Secretary of State John Kerry to Address AJC Global Forum

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May 28, 2015, 11:33 ET

NEW YORK, May 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will address the AJC Global Forum 2015 on June 8, in Washington, D.C. The AJC Global Forum is the advocacy organization's signature annual event, bringing together more than 2,000 participants from across the United States and 70 countries around the world. Kerry previously addressed the AJC Global Forum in 2013, shortly after President Obama appointed him Secretary of State.

"Our annual Global Forum is an absolutely unique, energizing, highly informative experience, a must for engaged Jewish advocates," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "There is simply no other Jewish gathering like it anywhere." The Global Forum will take place June 7-9. The program is available at www.ajc.org/globalforum.

The Global Forum traditionally hosts presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers. This year's World Leaders Plenary session will feature Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (from Berlin), and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (from Tokyo).

The 48-hour Global Forum will kick off on June 7 with Dr. Daniel Gordis, Senior Vice President and the Koret Distinguished Fellow, Shalem College, Israel, delivering AJC's annual "State of the Jewish World" address.

Rising anti-Semitism and how to respond will be addressed in a plenary session, "Do Jews Have a Future in Europe?," by Jeffrey Goldberg, National Correspondent, The Atlantic; Bret Stephens, Deputy Editorial Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal; and Konstanty Gebert, Associate Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations.

In a separate, but related, session, the directors of AJC's European offices will discuss the "Fight against Anti-Semitism in Europe." Earlier this month, AJC convened in Brussels "A Defining Moment," a high-level strategy conference on anti-Semitism, and presented a detailed action plan for governments and civil society.

The sixth annual Global Forum "Great Debate" will focus on the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Caroline Glick, Senior Contributing Editor, The Jerusalem Post, and Ari Shavit, author, My Promised Land, will faceoff on the topic "Two-State Solution or Two-State Illusion?"

During the Global Forum, AJC will present its prestigious Moral Courage Award to Lassana Bathily, a French Muslim who saved lives during the fatal terror attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris in January, and posthumously to Dan Uzan, a Jewish volunteer security guard murdered while protecting a Copenhagen synagogue in February; and to Zidan Seef, an Israeli Druze policeman killed in a terror attack at a Jerusalem synagogue last November. In the cases of Uzan and Seef, members of their immediate families will be traveling especially to Washington to receive the awards in their memory.

In addition, a special highlight each year for Global Forum attendees is the opportunity to engage with top officials directly in a series of private dinners. This year there are more than 30 such dinners with ambassadors from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States.

Moreover, Global Forum attendees will participate in informational and training sessions before leaving the hotel on Tuesday afternoon for advocacy sessions on Capitol Hill.

Over the June 5-7 weekend immediately prior to the Global Forum, AJC will sponsor the fifth annual ACCESS Summit for nearly 500 young activists from around the world.

AJC, founded in 1906 and with headquarters in New York, maintains 22 regional offices across the United States, 10 overseas posts and 30 international partnerships.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee