May 7, 2024
Rooting antisemitism out of K-12 schools requires proven, bipartisan solutions
The Hill
A series of hearings held by the House Education and the Workforce Committee in recent months has appropriately shined a harsh spotlight on the sharp escalation of antisemitism in education settings across the country.
February 29, 2024
JCRC Roundtable Event Features Palestinian Human Rights Activist
Washington Jewish Week
Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid spent 33 years living in a United Nations Refugee Works Agency camp. As he grew older, he could not stop wondering why so many of his fellow Palestinians were still in the same refugee camps when they should have moved on generations ago.
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February 29, 2024
Maryland Jewish Advocacy Day Focuses on Holocaust Education and Combating Antisemitism
Washington Jewish Week
More than 250 people traveled to Annapolis from Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Howard County on Feb. 21 for Maryland Jewish Advocacy Day, which took place for the first time since the pandemic struck.
February 21, 2024
State lawmakers debate whether to remove CAIR from hate crimes commission
Moco360 Media
Tensions flared in the Maryland General Assembly House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as legislators and community leaders debated whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) should be removed from the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention.
February 2, 2024
DC, NY, Ottawa Jews urge Qatar to help release hostages in Gaza
Jewish News Syndicate
Members of the Jewish communities of New York City, Ottawa and Washington, D.C., held coordinated demonstrations on Feb. 2 at Qatari diplomatic buildings to urge Doha to put additional pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages in Gaza.
February 1, 2024
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish communities in the United States are also urging Qatar to stay in the game. Several hundred Washington area Jews rallied recently outside the Qatari embassy in Washington, asking for greater efforts to free the hostages. More rallies are planned for Friday outside Qatari missions in Washington, New York and Ottawa.
January 29, 2024
Rabbi attacked by Lyft driver in Northwest DC
WUSA9
"An assault on a rabbi is an assault on the Jewish community," Ron Halber of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington told WUSA9. "The fact that a rabbi has to worry about his safety taking a Lyft or Uber is a sad commentary on where we are today."
January 28, 2024
Congressional reps, US Jews protest at Qatar's embassy to secure hostages
The Jerusalem Post
A group of American lawmakers and Jews demonstrated in front of Qatar’s embassy on Wednesday, in a new grassroots push to pressure Doha to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
January 25, 2024
DC Jews gather to express ‘appreciation, frustration’ to Qatar, demand it ‘crack a whip on Hamas’
Jewish Community Relations Council
More than 100 members of the Washington-area Jewish community assembled in front of the Qatari Embassy on Wednesday morning to demand that the Gulf state use its influence to exert “maximum pressure” on Hamas to release the hostages whom it kidnapped and has held hostage since Oct. 7.
January 24, 2024
‘We Will Not Stop’: Protesters Call on Qatar to Help Free Hostages in Gaza
National Review
Protesters gathered outside the Qatari embassy in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to try to increase pressure on the Gulf state’s government to work toward the release of the 130-some hostages remaining in Hamas’s captivity.
January 24, 2024
U.S. Jews, Israeli Expats to Rally for Hostages in Front of Qatari Embassy in Washington
Haaretz
WASHINGTON – As the Biden administration bolsters efforts to secure the release of hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, American Jews and Israeli expats are stepping up their efforts to pressure Qatar and the Red Cross in a pair of separate demonstrations.
January 24, 2024
Jewish Washingtonians gather at Qatari Embassy to push for hostage release
Jewish Insider
On a gray, chilly morning on the edge of Washington D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, around 200 members of the D.C.-area Jewish community, toting U.S. and Israeli flags, the now-familiar hostage posters and a few handmade signs, gathered outside the Qatari Embassy to push for the release of the hostages being held by Hamas.
January 14, 2024
Israel-Hamas War reaches 100th day
ABC7 WJLA
For Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, the 100th day was a somber occasion. “I keep thinking about the terrible agony that the families of the hostages are feeling,” Halber told 7News.
January 2, 2024
Embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay resigns just six months into her tenure
USA Today
Ron Halber, the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told USA TODAY he believes Gay "should have resigned immediately" after her congressional testimony.
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December 29, 2023
Security, Antisemitism and Israel Spotlighted at JCRC Annual Legislative Breakfast
Washington Jewish Week
A crowd of prominent Jewish community members and elected officials from the local, state and federal levels converged on Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Silver Spring on the morning of Dec. 21 for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s annual Maryland legislative breakfast, which was highlighted less by typical legislative agendas and more so through a large showing of support for Israel.
December 28, 2023
At a D.C. school, proposed film event sparks outrage amid Israel-Gaza war
The Washington Post
A group of D.C. parents and teens have accused leaders at Jackson-Reed High School of censorship after an Arab student club said it was barred from hosting a screening of a documentary about the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
December 23, 2023
Holocaust denialism among some younger Americans alarms experts as post-10/7 antisemitism
Fox News
Since Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, which left 1,200 Jews dead and resulted in the capture of over 240 civilians, there has been an uptick in antisemitic attacks and pro-Hamas protests across the United States, specifically on college campuses.
December 21, 2023
Calls for Increased Security Grants, Support for Israel at Lox & Legislators Breakfast
mymcm
U.S. Congressmembers, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, state senators and delegates and county council members expressed their strong support for Israel and against hate during the Jewish Community Relations Council’s (JCRC) 2023 Lox & Legislators breakfast Thursday.
December 18, 2023
‘I was afraid': DC rabbi talks about antisemitic attack outside Georgetown synagogue
NBC Washington
New details emerged Monday on a suspected antisemitic assault outside a D.C. synagogue on Sunday. Police responded to Kesher Israel, in Georgetown, just before 9:30 a.m. Sunday after a man allegedly shouted “Gas the Jews” and sprayed people with a foul-smelling substance.
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December 12, 2023
LTE Chris Van Hollen scolds the wrong side in the Israel-Gaza war
The Washington Post
I welcome the support of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for Israel’s military campaign to dismantle Hamas. I also agree that civilians in war zones should be protected. Mr. Van Hollen’s focus, however, was on the wrong target.
December 7, 2023
Menorah vandalized outside Olney synagogue hours before Hanukkah celebrations set to begin
FOX 5
Montgomery County Police are investigating a Menorah vandalized outside a synagogue in Olney hours before Hanukkah celebrations were set to begin Thursday night.
November 29, 2023
JCRC of Greater Washington raising money, staffing up in wake of Oct. 7 and rising antisemitism
eJewish Philanthropy
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington has been “quietly” raising money in order to hire new staff and expand its activities in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, the ensuing war and the concurrent rise in antisemitism in the United States and around the world, the organization’s executive director told eJewishPhilanthropy this week.
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November 29, 2023
Building Pro-Israel Momentum in the Local Community
Washington Jewish Week
Jewish leaders in the greater Washington community anticipate that momentum will continue building following the massive pro-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, and the first hostage releases under an Israel-Hamas agreement.
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November 21, 2023
Member of Md. hate-crime task force suspended for anti-Israel remarks
The Washington Post
The Maryland attorney general on Tuesday suspended a member of Maryland’s Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention for posting messages on social media that harshly criticized the actions of the Israeli government in the Palestinian territories.
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November 15, 2023
Historic Pro-Israel Rally in DC Draws Massive Crowd
Washington Jewish Week
People from across the United States converged on the nation’s capital on Nov. 14 for a historic event in support of the state of Israel.
