American Jewish Committee

== Controversy and criticism ==
===AJC response during the Holocaust===
AJC "worked to contain nativist sentiment in America rather than work to open America's doors to refugees" during [[the Holocaust]]. For fear of provoking an increase in antisemitic sentiment, the AJC opposed public activism.<ref name="Nazi Collaborators">{{cite journal |journal=Yad Vashem Studies |date=2002 |pages=369–404 |first=Haim |last=Genizi |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/academic/american-jewish-committee-and-admission-of-nazi-collaborators.html |title=The American Jewish Committee and the Admission of Nazi Collaborators into the United States, 1948-1950 |publisher=[[Yad Vashem]] |accessdate=2023-03-23}}</ref> They have been widely criticized for their inaction during the Holocaust; historian and AJC National Director of Jewish Communal Affairs [[Steven Bayme]] said AJC leaders "never understood the uniqueness of Nazism and its 'war against the Jews'".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bayme|first=Steven|journal=American Jewish Archives Journal|via=[[American Jewish Archives]]|title=American Jewish Leadership Confronts the Holocaust: Revisiting Naomi Cohen's Thesis and the American Jewish Committee|url=http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/2009_61_02_00_Bayme.pdf|access-date=16 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101033802/http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/2009_61_02_00_Bayme.pdf |archive-date=2020-11-01|page=164}}</ref> This cautious approach changed after the war, when AJC began openly lobbying for a new immigration law allowing entrance to the United States for displaced persons from Europe. This law also led to Nazi collaborators entering the United States, though it remains unclear whether a more restrictive policy would have avoided this outcome.<ref name="Nazi Collaborators"/>

===Anti-Communism===

The Rosenberg case severely alarmed the AJC, alongside other Jewish organizations. The AJC supported the execution of [[Julius and Ethel Rosenberg]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Feffer |first=Andrew |author-link= |date=2019 |title=Bad Faith: Teachers, Liberalism, and the Origins of McCarthyism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIuUDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22judenrat%22+%22rosenberg%22+%22American+Jewish+Committee%22&pg=PT281 |location=The Bronx |publisher=Fordham University Press |page= |isbn=9780823281176}}
</ref> During the [[Second Red Scare]], the AJC sent a representative to testify before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]], emphasizing that "Judaism and Communism are utterly incompatible." The AJC cooperated with HUAC by sharing their files with the committee. The organization also employed a staff member to investigate alleged Communist infiltration among the Jewish community.<ref name="Rosenberg">{{cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/julius-and-ethel-rosenberg/ |title=Julius and Ethel Rosenberg |publisher=My Jewish Learning |accessdate=2023-03-31}}</ref> In 1950, AJC chairman of the executive committee [[Irving M. Engel]] said that "loyalty to the fundamental basis of Judaism requires all Jews to stand with the vanguard in the struggle against totalitarianism. Our attitude as Americans...should be positive and vigorous against communism. Let all of us lead the attack against this common foe of America."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/american-jewish-committee-calls-for-fight-on-communism-as-part-of-civil-rights-drive |title=American Jewish Committee Calls for Fight on Communism As Part of Civil Rights Drive |publisher=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |accessdate=2023-04-01}}</ref> Writing from [[Sing Sing]], Julius Rosenberg charged that "self-appointed leaders of Jewish organizations" were behaving like an "American [[Judenrat]]", accusing the AJC's Solomon Andhil Fineberg of spreading a false rumor that the Rosenbergs believed they were being prosecuted because they were Jewish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Meeropol |first=Michael |author-link= |date=1994 |title=The Rosenberg Letters: A Complete Edition of the Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84suAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22American+Jewish+Committee%22+%22American+Judenrat%22&pg=PA491 |location=New York, London |publisher=Routledge |page=491 |isbn=9781135791148}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bennett |first=David Harry |author-link= |date=1988 |title=The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mH_zVWsUzlUC&dq=%22American+Jewish+Committee%22+%22American+Judenrat%22&pg=PA292 |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |page=292 |isbn=9780807817728}}
</ref>

===Affirmative action quotas===
During the 1970s, the AJC was a vocal opponent of [[affirmative action]] for African-Americans and other people of color. The AJC celebrated the landmark 1978 Supreme Court's decision in [[Regents of the University of California v. Bakke]] to strike down racial quotas in university admissions as a vindication of their view that racial quotas were unconstitutional. By 2003, the organization's opposition to affirmative action had tempered. The AJC's director of public policy Jeffrey Sinesky said that "It's the quota concept that's anathema" after the organization submitted a brief in defense of the [[Affirmative action at the University of Michigan|University of Michigan]]'s affirmative action program.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/jewish-organizations-hail-court-ruling-in-bakke-case-say-it-vindicates-their-stand-against-quotas |title=Jewish Organizations Hail Court Ruling in Bakke Case; Say It Vindicates Their Stand Against Quotas |publisher=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |accessdate=2023-04-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2003/01/29/lifestyle/jews-temper-views-on-affirmative-action |title=Jews temper views on affirmative action |date=29 January 2003 |publisher=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |accessdate=2023-04-01}}</ref>

===New antisemitism===
{{see also|New antisemitism}}
A 2007 essay, "''Progressive''<!-- Emphasis in original --> Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism" by Professor [[Alvin H. Rosenfeld]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/PROGRESSIVE_JEWISH_THOUGHT.PDF |title=Progressive Jewish thought |publisher=Ajc.org |access-date=2012-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312025251/http://www.ajc.org/atf/cf/%7B42D75369-D582-4380-8395-D25925B85EAF%7D/PROGRESSIVE_JEWISH_THOUGHT.PDF |archive-date=2010-03-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> published on the AJC website, criticized Jewish critics of Israel by name, particularly the editors and contributors to "Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" (Grove Press), a 2003 collection of essays edited by [[Tony Kushner]] and [[Alisa Solomon]]. The essay accused these writers of participating in an "onslaught against Zionism and the Jewish State," which he considered a veiled form of supporting a rise in antisemitism.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/arts/31jews.html | work=The New York Times | first=Patricia | last=Cohen | title=Essay Linking Liberal Jews and Anti-Semitism Sparks a Furor | date=31 January 2007}}</ref>

In an editorial, the Jewish newspaper ''[[The Forward]]'' called Rosenfeld's essay "a shocking tissue of slander" whose intent was to "turn Jews against liberalism and silence critics." [[Richard Cohen (columnist)|Richard Cohen]] remarked that the essay "has given license to the most intolerant and narrow-minded of Israel's defenders so that, as the AJC concedes in my case, any veering from orthodoxy is met with censure ... the most powerful of all post-Holocaust condemnations—anti-Semite—is diluted beyond recognition."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020501249.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Richard | last=Cohen | title=Cheapening a Fight Against Hatred | date=6 February 2007}}</ref>

The essay was also criticized by Rabbi [[Michael Lerner (rabbi)|Michael Lerner]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Michael |first=Rabbi |url=http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/020207LERNER.shtml |title=There Is No New Anti-Semitism |publisher=BaltimoreChronicle.com |date=2007-02-02 |access-date=2012-10-19}}</ref> and in op-eds in ''[[The Guardian]]''<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/feb/08/matthewyglesias | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Matthew | last=Yglesias | title=Are we all anti-semites now? | date=8 February 2007}}</ref> and ''[[The Boston Globe]]''.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/02/07/all_critics_of_israel_arent_anti_semites/ | work=The Boston Globe | first=Stanley I. | last=Kutler | title=All critics of Israel aren't anti-Semites | date=7 February 2007}}</ref>

In a ''[[The Jerusalem Post|Jerusalem Post]]'' op-ed, AJC Executive Director [[David Harris (advocate)|David Harris]] explained why the organization published Rosenfeld's essay in 2007:

:Rosenfeld has courageously taken on the threat that arises when a Jewish imprimatur is given to the campaign to challenge Israel's very legitimacy. He has the right to express his views no less than those whom he challenges. It is important to stress that he has not suggested that those about whom he writes are anti-Semitic, though that straw-man argument is being invoked by some as a diversionary tactic. As befits a highly regarded and prolific scholar, he has written a well-documented and thought-provoking essay that deserves to be considered on its merits.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1170359796236&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608092252/http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1170359796236&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |archive-date=June 8, 2009 |last=Harris |first=David A. |author-link=David Harris (advocate) |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |title=Why AJC published the Rosenfeld essay |access-date=September 18, 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Unity pledge===
In October 2011 AJC issued a joint statement with the [[Anti-Defamation League]] urging American Jews to support a Joint Unity Pledge stating: "America's friendship with Israel is an emotional, moral and strategic bond that has always transcended politics." It urged that "now is the time to reaffirm that Israel's well-being is best served, as it always has been, by American voices raised together in unshakeable support for our friend and ally."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://forward.com/israel/144968/proposed-unity-pledge-spurs-more-debate/|title=Proposed Unity Pledge Spurs Debate|last=Guttman|first=Nathan|date=October 27, 2011|work=The Forward|access-date=October 19, 2012}}</ref>

The statement aroused a storm of protest from Jewish opponents of [[2012 United States presidential election|President Obama's re-election]], who perceived it as a call to avoid criticizing the president's policies toward Israel. In the pages of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]],'' former Under Secretary of Defense [[Douglas J. Feith|Douglas Feith]] asked: "Since when have American supporters of Israel believed that a candidate's attitudes toward Israel should be kept out of electoral politics? Since never."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Feith |first1=Douglas J. |title=Israel Should Be a U.S. Campaign Issue |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203687504577005812793260468 |access-date=9 May 2020 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=November 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190731170802/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203687504577005812793260468 |archive-date=2019-07-31 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>{{cbignore|bot=InternetArchiveBot}} David Harris responded that the statement was intended to preserve the tradition of bipartisan support for Israel and prevent it from becoming "a dangerous political football." While Harris recognized the right of anyone in the Jewish community to take a partisan position, he stressed the need for "strong advocacy in both parties" at a time of looming international difficulties for the Jewish state.<ref>{{cite news|last=Robert Wiener|title=In NJ talk, AJC director defends 'unity' pledge|url=http://www.njjewishnews.com/article/7318/in-nj-talk-ajc-director-defends-unity-pledge#.UjneMz9aHRY|access-date=16 November 2013|newspaper=[[NJ Jewish News]]|date=November 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202152055/http://www.njjewishnews.com/article/7318/in-nj-talk-ajc-director-defends-unity-pledge#.UjneMz9aHRY|archive-date=2 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>