David A. Harris
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David A. Harris is the executive director of the American Jewish Committee. The New York Times called the AJC the "Dean of American Jewish Organizations." He grew up in New York, the son of Holocaust survivors, in a secular Jewish home, and attended the Dwight School, known formerly as the Franklin School. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, and did his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics and Oxford University (St. Anthony's College). He began working for the AJC in 1979, but left to work for the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. He returned to the AJC in 1984, and was named executive director in 1993.
[edit] Background
In the course of his extensive career in Jewish communal work, he has traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America to monitor the condition of Jewish communities, combat anti-Semitism, advance Israel's diplomatic standing, and promote international human rights and interreligious and interethnic understanding.
He was central to the emigration of over one million Jews from the Soviet Union and was described by the Washington Post as "one of the leading spokesmen" for the Soviet Jewry movement. In the course of this work, he was twice detained by Soviet authorities and expelled from the country on one of those occasions. He was asked by the Jewish community to serve as the national coordinator for the historic Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jewry, the 1987 demonstration in Washington that drew over 250,000 participants, the largest Jewish gathering in American history.
In 2003, Harris received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Russian Jewish community in the U.S. for "his lifelong dedication to the physical and spiritual return of Soviet Jews to the Jewish people."
Harris was also involved in a behind-the-scenes role in the rescue of the Ethiopian Jewish community in the early 1980s, before the historic Operation Moses of 1984-1985.
He was a key figure in the successful sixteen-year struggle to repeal the infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1975, only the second time in UN history a resolution was actually repealed. And he spearheaded the American Jewish Committee's successful campaign to correct Israel's anomalous status at the UN—as the only nation ineligible to sit on the Security Council—and to include it in one of the UN's five regional groups, which determine the all-important committee assignments.
He has been described as one of the foremost American advocates for Israel's political and diplomatic standing, meeting frequently with world leaders to discuss issues affecting the Middle East. In this regard his efforts were credited by the Japanese government for bringing about change in Tokyo's stance on its longstanding adherence to the Arab boycott against Israel and toward a more balanced approach to the larger Arab-Israeli conflict.
He has testified before the United States Congress on several occasions regarding the Middle East, NATO expansion, Russian and Soviet affairs, and anti-Semitism, as well as before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the French Parliament.
[edit] Awards
In 1999, he was honored by the Polish government for his efforts concerning NATO expansion, in 2000 by the German government for his contribution to German-Jewish and German-American relations, in 2001 and again in 2002 by the Bulgarian government for his contribution to transatlantic relations, in 2004 by the German armed forces for creating a unique partnership between the German military and the American Jewish Committee, and twice in 2005 by the French government for his commitment to democratic and humanistic values.
In 2000-2002, he was a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hebrew Union College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He is the author of six books, The Jewish World, Entering a New Culture and four volumes of In the Trenches, and co-author of a seventh, The Jokes of Oppression. He has written scores of articles, op-eds, letters, and reviews in leading newspapers and magazines. Since 2001, he has had a regular spot on the CBS Radio Network, reaching 30-35 million listeners.
He is married and the father of three children.
He meets regularly with world leaders and contributes frequently to The New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, and various other media outlets. He has a weekly radio commentary on CBS Radio, which is also available as a podcast[1]. He is a recipient of the French Légion d'honneur and the highest public service awards from the governments of Poland, Germany and Bulgaria. He is also the author of several books.
