Albright Gives AJC High Marks For Combating Hatred, Advancing Human Rights

American Jewish Committee
Friday, 5 May 2000

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last night called the American Jewish Committee an "indispensable" organization which "teaches us that no part of humanity can hope to secure its rights if the rights of other are abused and denied."

The secretary of state addressed AJC's Annual Dinner, held at Union Station in Washington. German President Johannes Rau and Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson addressed the 1,200 dinner guests. The American Jewish Committee remains indispensable," she said, "because no one understands more clearly the need for vigilance, the danger of silence."

"Around the equator and from pole to pole you have done more than preach; you have taught," said Secretary Albright. "The benefits of your teaching have spread like manna upon the water, bringing diverse communities into the shared light of mutual understanding. For you believe, as do I, that the more we know about each other, the more we will see ourselves in each other. And that is the beginning of tolerance, and the origin of human progress."

Secretary Albright voiced her pleasure at being able to address the AJC event in person this year, recalling that last year her address was delivered by video as she was called away to Europe to deal with the Kosovo crisis.

"To the people of Kosovo, [AJC President] Bruce Ramer and AJC are humanitarian heroes," said Secretary Albright, referring to AJC's relief campaign which distributed more than $1.3 million to humanitarian agencies working with Kosovar refugees. "And I am glad of your help now, as we strive with our partners, to transform the Balkans from a source of chronic instability into a full participant in a Europe whole and free."

She thanked AJC for its "unwavering and visible support of our efforts" to help Kosovo, to stop Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of terror, and "to send a message throughout Southeast Europe that ethnic cleansing is intolerable and violence nationalism will be opposed."

Despite enormous scientific and technological gains in recent decades, noted Secretary Albright, "the urgency of AJC's mission has not lessened."

"We have consigned the obsolete technologies to the garbage compactor of history. But we cannot say the same for genocide," said Secretary Albright. "In fact, the past century was the bloodiest in human history."

Secretary Albright commended AJC for its continuing efforts to monitor and counter anti-Semitism worldwide. "The American Jewish Committee is right to warn against the ongoing threat posed by anti-Semitism," she said.

"Bigotry comes in many forms," she said. "But anti-Semitism has been a recurring curse. Pogroms in Russia brought AJC together nine decades ago. And you have never failed to stand up or speak out when confronted by persecution, prejudice or lies."

Secretary Albright quoted from AJC Executive Director David A. Harris' recent testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he observed that "the treatment of Jews has become a remarkably accurate barometer of democracy. Where Jews are safe to express their identity, all citizens are likely to be secure; and where Jews are endangered, it is not long before other groups are targeted."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org