The stories and work of the AANHPI and Jewish communities are indispensable to the history of our nation

This month is a reminder that no single group of people drives the story of America. Our story reflects the best of everyone. Hope. It’s the reason we continue to push toward a more perfect union.It’s the spirit of hope that drove the Biden-Harris administration’s work to lift up AANHPI and Jewish communities. From the passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act spearheaded by Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Grace Meng, to the American Rescue Plan that helped small businesses stay open, to the continued efforts to bring down costs, the administration remains committed to building a government that addresses the everyday needs of every American.I’m honored and grateful to work alongside DNC Vice Chair Tammy Duckworth and DNC AAPI Caucus Chair Bel Leong-Hong in support of those accomplishments and many more to come. Their example of leadership and service has no doubt inspired countless other members of the AANHPI community who will lead both the Democratic Party and the U.S. into the future. With all that we should be celebrating this month, it pains me to see the news that the Supreme Court might overturn Roe v. Wade. Make no mistake: This would deal a devastating blow to reproductive rights and Americans’ fundamental freedom to make their own decisions about their health care and families.Extremist Republicans and conservative justices have made it clear where they stand. We need to be just as clear in the midterm election. Each one of our voices needs to be heard, and we have to fight back with everything we have.Let’s make Republicans answer for their party’s relentless attacks on Americans’ rights. By Jaime Harrison Chair Democratic National Committee

World Jewish Congress welcomes Pope Francis’ decision to open Vatican’s WWII archives

NEW YORK – World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder has thanked Pope Francis for his “principled decision” to fully open the Vatican’s archives on Pope Pius XII.
In a letter to the Pope, Lauder wrote: “The World Jewish Congress has long urged the Vatican to make such a vitally important move, in order to clarify the many questions and concerns that have prevailed for decades regarding what the Holy See did and did not do during World War II. It is critical, for the sake of history, that historians have full access to these essential documents.“Your agreement to make public potentially sensitive information relating to Pope Pius’ legacy is a true demonstration of your dedication to the remembrance of the Shoah, and a testament to your commitment to strong and open relations between Catholics and Jews.“I am truly grateful that under your papacy, the ties fostered between the Catholic Church and Jews over the past few decades have continued to flourish and thrive and appreciate that you are always a willing partner for dialogue with the global Jewish community.

World Jewish Congress praises US statement rejecting UNHRC’s discrimination against Israel

NEW YORK – The World Jewish Congress has praised the United States’ envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council for her remarks rejecting the body’s one-sided discrimination against Israel. WJC President Ronald S. Lauder, WJC CEO and Executive Vice President Robert R. Singer, WJC North America Chair Evelyn Sommer and WJC North America Executive Director Betty Ehrenberg sent a letter to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Erin Barclay to express the organization’s appreciation of her remarks, and support for calls to denounce the UNHRC as long as it remains fixated on Israel.“The World Jewish Congress deeply appreciates your remarks in Geneva demanding that the United Nations Human Rights Council end its discrimination against Israel and remove Item 7 from its permanent agenda. We support the strong denunciation by the United States of this biased and one-sided body,” the WJC leaders wrote.“As the international organization representing more than 100 Jewish communities around the world, the WJC is deeply committed to the values of universal human rights and respect for human dignity. We believe that the Human Rights Council is an important mechanism within the United Nations, but are troubled and concerned that this particular Council has lost direction and become fixated on singling out Israel for condemnation. Since its establishment, this Council has approved a record-breaking number of resolutions condemning Israel – more than 65 resolutions, or over half of all country-specific resolutions.“The World Jewish Congress will continue to speak out against the UNHRC as long as this bias against Israel remains. We support the calls voiced both in the United States and other countries denouncing the UNHRC over this bias, and look forward to the day when the United Nations Human Rights Council resumes its focus on protecting human rights worldwide,” the letter concluded.

World Jewish Congress praises Pope Francis for Inter-Religious Match for Peace initiative

NEW YORK – The World Jewish Congress has praised Pope Francis for co-organizing an international soccer match whose aim is to promote peace around the world and to raise funds for children in need. The ‘Inter-Religious Match for Peace’ at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Monday will feature around 50 international stars and players with a Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist background, including Brazil’s Neymar, Israel’s Yossi Benayoun and France’s former international player Zinedine Zidane. Claudio Epelman, the WJC official in charge of dialogue with the Vatican, said: “By lending his backing to this initiative, Pope Francis has proved once again that he is open to unconventional and refreshing ideas on how to bring people together to unite for a common aim: peace. The Pope deserves our wholehearted support in this endeavor, and we hope he will succeed in bringing people from different religions closer together.”The Inter-Religious Match for Peace is the brainchild of retired Argentine captain Javier Zanetti and is being organized by the Scholas Occurrentes initiative, an Argentine project that aims to educate poorer people in different countries around the world, and Italy’s Fundazione PUPI, which works to unite people of different faiths.The World Jewish Congress and its Latin American branch, the Latin American Jewish Congress (LAJC), have long been active in fostering better relations between different faith leaders. In February, the LAJC organized a goodwill trip of a delegation of Argentine Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders to the Middle East. At the end of their trip, the delegation was received in audience by Pope Francis. In May, Francis traveled to the Holy Land accompanied by a rabbi and a Muslim leader from his native Argentina.The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is the international organization representing Jewish communities in 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations.

World Jewish Congress praises French, Belgian authorities for arrest of suspected Brussels Jewish museum gunman

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK — The World Jewish Congress today welcomed the arrest of the suspected gunman in the May 24 shooting at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, which killed three people and gravely injured another. “We welcome the arrest of a suspect in this heinous crime and praise the prompt work of the French and Belgian authorities,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder. “We have to ask, however, why such a murderous anti-Semitic attack can happen in broad daylight in a European capital, just two years after a similar attack in Toulouse, France. European governments must face the stark reality that jihadist warfare is a reality in their streets, and must train their efforts on preventing the spread of hate and apprehending terrorists before they act, rather than reacting after an incident occurs. “Governments need to engage in constructive dialogue with WJC on this and related issues,” Lauder continued. “Tomorrow, we will bring a solidarity mission to Brussels of 38 senior Jewish leaders from 16 communities, and we will take this message to the highest levels of the Belgian government.” Police in France have arrested Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national, who they said returned to France from Brussels via bus. Nemmouche recently spent a year in Syria and is a radicalized Islamist, the chief prosecutor of Paris said at a news conference on Sunday.

World Jewish Congress president highlights key role of two popes in bringing Catholics, Jews closer together

NEW YORK/ROME – “If today Jews and Catholics live in a framework of fraternity, friendship and cooperation, following two milllennia of tensions and confrontation, it is to a large extent due to the impulse Popes John XXIII and John Paul II gave to improving relations and to overcoming anti-Semitism in the church,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder declared ahead of Sunday’s canonization in Rome of the two late Catholic pontiffs.John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, which ended with the groundbreaking declaration Nostra Aetate of 1965, and John Paul II deepened and extended Catholic-Jewish dialogue and established diplomatic relations with Israel. “For that reason, even though the canonization of these two men is an internal church matter and has nothing to do with interfaith dialogue, we rejoice with the millions of Catholics in Rome and around the world who celebrate this event,” Lauder added. Claudio Epelman, the World Jewish Congress official in charge of dialogue with the Catholic Church, is one of the Jewish representatives present in Rome for Sunday’s ceremonies at the invitation of the Vatican. Epelman said that five decades of dialogue with the Catholic Church had triggered real, positive change for both communities.“The sometimes controversial debates with Rome which we witnessed during early papacy of Pope John Paul II are long behind us, and he and his successors, Benedict XVI and Francis, have taken the relationship with what the successive popes have called their ‘elder brothers’ to the next level. We Jews know that we have a warm friend in Pope Francis, and we look forward to more opportunities to demonstrate and solidify those bonds,” said Epelman, who has already met with the Argentinean-born pontiff a number of times since the latter’s election as Catholic pontiff last year.

The World Jewish Concgress

New York – The World Jewish Concgress, United States (WJC-US) on Monday expressed shock and outrage at the heinous attack on the two Jewish community centers in Kansas City that took place on Sunday, 13 April 2014. WJC-US remains in contact with members of the Kansas City Jewish community to keep updated on events and on the police investigation of this tragic incident. As in the past, we remind Jewish institutions that security measures must be checked constantly, especially around holiday time, as a vital precaution. Instructions for this review can be found on line at the Secure Community Network, http://www.scnus.org. Rabbi Joel Meyers, Chair, WJC US, said,” We extend  our deepest condolences to the victims, families and entire Jewish community in  Kansas City.  We will remain in contact with authorities regarding this vicious attack as regards developments for further reports  and stand in solidarity with the community.”

WJC Protests Swedish, Danish Doctors’ Assault on Circumcision<br

NEW YORK — The World Jewish Congress today strongly protested calls by Swedish and Danish medical associations for a ban on religious male circumcision.“The recommendation of the two medical associations is an insulting and intrusive assault on religious freedom,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer. “Religious circumcision, a procedure that has been practiced safely for millennia, confers notable health benefits. It is a bulwark against urinary-tract infections, cervical cancer and HIV-AIDS, which is why it is being promoted heavily by medical authorities in Africa and other places. Given the compelling religious freedom and health reasons for religious circumcision, the Swedish and Danish medical associations need to recognize that their call for a ban represents an appeal to xenophobia and ignorance and not enlightened science.” According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the ethics council of the Sweden Medical Association, the union representing of 85% of the country’s physicians, last week recommended setting 12 as the minimum age for the circumcision and requiring the boy’s consent. The 3,000-member Danish College of General Practitioners contended in a statement that non-medical circumcision of boys amounts to abuse and mutilation, according to news reports.Jews perform religious circumcision, or brit milah, eight days after birth, while Muslims generally circumcise boys before age 10.The American Academy of Pediatrics stated in 2012 that the “preventive health benefits of elective circumcision of male newborns outweigh the risks of the procedure” and that “benefits include a significant reduction of urinary tract infections in the first year of life and, subsequently, in the risk of heterosexual acquisition of HIV and in the transmission of other sexually transmitted infections.” Moreover, the Academy declared, “Parents ultimately should decide whether circumcision is in the best interests of their male child.”

World Jewish Congress: France must not relent in fight against hate preacher

NEW YORK / PARIS – The president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Thursday praised the French government, and in particular Interior Minister Manuel Valls, for taking strong action against the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala. “France has no choice but to confront this preacher of hate head on,” Lauder declared following a ruling by a court in Nantes which overturned a ban imposed by the authories on Dieudonné show in the city.“Unfortunately, Dieudonné has attracted a considerable following among young people. His aggressive, undisguised hatred for Jews and for Israel manifests itself in every one of his shows, and attempts to stop that ought to be supported by all democratic forces,” the WJC president said, adding: “Minister Manuel Valls is right: This is a political battle and not just a legal one. We must not let these intolerable statements go unanswered.”
World Jewish Congress Vice-President Roger Cukierman, the head of the French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, said in reaction to today’s ruling in Nantes: “Today’s court ruling is lamentable. However, while government may have lost a battle it has not lost the war. French Jews will continue to support the authorities in their battle against manifestations of hatred and anti-Semitism. We must not relent in the fight against those who defame us.”
According to Agence France Presse, the Administrative Tribunal in Nantes did not regard Dieudonné’s show as having “an attack on human dignity” as its main object.

World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly to convene in Budapest on 5-7 May 2013

NEW YORK / BUDAPEST – The World Jewish Congress (WJC) will hold its 14th Plenary Assembly in Budapest, on 5-7 May 2013, to discuss matters of importance to the Jewish people globally, including the alarming rise of neo-Nazi political parties in several European, and other, countries, and the situation in the Middle East. 500 delegates and observers from the WJC’s affiliated Jewish communities and organizations in 100 countries are expected to convene in the Hungarian capital. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has confirmed that he will address the opening dinner on 5 May. Other keynote speakers at the Plenary Assembly will include Germany’s Foreign Minister Westerwelle, Cardinal Péter Erdő, the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and current president of the Council of European Bishops Conferences, as well as various special envoys to the Middle East. Delegates will also elect a new WJC Executive for the next four years.WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said: “This will be a good opportunity to show that by standing united, world Jewry can make its voice heard and can improve things. We are looking forward to meet in Budapest, which has a great Jewish history and a vibrant community.”
The event is organized in cooperation with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Hungary (MAZSIHISZ), the official representative body of Jews in Hungary. MAZSIHISZ President Péter Feldmájer declared: “The fact that the WJC is holding its Plenary Assembly in Budapest is a symbol of solidarity with our Jewish community, which has been faced with growing anti-Semitism in recent years. We look forward to welcoming the WJC delegates here in Hungary, home to the largest Jewish community in Central Europe.”

World Jewish Congress

Image via Wikipedia

New York pressed outrage at the conviction of Italian journalist and politician Giuseppe (“Peppino”) Caldarola who had written an article criticizing a cartoon entitled ‘Fiamma Frankenstein’ that depicts fellow parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, who is Jewish, with a hooked nose, the symbol of fascist Italy and the Star of David. Vauro, the author of the caricature which was published by the newspaper Il Manifesto, was acquitted by the same court of charges of anti-Semitism. Lauder called the ruling “a travesty and an insult.” “While the man who defends a Jewish woman is fined, the author of this blatantly anti-Semitic cartoon is acquitted and gets a free ride from the court to continue injecting venom into the political debate in Italy,” the WJC president declared in reaction. ”Nirenstein is an excellent lawmaker who does not shy away from doing political battle. Although one is entitled to disagree with her views, nobody is entitled to hold against her the fact that she is Jewish and dedicated to the wellbeing of Israel. Anti-Semitic or racist caricatures have nothing to do with satire, far from it; they are simply despicable.” Lauder called it “very worrying” that the judge had upheld the right to insult a Jew through by using age-old anti-Semitic imagery but denied the right of a journalist to accuse the cartoonist of being an anti-Semite.