AJC Delegation Concludes Solidarity Mission to Greece

THESSALONIKI, Greece, Nov. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An AJC delegation has concluded a three-day visit to Greece intended to demonstrate solidarity with the Jewish community of a country in severe economic and political stress – and with a government committed to strengthened ties with Israel.

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"In meetings with senior government officials, business leaders, clergy, journalists, and with political opposition figures, AJC expressed friendship for Greece as it seeks to weather Europe's most immediate and daunting debt crisis," said Jason Isaacson, AJC director of government and international affairs. He joined with national board member Martin Gradman in leading a nine-member delegation of Chicago-based AJC activists.

"We also voiced our support for the warm ties Greece has established with Israel over the last two years, reinforcing messages of friendship conveyed in an August 2010 AJC leadership mission, and encouraged even greater political, strategic and economic cooperation between these two Eastern Mediterranean democracies."

The AJC delegation explored a range of issues in two days of talks in Athens, before spending a day in Thessaloniki, home of a once vibrant Jewish community that was decimated in the Holocaust. With senior officials of the Foreign Ministry, Justice Ministry, and Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, AJC exchanged views on Eastern Mediterranean security, the challenge to renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations posed by the Palestinian campaign for premature UN recognition, and the necessity of combating anti-Semitism and other bigotry amid social upheaval.

AJC representatives spoke of the organization's vital partnership with Greek American leadership – noting the tribute paid to veteran Greek community activist Andrew Athens by AJC's Board of Governors last week in Chicago, and a long history of Chicago-based and national Greek-Jewish cooperation. The delegation also continued AJC's inter-religious dialogue with the Greek Orthodox Church, in an audience with His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece.

"Our meetings with Greek Jewish leadership – both in Athens and Thessaloniki – were particularly meaningful and timely," said Isaacson. "Our friends in this community, an AJC international partner, are dedicated to maintaining a full Jewish life, and are facing monumental challenges in a time of national crisis. We discussed the community's intentions and plans to assure the health of its vital institutions, and we look forward to working with the community throughout the difficult period ahead."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee