ארגון הקהילה הישראלית-אמריקאית | |
 | |
| Formation | 2007 |
|---|---|
| 22-3951652 | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles,California |
Region served | Arizona, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Florida, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco Seattle, Washington, D.C. |
Chairman | Naty Saidoff |
CEO | Elan Carr |
| Website | www |
TheIsraeli-American Council (IAC;Hebrew:ארגון הקהילה הישראלית-אמריקאית) is an Americannonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve and strengthen the Israeli and Jewish identities offuture generations, strengthen theAmerican Jewish community, and strengthen the relationship between citizens of the United States and theState of Israel.[1]
The Israeli Leadership Council (ILC) was founded in 2007 by Israel's Consul General,Ehud Danoch, and a group of Israeli and Israeli-American business leaders, includingAdam Milstein andShoham Nicolet.[2] The first ILC event was held in July 2007, at theBeverly Hilton Hotel, with about 80 Israeli-American business leaders, featuring Los Angeles MayorAntonio Villaraigosa and Danoch.[3] The event was organized byDanny Alpert, Adam Milstein,Eli Tene,Steve Erdman,Naty Saidoff,Eli Marmour, andShoham Nicolet following a meeting between Alpert and Danoch.
The ILC's first board was co-chaired by Alpert and Tene, and included Milstein, Erdman, Marmour, Saidoff,Shawn Evenhaim,Yossi Rabinovitz, andNissan Pardo. Shoham Nicolet was asked to volunteer to lead the venture as the Founding Executive Director. They set the organization's "three pillars" of engagement: to strengthen future generations of Israeli-Americans, the American Jewish community and the State of Israel.[4]
By 2008, ILC began receiving support from Beny Alagem, Leo David and Haim Saban. It held its first major event, "Live for Sderot", a celebrity gala with 1,800 attendees.[3] The two presidential candidates,Barack Obama andJohn McCain, both sent videos expressing their support for the event.[5]
The ILC held its first annual gala dinner in 2009, attended by hundreds of Israeli-Americans.[3]
In 2011, ILC began funding Sifriyat Pijama B-America, a Hebrew language version ofPJ Library.[6] PJ Library is a nonprofit which sends children's book to Jewish families.[7] The program was cancelled in 2016.[8]
Sagi Balasha became ILC's first CEO in September 2011. ILC Care was launched in November. In April 2012, ILC launched the Celebrate Israel Festival to celebrate Israel'sIndependence Day.[3]
In 2013, the ILC rebranded as the Israeli-American Council.[9] Funded by Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, the organization launched an expansion plan to create regional councils across the United States.[10] By summer 2014, the IAC had a staff of 60 people, an annual budget of $17.5 million and six regional offices.[11]
By 2014, IAC Merkaz and IAC Shishi Israel were established,[12][13] as were regional chapters in Boston, Florida, Las Vegas, and New York.[14][15] In October 2014, Adam Milstein became the Chairman of the IAC, and Shoham Nicolet returned as the organization's CEO.[16]
IAC has established several regional chapters since 2015.[17][18] Those years also saw the launch of IAC Manhigut, IAC Act, and IAC Eitanim.[19][20][21] By the end of 2018, IAC has 20 regional offices and more than 58 active communities.[18]
Major funders of IAC have included billionaire and pro-Israel philanthropistSheldon Adelson, who contributed millions to the organization,[22] andHaim Saban.[23][24] Republican Adelson and Democrat Saban had appeared together to demonstrate that their efforts for Israel were bipartisan,[25] but from 2015 Saban reduced his support over political differences.[23]
In 2014, IAC began hosting annual national conferences,[26] featuring American and Israeli politicians and business leaders. The conference has grown to become one of the largest Israel-related annual events.[5][27]
The first national conference was held in November in Washington, D.C., and drew over 750 participants and speakers.[28][29][30] During an on-stage discussion about the Palestinian issue between IAC's two megadonors, Saban and Adelson, the former insisted on the two-state solution to keep Israel both Democratic and Jewish. Adelson, in response, quipped "Israel isn't going to be a democratic state – so what?" A year, it was reported that Saban has ended his involvement in IAC, allegedly over political differences.[5]
In 2017, the conference was held in Washington, D.C. Among the speakers were U.S. ambassador to the UNNikki Haley, Israel's UN RepresentativeDanny Danon, IsraeliEducation MinisterNaftali Bennett, Israeli Deputy Foreign MinisterTzipi Hotovely, and Member of KnessetMerav Michaeli.[5]
The fifth IAC National Conference in 2018 was held in Florida with over 3,100 attendees. Speakers included Vice PresidentMike Pence, SenatorChuck Schumer (D-NY), House Democratic Leader,Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the Israeli KnessetYuli Edelstein, Israel's Justice MinisterAyelet Shaked, and Israeli-American businessmen such as Marius Nacht andMaya Prosor.[citation needed]
U.S. PresidentDonald Trump spoke at IAC's sixth national conference in December 2019. He claimed that some Jews "don't love Israel enough" and, addressing the audience of 4,000 Jews: "You're not going to vote for the wealth tax. Let's take 100 percent of your wealth away. No, no. Even if you don't like me – and some of you don't, some of you I don't like at all actually – and you're going to be my biggest supporters because you'll be out of business in about 15 minutes."[31] While the audience cheered, some commentators claimed Trump's remarks were antisemitic.[32]
The Israeli-American Coalition for Action (IAC for Action, formerly the Israeli-American Nexus[33]), founded in 2016, is the lobbying arm of IAC. Its focus issues include supporting economic collaboration between the United States and Israel, lobbying foranti-BDS laws to force government contractors to promise not to boycott Israel,[34][35] andIran which Israel sees as a threat.[5]
