Two decades of David Harris in AJC

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
October 20, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1046/two-decades-of-david-harris-in-ajc

David A Harris, a leading Jewish advocate has been very successfully and efficiently serving as the Executive Director of American Jewish Committee [AJC] for past twenty years.

Among the highlights of his career, Harris 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. Given his pivotal role, Harris 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 also worked behind-the-scenes on the rescue of the Ethiopian Jewish community in the early 1980s, before the historic Operation Moses of 1984-1985.

Moreover, for sixteen years he was a key figure in the successful struggle to repeal the infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1975, only the second time in UN history a resolution was actually repealed.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.

For his efforts, Harris has been described as one of the foremost American advocates for Israel's political and diplomatic standing. 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.

Among his other professional affiliations, Harris is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. On behalf of AJC, Harris has been deeply involved in a number of humanitarian initiatives in response to natural and man-made disasters, including in the Balkans, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.

Harris has testified before the United States Congress in both the House and the Senate 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. He has spoken at Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities and many prestigious forums in Europe.

In 2008, Harris was the first American Jewish leader to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos at a plenary session. The session, entitled "Faith and Modernization", also featured Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia.

The governments of Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Spain and Ukraine have all conferred their highest public service awards on Harris. His various accolades include:

• Sword of Freedom for "support of Poland's membership in NATO". Presented by Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, Washington, D.C., May 1999

• Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz for "contributions to German-American and German-Jewish relations". Presented by German Federal President Johannes Rau, Washington, D.C., May 4, 2000

• Gold Laurel Branch for "the strengthening and developing of bilateral relations between the USA and Bulgaria". Presented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Nadezhda Mihailova, New York, July 12, 2001

• Presidential Medal for "developing relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the United States and for strengthening religious, ethnic and racial harmony". Presented by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Sofia, August 29, 2002

• Gold Cross of the German Armed Forces for "ten years of partnership between the German Armed Forces and the American Jewish Committee". Presented by Minister of Defense Peter Struck, Berlin, November 22, 2004

• Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. Presented by French Minister of Culture and Communications Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Paris, March 4, 2005

• Commander's Cross of Merit with Stars. Presented by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, New York, September 15, 2005

• Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Presented by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Philippe Douste-Blazy, New York, September 18, 2005

• Centennial Anniversary Distinguished Leadership Award, American Jewish Committee, Washington, D.C., May 3, 2006

• La Medille de la Republique. Presented by French Minister of Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, Paris, January 23, 2007

• The Order of the Three Stars – Commander Class. Presented by Latvian President Valra Vike-Freiberga, Washington, D.C., May 3, 2007

• The Order of Merit. Presented by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, New York, October 2008.

• Madara Rider State Order. Presented by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, Sofia, August 24, 2010

• Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil. Presented by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, Madrid, October 15, 2010

From 2000-2002, Harris 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. Most recently, in 2009 he was elected a Senior Associate at Oxford University (St. Antony's College).

He is the author of seven books, namely The Jewish World, Entering a New Culture and five volumes of In the Trenches, and co-author of an eighth, The Jokes of Oppression. He has written scores of articles, op-eds, letters and reviews in leading newspapers and magazines, such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and International Herald Tribune. Since 2001, he has had a regular spot on the CBS Radio Network, a weekly radio commentary, reaching 30-35 million listeners. Harris also has a popular blog on international affairs on Jerusalem Post and Huffington Post.

To me David Harris is a loving brother. We know each other since American Jewish Committee gave their most prestigious Moral Courage Award to me in 2006. Knowing David Harris is a huge honor and delight for me.

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