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Welcome to The Brief!

In this first episode of AJC's new podcast, Ellisa Sagor interviews Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC's Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations about his work. Hear what he has to say about his work with other religious groups, in particular Muslim-Jewish relations and Evangelical Christian Zionists.

Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, would be turning 128 this week. AJC’s own Dr. Steven Bayme devoted this episode of his 3 Points podcast to examining what made Israel’s founding father so exceptional. Listen up!

Decades after AJC successfully fought to reverse a UN resolution equating Zionism with racism, the Jewish right to self-determination continues to come under assault. During Operation Protective Edge, some anti-Israel protests around the world turned violently anti-Semitic. In his latest podcast, Dr. Steven Bayme, Director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish Life Department and Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, asks: Is anti-Zionism today indistinguishable from anti-Semitism?

Throughout July and August, Israel was attacked not just by a barrage of Hamas rockets, but also by the international media. In his latest podcast, AJC’s Dr. Steven Bayme reflects on the significance of Israel-Diaspora relations at times of crisis. Dr. Bayme is Director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish Life Department and Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations.

In his latest podcast, AJC’s Dr. Steven Bayme, provides an update on the ramifications of a study of the American Jewish community done late last year by the Pew Research Center. The findings came as a surprise to many people as “Jews of no religion” constituted the fastest-growing part of the community, and among Jews professing a religious denomination, the Orthodox were the only element that showed signs of growth.

The topic of this week’s podcast is the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign, otherwise known as BDS. This destructive campaign has reared its ugly head recently, from academia, to religious institutions. This June, BDS activists within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will attempt to take anti-Israel actions. But what effect has BDS truly had on Israel and what is its true goal? Listen in as Dr. Bayme delivers three key takeaways from recent BDS actions.