America-Israel Friendship League

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The America-Israel Friendship League is an American/Israeli organization. It describes itself as "a non-sectarian, non-political, not-for-profit organization strengthening ties between the people of the United States and Israel."^[1] The organization was founded in 1971 by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Senators Henry "Scoop" Jackson and Nelson A. Rockefeller, civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph, and Congressman Herbert Tenzer, amongst others.^[1] The AIFL's purpose is to send missions to Israel, and to forge business, technological, humanitarian and personal relationships with partners in Israel.^[2]

A recent mission in 2007 saw 10 students from Los Angeles Unfied School Distric from Bell High School, Los Angeles High School, and seven students from the San Francisco Unified School District on a cultural exchange to Israel^[3], and a delegation of technology journalists^[4] to review the technology sector and advancements in defense and biomedical engineering in the country.^[5] The cultural exchanges, such as the one for the Los Angeles students, are not aimed at Jewish students but for diverse students to co-exist and create new alliences.^[3]

Its U.S. Board is comprised of many influential Jewish-American leaders, including Michael Ovitz, Mortimer Zuckerman, Larry King, Michael Meyers, and Abraham Foxman.

The AIFL's U.S. national office is located in New York City, and its Israeli office in Tel Aviv. It has three chapters located in Tucson, Arizona, San Francisco, California and Salt Lake City, Utah. It most recently opened the Salt Lake City chapter.^[2]