Free Republic

Earlier this year, avowed communist James "Fergie" Chambers secured "multiple hundreds of millions of dollars" from his family, which controls the Cox Enterprises empire. Now, he's using his inheritance to bankroll a far-left activist group that's harassing Jews across the country. Chambers, whose billionaire father James Cox Chambers co-owns the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, in July revealed that he cut ties with his family, securing a significant payout from Cox Enterprises in the process. Months later, following Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel, Chambers began using that money to pay the legal fees for members of Palestine Action U.S., a...

Finally, the AJC should remember that our rights are worth protecting, even during a crisis. The paper chided my decision to protect private property owners from government overreach and urge – not mandate – Georgians to wear masks. This is still America, right? The only way to beat COVID-19 is by having all Georgians make smart decisions. You can mandate masks and issue stay-at-home orders, but every person will ultimately decide what to follow and what to ignore. People – not government – stop the spread. Georgians doing the right thing will make a difference, not smug editorials. This is...

A broad majority of Georgia voters support a statewide shelter-in-place to combat the spread of the coronavirus, according to a University of Georgia survey released as Gov. Brian Kemp debates whether to extend stay-at-home orders set to expire Thursday night. The survey found about one-half of registered Georgia voters support the mandate that took effect April 3, and an additional one-quarter of voters “somewhat back it.” Only about 10% of Georgians oppose the idea; the rest are neutral or undecided. And roughly 62% of Georgia voters disapprove of Kemp’s decision to ease restrictions on restaurants, theaters and close-contact businesses such...

... On Thursday, the memorial site will be visited by the most senior Muslim figure to date: Sheikh Mohammed al-Eissa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League, who represents over a billion Muslims worldwide. Al-Eissa, who previously served as Saudi justice minister, will make his way to the former camp with David Harris, the director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). This joint visit by a high-ranking 54-year-old Islamic scholar and a 70-year-old descendant of Holocaust survivors is nothing short of remarkable.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, the only white male Democrat in the chamber, said Wednesday that he would not seek re-election to his suburban Atlanta seat in 2020.

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David J. Garrow, an authority on Martin Luther King Jr., offered his explosive story on King to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and reportedly to other U.S. publications before it was published in Great Britain. The AJC turned down Garrow’s offer. The piece, which reveals new sexual allegations against the civil rights icon, was published in Standpoint, a United Kingdom-based cultural and political magazine.It was also offered to The Atlantic and The Washington Post, according to Standpoint.The AJC declined to run the piece because it was based on information that would in some cases be impossible to independently verify,...

France is famously America’s oldest ally, but more than half of French people no longer consider the United States a reliable partner, according to a survey released Wednesday. Just 44 percent said the US was a “trusted ally” under President Donald Trump — a 33-point plunge since the same survey was done in May 2014, when Barack Obama was in the White House. Only 17 percent said they had a positive opinion of Trump in the IFOP poll, commissioned by the American Jewish Committee advocacy group, France’s Foundation for Political Innovation and the Sursaut think-tank collective. Some 54 percent said...

Monday, December 12, 2016 Trump or Hamas Posted by Daniel Greenfield The Islamic Society of North America was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in funding Hamas. It was linked to two Hamas funding fronts, the Holy Land Foundation and KindHearts. ISNA’s checks were made payable to the “Palestinian Mujahadeen” or “Holy Warriors” which was a name used by Hamas. ISNA’s co-founder Sami Al-Arian was the local head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Mousa Abu Marzook, a top Hamas official listed by the Treasury Department as a Specially Designated Terrorist, received tens of thousands of dollars from...

Link only per agreement with Gannett

“Incendiary words can have tragic consequences,” David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) warned on Wednesday in response to claims by a Turkish official that world Jewry is behind the recent wave of protests in the country. The most recent charge came from Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay, who accused foreign powers and Jews of encouraging the protests that began in Istanbul at the end of May. “There are some circles that are jealous of Turkey’s growth. They are all uniting, on one side the Jewish diaspora,” said Atalay, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. “You saw the...

VATICAN CITY — Christians and Jews can work together to challenge the contemporary problems of secularism and disrespect for the human person, Pope Francis told representatives of Judaism in a Vatican audience. “Humanity needs our joint witness in favor of respect for the dignity of man and woman created in the image and likeness of God and in favor of peace, which is, above all, God’s gift,” the Bishop of Rome told members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations June 24. “Friendly relations are, in a way, the basis for the development of a more official dialogue,” he...

Susan Rice has said that a “huge” portion of her work at the United Nations was defending Israel’s legitimacy. Her new job will likely be no less Israel-centric. snip Rice has scored mostly high marks from Jewish groups for her defense of Israel at the United Nations, although right-wing groups were furious with her in 2011 when she condemned Israel’s West Bank settlement policies. She did so even as she cast a Security Council veto that nullified a resolution condemning the settlements. In her new job, Rice isn’t likely to get an Israel break – particularly with Secretary of State...

American Jews are “frightened of making an issue seem more important to Jews than others,” Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein said on Tuesday. snip The ZOA, which is a member of the Conference of Presidents, was founded in 1897 and is what Klein calls “the oldest pro-Israel [organization] in the United States.” Discussing his lobbying effort in Washington aimed at blocking the confirmation of secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel, Klein said the ZOA was, aside from the Republican Jewish Coalition, a partisan group, “the only major Jewish group to publicly oppose Hagel and [John O.] Brennan.” US...

Support for President Barack Obama among Jews in the state of Florida is down 7 percent on 2008, according to an American Jewish Committee (AJC) poll released Thursday. A total of 69% of Florida Jews said they would vote for Obama in November’s presidential elections, down from 76% in 2008, the AJC noted. A 7% drop in the Jewish vote likely represents over 50,000 votes in a state that the Republicans won in 2000 by fewer than 600 votes. The 69% figure closely matches the results of a Gallup poll among Jewish voters nationwide from last weekend, which put support...

In his speech before the Republican Jewish Coalition, Newt Gingrich just pledged that, if elected, he would ask John Bolton to be his secretary of state.

Foxman and friends seem to have forgotten that debate, discussion and yes, even disagreement are precisely what democracy is all about. The American presidential election may be over a year away, but two leading Jewish organizations are already gearing up to assist Barack Obama in his effort to win a second term. In a highly unusual move, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) have joined forces to launch what is being billed as a “National Unity Pledge for Israel.” The document, which is being widely circulated to garner signatures, ostensibly seeks to promote bipartisan support for...

Cynthia Tucker, one of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s highest-profile columnists for more than 20 years, is leaving the AJC to become a visiting professor at the University of Georgia’s journalism school. Tucker, who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007, assumes her new role Aug. 12, the AJC and UGA announced Wednesday. They said her position at UGA will be part of a partnership between the AJC and the university’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Tucker, 56, was editorial page editor of AJC from 2001 to 2009, when she moved to Washington as a political columnist in a...

Obama could have called for a “moon shot” tonight to make a transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy, and he failed to do that. He made his first-ever speech in the Oval Office, and he had all three networks at the 8 p.m. slot, and he didn’t make good use of it. The speech was flat and uninspiring. He recited a litany of the things the administration has done to try to bring the spill under control, but it was a rehash of things the public has already heard. Yes, he’s going to make BP pay. That’s good —...

WASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, addressing the AJC Annual Gala tonight, delivered a powerful reaffirmation of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and the shared goal of achieving a negotiated comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. "Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable and no lasting peace is possible unless that is accepted," said Clinton. "Regional peace must begin with the recognition by every party that the United States will always stand behind Israel's security," said Clinton, adding that guaranteeing Israel's security "is more than a policy position; it is a personal commitment."