Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton, and Yasser Arafat. Photo: Wiki Commons.

The American Jewish Committee recently financed a study – after a series of seminars – that, according to their website, found that “Three distinct groups in France are noticeably more anti-Jewish than the overall population.” Those groups are “…supporters of the National Front party (extreme right), to a lesser extent supporters of the Left Front coalition (extreme left), and members of the Muslim community.” Does anyone on Earth consider it a surprise that extreme left-wing socialists, extreme-right wing nationalists, and Muslims in France are “anti-Jews” more than others? In an era of tremendously high assimilation, is this really a priority?

The AJC press release continues that “57 percent of Muslims, 32 percent of National Front supporters, and 28 percent of Left Front supporters” believe Zionism is “an international organization that aims to influence the world and society in favor of the Jews.” Indeed this is to be expected and precisely what many would assume. (Lawyer Marlen Kruzhkov recently estimated that $1 billion in French Jewish assets have left France in recent months due to anti-Semitism.)

But while this study was a waste of American Jewish dollars, perhaps it’s better they spend time on benign research rather than their other work. For example, the American Jewish Committee opposes cutting off funds for academic institutions that support BDS, has criticized Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett for supporting the rights of Jews to settle throughout Israel, and is an outspoken proponent of a Palestinian Arab State.

Perhaps the AJC Arabic website explains what they do with their $40 million budget – because they have few useful activities that actually benefit American Jewry. In 2004, the leadership of the AJC met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s national security adviser, Jibril Rajoub, and AJC leader David Harris publicly urged Israel to use the “road map” to get to “peace.” Harris said, “If the line were closer to the Clinton-Barak lines, the U.S. would have less concerns and the fence could be politically defensible.” (Those parameters would have placed nearly 97 percent of Judea and Samaria in Palestinian hands.)

Wouldn’t it be great if parts of the Jewish establishment like the AJC actually financed programs such as Jewish education to get Jews involved with Judaism, or supported Israel in a real way? Food for thought.