities, the Institute of Political Sciences ("Sciences Po") on American interest groups and U.S. foreign policy.

For the seventh consecutive year, AJC officials attended the annual dinner of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), the umbrella organization for all French Jewish organizations. AJC is the only American Jewish group attending this dinner regularly.

National Service Task Force

AJC's National Service Task Force, chaired by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University, held a daylong meeting in Washington. This second gathering of the task force included experts in the service field, such as former Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford, staff and board members of City Year, and representatives from the Corporation for National and Community Service. The task force is examining ways to reinvigorate a national dialogue on the link between the rights and privileges of being American with a clear sense of responsibility for the people and communities that make up the U.S. The task force plans to present its report at AJC's Annual Meeting in May.

ACCESS Launches in Miami

A group of 25 young professionals from the Miami Jewish community met with David Harris to launch the Miami chapter of AJC's ACCESS New Generation initiative. ACCESS targets young Jews, ages 25-35, introducing them to AJC's efforts on international and domestic issues confronting the Jewish community today. Meanwhile, Rebecca Neuwirth, national director of AJC ACCESS met with local ACCESS leaders in Los Angeles and San Francisco who participated in a recent weeklong mission to Berlin.

David Harris Addresses Miami Diplomatic Corps

AJC's Miami Chapter hosted a luncheon for the Miami diplomatic corps featuring David Harris. Consuls general from Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Uruguay gathered to hear about AJC's global reach, the current challenges that the international community is facing, in particular with the Iranian threat, and the need for the U.S. to deepen relations with Latin American nations.

Africa Institute Addresses Nigerian Diaspora Conference

Eliseo Neuman, director of AJC's Africa Institute, participated in the first international conference for Nigerians in the Diaspora Organization (NIDO), the leading organization for Nigerians worldwide. Neuman delivered a keynote address, Establishing a Successful Diaspora Community: The Jewish Example. The event, attended by more than 500, took place in Toronto, and featured Nigerian Federal Ministers, academics and civil society leaders.

AJC Human Rights Expert Briefs U.S. Officials

Felice Gaer, director of AJC's Blaustein Institute for Human Rights, discussed with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Barry F. Lowenkron the UN Human Rights Council, and urged him to press for U.S. membership in the new body. Gaer also met with the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia to discuss violations of freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Urged to Free Journalist Choudhury

AJC urged in a letter to the new Bangladesh government to take a strong stand for justice and drop the unwarranted charges against Shoaib Choudhury, a Bangladeshi journalist on trial for sedition because of his efforts to foster dialogue with Jews, to visit Israel and his opposition to radical Islam in Bangladesh.(The letter can be read at: www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=345 5617)

AJC at Limmud Conference

Richard Foltin, AJC's legislative director, and AJC staffers Brooke Menschel, Kara Stein, Lena Altman, Ari Gordon and Dylan Tatz, taught at the popular Limmud conference in New York?s Catskill Mountains, attended by 800 Jews of all backgrounds. The AJC team offered substantive programming on domestic and international policy, an important contribution to the conference as its primary focus is often on Jewish learning with substantial emphasis on culture and spirituality.

AJC Campus Leaders in Northern Israel

Five students from AJC campus societies at Cornell, Harvard and Princeton participated in Leading Up North, a 10-day service program for young adults to help rebuild communities in Israel?s north damaged in the Hezbollah rocket barrage last summer. "Although I have always had a strong connection to Israel, this trip has motivated me to spread this connection to other Jews who are less connected," said Dan Berenholtz, a member of AJC's Cornell Society. "This trip has also inspired me to make students on my campus (Jews and non-Jews) understand how very important Israel is to Jews around the world." Leading Up North was sponsored by the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI) and funded by Lynn Schusterman, a leading Jewish philanthropist.

Obituary: Lisa Goldberg

AJC mourns the untimely death of Lisa Goldberg, president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation. Lisa, a wise and inspiring individual, was deeply committed to building a new generation of Jewish leadership and AJC was privileged to work with her in that effort. AJC extends deepest condolences to her family and colleagues.

Ari M. Gordon Assistant Director Department of Interreligious Affairs American Jewish Committee 165 E56th St. New York, NY 10022 (212) 891-6768 (212) 751-4000 x266 www.ajc.org www.engagingamerica.org


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