DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH- Chair, Martin Gold

 Mission- To build long-term relationships with diplomats in the New York area,  by building relationships with consuls general and UN ambassadors, NY Region leaders can better understand diplomats’ perspectives and positions on important international issues and create a framework for dialogue about critical Jewish concerns, including Israel and anti-Semitism.

Along with small, private meetings between diplomats and NY Region lay leaders, the New York Regional Office organizes two annual events, the Diplomatic Seder and the Diplomatic Tour of Jewish New York.  Both engage a broad range of the diplomatic community and provide them with better understanding of the New York Jewish community, Judaism's traditions and values, and Jews around the world.

  AJC Concludes Intense Diplomacy, Meeting 70 World Leaders in Ten Days

AJC completed an intensive series of private meetings with 70 world leaders gathered in New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly. This was the twentieth year of AJC’s “diplomatic marathon,” a ten-day period that has become the hallmark of the global advocacy organization's pioneering year-round diplomatic outreach around the world.

“Relationships we have built over the years with dozens of governments on all continents enable AJC to engage in frank and friendly policy conversations on the global issues of utmost concern to U.S. and world Jewry, as well as to our interlocutors,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who initiated AJC’s diplomatic outreach program in 1991.

“While we began years ago with only a handful of meetings, the foundations of trust and mutual respect established with a growing list of countries has sustained and broadened AJC’s intensive engagement with world leaders during this dynamic period every September,” said Harris.

AJC NY Hosts its 19th Diplomatic Model Passover Seder for Diplomats

Organized this year in collaboration with AJC Long Island and Westchester, and chaired by Marjorie Kuhn, this extremely successful event was held on March 25 at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side. Over 200 people attended, including consular and UN diplomats from 68 countries. Officiating Rabbi Rolando Matalon used the Exodus narrative to lead the diplomats on Jewish a journey around the world and through thousands of years of Jewish history, to help them understand why Israel is so important to the Jewish people. Cantor Priven and two musicians orchestrated the singing, ensuring a warm and joyful evening.