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April 14, 2024
DC Jewish community reacts to Iranian airstrikes on Israel
FOX 5 Washington DC
The Jewish community here in the DMV says they are making sure that institutions and places of worship here are protected following Iran's historic missile and drone strike on Israel. Ron Halber with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington spoke with FOX 5 about the shocking attack.
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April 10, 2024
‘Bring Them Home Now’: DC March to Free the Hostages Draws Large Crowd
Washington Jewish Week
More than 1,000 people waving Israeli and American flags marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial on April 7 chanting “Bring Them Home Now,” and “We Demand a Deal Now.”
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April 10, 2024
Proposed DC Budget Cuts Would Adversely Impact Local Jewish Preschools
Washington Jewish Week
About 300 people of all ages came together on Friday morning, April 5, in Samuel Gompers Memorial Park in Washington, D.C., to protest the proposed elimination of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund.
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April 9, 2024
Loudoun supervisor criticized over statement asking for ceasefire in Gaza
ABC7 WJLA
A D.C.-based Jewish community group recently criticized a statement made by the Vice Chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.
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April 1, 2024
Proposed state law would require Holocaust education in Md. schools
Moco360 Media
A bill making its way through the Maryland General Assembly would require county school boards to establish Holocaust education curricula and would also require the state board of education to withhold some funding from schools that don’t comply.
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March 20, 2024
Northern Va. school district allows Jewish students to skip Holocaust lecture for fear of bullying
Jewish Insider
“We would not have handled this issue in the way that the principal at Cooper Middle School did,” said Guila Franklin Siegel, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
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March 19, 2024
Maryland Statehouse passes new hate crimes commission bill after CAIR controversy
Jewish Insider
The Maryland House of Delegates on Monday passed a bill restructuring the state’s hate crimes commission following months of controversy regarding a member of the body who has posted incendiary and antisemitic content on social media since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
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March 16, 2024
Hogan says he would be Maryland’s ‘pro-Israel champion’ in Congress
The Washington Post
Hogan (R) used a speech Friday to the influential Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington to emphasize that Hamas must be held accountable for the Oct. 7 attack that killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel. Any cease-fire, he said, would depend upon the return of those taken during the attack.
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March 15, 2024
Former Maryland Governor speaks before Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington
WUSA9
The JCRC of Greater Washington hosted former Gov. Larry Hogan in the first of a series of town halls with candidates for elected office.
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March 13, 2024
Moco360 Media
Ron Halber, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said programs such as this one are imperative as the need for them increases.
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March 13, 2024
136 Organizations Get Security Grant Funding to Deter Hate Crimes
mymcm
136 nonprofits, faith organizations and houses of worship in Montgomery County were awarded $900,000 in security grants in an effort to deter hate crimes.
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March 13, 2024
MCEA Ceasefire Resolution Deemed Out of Order
Washington Jewish Week
A resolution calling for a “Ceasefire in Israel and Palestine” by members of the Montgomery County Education Association was ruled out of order at a March 6 meeting and was therefore not voted upon.
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March 12, 2024
3 of 4 Teachers on Leave for Social Media Posts Return to Classroom
mymcm
Three of the four teachers placed on administrative leave in connection with their social media posts concerning the Mideast War and antisemitism are back teaching at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
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March 7, 2024
MCEA Declines to Pass Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
Montgomery Perspective
Last night’s meeting of the Montgomery County Education Association’s (MCEA) representative assembly produced its endorsements in the school board primaries. It also addressed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. The resolution, proposed by a member and not by the union’s board, provoked pushback from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC).
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March 7, 2024
Moco360 Media
During Wednesday’s meeting, the union called off a vote on a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Before the Wednesday meeting, a group of Jewish MCPS teachers and staff – part of the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance (MCJEA) – and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington rallied outside of union headquarters urging members to oppose a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
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March 6, 2024
U.S. ties to Qatar in spotlight, and under scrutiny, following strategic dialogue
Jewish Insider
Since January, the JCRC has hosted semi-regular gatherings outside the Qatari embassy demanding that its leaders do more to pressure Hamas. But Halber, too, is cognizant of the fact that Qatar, for better or worse, plays a key role in the Middle East; he has refrained from using the words “protest” or “rally” to describe the events.
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March 6, 2024
Teachers’ Union Declares Mideast Ceasefire Resolution ‘Out of Order’
mymcm
The Montgomery County Educations Association (MCEA) ruled that a resolution in support of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine was out of order. Therefore, no vote was taken.
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March 5, 2024
JCRC Pressures MCEA, County Council on Gaza Ceasefire Resolution
Montgomery Perspective
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) is demanding that the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents MCPS teachers, reject a proposed resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. And JCRC isn’t just targeting MCEA – it is communicating its concerns to the county council too.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.