NEW YORK, May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S.
National Security Advisor Susan
Rice, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, and Mexican Foreign
Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu will
headline the World Leaders Plenary at the AJC Global Forum
2016.
The AJC Global Forum is the advocacy organization's signature
annual event, currently bringing together more than 2,600
participants from across the United
States and 70 countries around the world. This year's Global
Forum marks 110 years since AJC's
founding, and the attendance is the highest in the agency's
history.
"Our annual Global Forum is a unique, energizing, highly
informative experience, a must for engaged Jewish advocates," said
AJC CEO David Harris. The AJC Global
Forum will take place June 5-7, in
Washington, D.C. The program is
available at www.ajc.org/globalforum.
Among the other world leaders who will speak during the 48-hour
conference are Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman
Robert Corker (R-TN); MK Isaac
Herzog, chair of the Zionist Union and head of the opposition in
the Israeli Knesset; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer;
Ilir Meta, Speaker of the Albanian
Parliament; and Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission's
coordinator on combating anti-Semitism.
Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow
at the Shalom Hartman Institute, will kick off the AJC Global Forum
on June 5 with an address on the
"Jewish World of Tomorrow," followed by a panel discussion with
Jeffrey Goldberg, national
correspondent for The Atlantic; Richard Haas, president of the Council on
Foreign Relations; and Julia Ioffe
of Politico.
For the seventh annual AJC Global Forum "Great Debate," U.S.
Representative Steve Israel (D-NY)
and Republican strategist Dan Senor, author of Start-Up
Nation, will make the case for which political party Jewish
voters should favor in this year's elections.
Confronting rising anti-Semitism will be addressed by MP
John Mann of the British Labour
Party, recipient of AJC's Jan Karski
Award in 2009, and the mayors of Baltimore, MD, Newton, MA, and Thessaloniki, Greece, three of the 497 U.S.
and European mayors who signed AJC's Mayors United Against
Anti-Semitism statement.
Leading Israeli journalists will discuss the future of the
Jewish state. They are Boaz Bismuth of Israel Hayom,
Herb Keinon of The Jerusalem
Post, Amir Oren of
Haaretz, and Dana Weiss of
Israel TV Channel 2.
Three college students will share their experiences confronting
the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement against Israel
on campus: Anthony Berteaux of
San Diego State University;
Daniella Greenbaum of Barnard College; and Jonathan Kamel of Northwestern University.
The ongoing mistreatment of Israel at the UN will be explored by
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon in conversation with AJC
CEO David Harris. Former Israeli
Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor will also be participating in
several sessions.
During the Global Forum, AJC will present its prestigious Moral
Courage Award to three remarkable individuals:
- Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of
Iraq's Parliament, whose
impassioned speech to fellow lawmakers in August 2014 garnered international attention to
the ISIS genocide of the Yazidis.
- Michel Bacos, the pilot of the
Air France jet hijacked to Entebbe, Uganda, 40 years ago, who refused to obey the
terrorists' directive to leave with the released non-Jewish
passengers, and instead stayed with the Jewish, mostly Israeli,
hostages.
- Tzvi Har-Nevo, the lead
navigator in the July 4, 1976,
Israeli commando Entebbe rescue operation that freed 91 passengers
and the Air France crew.
In addition, a special highlight each year for AJC Global Forum
attendees is the opportunity to engage with top officials directly
in a series of private dinners. This year there are more than 40
such dinners with ambassadors from Africa, Asia,
Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Among those participating in this year's AJC Global Forum will
be all 50 consuls general of Mexico serving in the U.S.; diplomats from
many countries stationed in Brussels and Israel; student leaders from the
European Union of Jewish Students, World Union of Jewish Students,
and other international student groups; a large delegation of
Muslim students from Azerbaijan;
and hundreds of members of ACCESS, AJC's young leadership
program.
Moreover, AJC Global Forum attendees will participate in
informational and training sessions before leaving the hotel on
Tuesday afternoon for advocacy sessions on Capitol Hill.
Earlier on Sunday, June 5, before
the AJC Global Forum officially opens, AJC ACCESS members will
gather for a round of sessions. In addition, more than 130 college
and university students attending the AJC Global Forum will convene
for an afternoon of workshops dedicated to their particular
concerns.
AJC, founded in 1906 and with headquarters in New York, maintains 22 regional offices across
the United States, 10 overseas
posts, and 32 international associations.
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SOURCE American Jewish Committee