A Common Fight: Why Christians and Jews are Coming Together to Defeat Hate and Intolerance

By Pastor Carlos Ortiz and Adam Milstein Article originally posted on The Huffington Post For the first time in 1,600 years, there are no Christians left in Mosul. This once-thriving Christian community in Iraq has been completely decimated by radical Islamists – like so many others across the Middle East – with thousands fleeing their families’ ancient homes when faced with death or brutal persecution at the hands of ISIS. The emergence of ISIS has been a particularly grave turn of events for Christians. Just last month, Secretary of State John Kerry and the House of Representatives said that ISIS  Read More…

The 25 Most Influential People in the “Jewish Twitterverse”

Original post can be found on Ha’aretz by Gabe Friedman JTA – Ten years ago this week, Twitter was born. Never ones to miss a good conversation, Jews quickly adopted the social network, and they haven’t stopped kibitzing since. To celebrate the birth of this post-modern Talmud, we’ve updated JTA’s 2009 list of the “100 Most Influential Jewish Twitterers” (which helped a young woman escape her family’s cult-like church, as recounted in the New Yorker. No big deal.) Our new list — pared down to just the top 25 Twitter mavens — reflects a changed Jewish Twitter world. Among the rabbis, officials, journalists and other machers who made the cut in  Read More…

The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2015

This post was originally on the Algemeiner In honor of The Algemeiner’s 3rd annual JEWISH 100 Gala, we are delighted to unveil the third Algemeiner Jewish 100 list of the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year. Before you work your way through this exciting list, we wanted to first share some of the thoughts that we discussed as we developed this endeavor. If we could group these ideas together, the first would be about creating lists, in general; then, what’s unique about lists and Judaism; some finer points differentiating our honorees from the organizations they  Read More…

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Leaders Hate America: Listen To Their Own Words!

The original article can be found on The Huffington Post In recent years, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement has steadily advanced a poisonous culture of hate and anti-Semitism in our country. Across college campuses and in churches, in labor unions, academic institutions and in shareholder meetings of American Corporations, they have sought to demonize the State of Israel, with the eventual goal of destroying it. Yet, what many do not realize is that the BDS agenda threatens not only the Middle East’s one democratic state; it threatens the entire democratic world, and the U.S. is in the eye of  Read More…

Israeli-Americans make a home in the US, but remain a strategic asset for our Jewish homeland

This article was originally posted on The Jerusalem Post On Sunday, the Israeli-American Council will host the IAC Los Angeles Gala 2016, marking a moment of new public prominence for our organization – and its rapid growth across the US. In the past three years, we have expanded from a single office and a few hundred members in Los Angeles, into a national movement with 10 regional offices – 250,000 members and growing – and a range of groundbreaking national programs. Yet, we are not just building America’s fastest-growing Jewish organization, we are creating a new identity. Before we founded  Read More…

An AIPAC Campus Allies alumnus shares his story

This was originally posted on the Times of Israel Blog The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation proudly supports AIPAC’s Campus Allies Mission, which brings non-Jewish, pro-Israel political activists to Israel for the first time. The on-the-ground experiences in the Holy Land teach participants about the importance of the United States-Israel relationship and gives them a deeper understanding of Israel’s strategic, social, and security issues, right in the heart of the Holy Land. Stephen Fiehler, an alumnus of our Campus Allies, has shared how the Campus Allies Mission has impacted his life and view of Israel. You can read his story below. My AIPAC Campus  Read More…

An MBA Perspective on Pro-Israel Nonprofit Organizations

This post was originally on the Times of Israel Blog I am a nonprofit executive at the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation and an Israeli-American — and I’m also a former Ernst & Young tax attorney who obtained an MBA from UCLA Anderson. I think, and mean, business. Pretty much everything I do is aimed at serving the foundation’s overall mission to strengthen the Jewish people and the State of Israel. So, I get frustrated whenever I see how the limited resources we have in the pro-Israel nonprofit world are being spent, or rather wasted. I am not talking about private jets  Read More…

A historic agreement to further the U.S.-Israel Partnership in California and Beyond

This article was originally posted on the Times of Israel Blog Both Israel and California are centers of innovation, filled with brilliant minds and bold ideas. In so many spheres, Israelis and Californians have worked together to do extraordinary things – from building high-tech companies like WAZE, to advancing cutting-edge medical research, to pioneering revolutionary solutions in fields like agriculture and clean-tech. In 2014, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and California Governor Jerry Brown signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate this collaborative innovation. Under the leadership of Israel’s Consul General in the Southwest David Siegel – and a  Read More…

The Arab League Boycott and BDS – The same old lady in a new dress

See the original post on Times of Israel This piece was co-written by Adam Milstein and Marc A. Greendorfer. A version of it previously appeared in the Huffington Post. The Israeli people and the global pro-Israel community are waking up to the seriousness of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, which has gained increasing traction at universities, academic associations, municipalities, churches, unions, pension funds, and investment portfolios in America and around the globe. Many are realizing that this Movement poses a serious threat to the Jewish state, the Jewish people, the American people and Western Civilization. Yet, as we mobilize  Read More…

Israel, California institute sign biotech deal with emphasis on stem cell research

Original Article on JNS can be found here. Posted on February 10, 2016 by JNS.org. (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Ofir Akunis on Tuesday signed the first agreement of its kind between his ministry and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in the field of biotechnology, with an emphasis on stem cell research. The agreement was facilitated by the Israeli-American Council (IAC), which encourages cooperation between the United States and Israel, and whose stated mission is “to build an active and giving Israeli-American community throughout the United States in order to strengthen the State of  Read More…