American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists - AAJLJ

What is the point of negotiating with Hamas for they have no control over the lives of the hostages?
They have no interest in returning hostages alive. Where were you ? How could they have been shot in the head on your watch?

I (Rhonda Lees) went to Israel in January 2024 to express solidarity, bear witness to Hamas' October atrocities and visit friends. It is heartbreaking that the more than 130 hostages are still in brutal and horrific captivity after being kidnapped by Hamas, that the American Red Cross has not even visited the hostages, that Iran (who may be behind Hamas directly or indirectly) struck Israel with missiles, and that college students and their leaders do not know the difference between protests and hate speech. Release the hostages safe and sound! Bring Hamas to account.

American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
U.S. Affiliate of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

AAJLJ Statement on International Women’s Day 2024

It is International Women's Day. In a normal year, this important commemoration focuses on such pressing legal issues facing women and girls throughout the world as reproductive choice, domestic abuse, child marriage, sexual violence, female ge***al mutilation. They all remain top of mind, as they should. We always applaud progress and encourage leaders to remedy the gaps.

This year, however, we are compelled to demand that International Women's Day focus as well on the sexual violence and ge***al mutilation committed against Israeli women, even as too many purported women's advocates and "allies" have failed these women miserably.

We continue to believe all women, but even more so, we believe our Jewish sisters and Israeli women.

We mourn those who lost their dignity, their right to bodily safety, to Hamas terrorists and their supporters, and who continue to live, fearful and traumatized, while those who claim to "believe all women" violate them over and over again through their own moral failings. We mourn the undoing of years of what so many women saw as progress from the . Instead, Israeli women and their Jewish sisters are left with: .

We are outraged that the UN report on women took 5 months to be released. We are outraged at the deafening silence of purported women's advocates.

We demand that Hamas release the hostages safe and sound. We demand, and will continue to demand, apologies to the female Israeli victims of October 7th, who were disbelieved and treated as if "they had it coming."

This International Women's Day, we demand that the international community right its wrongs against Israeli women.

Robert Garson Richard Foltin
President Executive Director

Rhonda Lees Alyssa Grzesh
Regional Vice President, DC Director of Programming

March 8, 2024

Ozzy Osbourne Blasts 'Antisemite' Kanye West for Unauthorized Black Sabbath Sample Ozzy Osbourne has blasted Kanye West for using an unauthorized sample of a Black Sabbath song without permission.

Please join us! Thursday, February 8, 12:00 pm Eastern Time
BROWN JEWS AND JEWS WITH A HUE
With Abraham Hamra, Shareholder and CGO at Cohen Tucker and Ades, P.C. and Robert Garson Garson, AAJLJ President, Chair at GS2Law
Join the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists as Abraham Hamra, a Syrian Jewish refugee to the US and Robert Garson, whose heritage stems from Gibraltar have a candid discussion on Abraham’s experience as a Jewish refugee and being the descendants of refugees displaced from Arab countries.
Registration for Brown Jews and Jews With a Hue Webinar: https://lnkd.in/eTSY_m7w

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Join the AAJLJ as we share what was learned on recent solidarity trips to Israel.
Friday, January 19, 1:00 pm ET.
In-Person Perspectives: ISRAEL AT WAR

Rob Garson, President and Rhonda Lees, Vice President

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Exactly. Thanks for your leadership.

Hadassah leaders demand the International Committee of the Red Cross immediately visit all hostages abducted from Israel by Hamas and held in Gaza. There is no justification for leaving them to languish without the care and intervention afforded to all detainees around the world by the Red Cross.

From one humanitarian organization to another, we implore you to fulfill your stated mission. Visit the hostages; ensure that they are held in tolerable conditions; put an end to their physical, sexual and emotional abuse; transfer them much-needed medication and food; and put them in contact with their families.

Read the full press release from Hadassah here.
https://www.hadassah.org/press-release/hadassah-demands-red-cross-fulfill-its-humanitarian-mission-by-securing-wellbeing-of-hostages-kidnapped-from-israel-by-hamas

Donate - Friends of the Israel Defense Forces FIDF provides educational, cultural, recreational, and social services programs and facilities to support the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces.

Tomorrow -

The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists - AAJLJ is hosting a webinar, "The 7 October Hamas Massacre and Beyond: Humanitarian Aid, Material Support, and International Law," with NGO Monitor, Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg.

Register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSco5YA7c7yzwwQH5_oWYotDHSExwUeeB9jtrQh8X0DLQmAV5A/viewform

The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ) and the rest of the world, has watched for months as Israelis have taken to the streets to peacefully protest proposed actions of their government. Members of the board met in June with Israeli lawyers, justices, government officials and advocates during our mission to Israel and discussed the proposed reforms. We congratulate Israelis for exemplifying democracy in speaking up.

AAJLJ fully supports the position of the Israeli Bar Association in rejecting proposed legislation that would remove the authority of the High Court to strike down legislation enacted by the Knesset, and decisions made by government officials, that fail to satisfy the test of reasonableness now applied by the Court. The removal of such authority would eliminate any checks or guardrails on the government's ability to take actions, including the appointment of unqualified persons to executive positions, that are unreasonable even in the extreme. Such unfettered authority on the part of the government would constitute a severe breach of the checks and balances that are at the heart of a democratic government.

Dear AAJLJ Members and Friends:

The AAJLJ notes with profound sorrow the passing of Benjamin B. Ferencz, at age 103, and sends condolences to his son Don and the rest of the Ferencz family. Mr. Ferencz was the last living prosecutor to serve at the Nuremberg trials of those responsible for N**i crimes during the Holocaust and World War II and a titan of international human rights law. May his memory be for a blessing.

Benjamin B. Ferencz was born into a Jewish family in what is now Romania in 1920. His family fled from anti-Semitism to the United States when he was less than a year old.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Ferencz served in the U.S. Army as a soldier in Europe and a war-crimes investigator at Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Dachau. He saw first-hand the crematoria and the other horrors of the N**is' genocide of European Jewry.

Mr. Ferencz then served as a prosecutor at Nuremberg. Among his other work, he led the case in which the leaders of the 'Einsatzgruppen' were convicted for organizing the murder of a million people, which has been described as the largest murder trial in history.

Mr. Ferencz campaigned after World War II for restitution of property seized by the N**is. Later, he dedicated his energy to encouraging the establishment of an international criminal court, and laws to end wars of aggression. He regularly spoke at conferences on human rights law, calling on younger generations to continue the legacy of protecting human rights and repeating that "law is better than war."

His indefatigable energy stemmed from his concern that something like the Holocaust could happen again. “Nuremberg taught me that creating a world of tolerance and compassion would be a long and arduous task,” he recalled on his website. “And I also learned that if we did not devote ourselves to developing effective world law, the same cruel mentality that made the Holocaust possible might one day destroy the entire human race.”

The AAJLJ was honored to bestow Mr. Ferencz with our 2021 Pursuit of Justice Award. His life exemplified the biblical mandate, “Justice, Justice, Shall You Pursue.”

With sympathy,

American Association of Jewish Lawyers & Jurists

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aajlj-2023-pursuit-of-justice-awards-tickets-606741168167

AAJLJ 2023 Pursuit of Justice Awards Join the AAJLJ in Washington, DC for its 2023 Annual Pursuit of Justice Awards.

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Brown Bag Lunch Speakers Series The JCRC of Greater Washington, American Jewish Committee (AJC), The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ), The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington Next Gen Lawyers and Lawyers Divisions, and Tzedek DC invite you to the next session in our Virtual Brown Bag Lunch Speakers Se...

The Role of Justice in Democracy: A Comparative Analysis of Israel, the U.S. and Argentina American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and Association of Jewish Lawyers of the Argentine Republic co-sponsor a webinar with Abner Greene, Profes...

Join the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ) on Wednesday, January 25th at 12pm EST for a webinar on "Developing Legal Actions and Advocacy Against Antisemitism" with Richard D. Heideman and Joseph Tipograph of Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, P.C.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOfQPlUoiOhmZYYgDg2z4d1TocpoY8sbUpZKP3TExIxTqoLw/viewform

Developing Legal Actions and Advocacy Against Antisemitism Event Timing: January 25, 2023 at 12pm EST Contact us at [email protected]