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Rep. Ted Deutch speaks about his experiences during a trip to Israel and Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of a bipartisan
delegation in Washington, DC., on Jan. 28, 2020.

Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Rep. Ted Deutch Leaving Politics
to Lead AJC
GABE FRIEDMAN | JTA.ORG
R ep. Ted Deutch, one of
Congress’ most outspoken
members on Jewish issues for
over a decade, is leaving politics to
become the next CEO of the American
Jewish Committee, the advocacy group
announced on Feb. 28.

Deutch, a Democrat, has represented
three diff erent South Florida districts
since 2010, aft er a stint in Florida
state government. His current district,
Florida’s 22nd, includes the heavily
Jewish Broward County.

Deutch chairs the House’s Ethics
Committee and holds senior spots on
18 both the prestigious Foreign Aff airs
and Judiciary committees. He has
been a leading pro-Israel voice in the
Democratic Party, particularly in
recent years as progressive newcomers
have been historically outspoken in
their criticism of the Jewish state.

At AJC he will succeed David Harris,
who has led the organization since
1990. Harris is best known for his work
in helping Jews leave the former Soviet
Union and for combating anti-Israel
rhetoric at the United Nations. Deutch
will take over on Oct. 1.

In a statement announcing Deutch’s
appointment, AJC President Harriet P.

Schleifer said that “Ted’s deep and life-
long commitment to the Jewish com-
MARCH 10, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
munity, Israel, and to the protection of
democratic values is obvious to all who
know him.”
Aft er the Florida Holocaust Museum
in Tampa was hit with swastika graf-
fi ti last year, Deutch partially blamed
progressive colleagues who compare
Israel to apartheid South Africa for
an uptick in antisemitism across the
United States.

“When we have colleagues whose
position is ‘Palestine from the river
to the sea,’ which includes no place
for a Jewish state, and when our col-
leagues…wrongly and falsely describe
Israel as an apartheid state, there is a
context for all of this,” Deutch said at
a virtual event with fellow lawmakers.

He was also sharply critical of former
President Donald Trump and other
Republicans; he was particularly crit-
ical of Trump’s repeated insinuations
that Jews who vote for Democrats are
disloyal. Deutch was also heavily involved
in House Middle East policy, taking
several trips to Israel as one of a few
Middle East specialists on the House’s
foreign aff airs committee. He was one
of only a handful of Congressional
Democrats to oppose the Iran nuclear
deal before it was signed, but he dis-
agreed with Trump’s decision to pull
the United States out of the agreement
in 2017.

In the wake of the Parkland school



shooting, which occurred in his dis-
trict, Deutch joined the chorus of local
and national Democrats who called
for gun reform legislation. His two
daughters launched a project that
involved selling hamantaschen to raise
money for groups that lobby for stricter
gun laws.

Deutch, 55, is now the 31st Democrat
retiring from Congress ahead of this
fall’s midterm elections, in what poll-
sters are predicting will be a big year
for Republicans. His district’s bound-
aries are in flux like many others across
the country ahead of the midterms;
there is a chance that if he campaigned
in the fall, he would have had to face
Deutch chairs the House’s Ethics Committee and holds
senior spots on both the prestigious Foreign Affairs and
Judiciary committees. He has been a leading pro-Israel
voice in the Democratic Party, particularly in recent years.

fellow Jewish Democrat Lois Frankel,
who represents the 21st District, in a
primary. He said his work in Congress led
him to the position at the American
Jewish Committee, which is one of the
country’s oldest Jewish organizations,
founded in 1906. The centrist organi-
zation has become known in recent
years as a sort of department of state
of the organized Jewish community,
cultivating ties with foreign govern-
ments, making Israel’s case at home
and abroad and fostering interfaith
relationships. “For me, this foreign policy work
has been a natural continuation of
my deep ties to the American Jewish
community and my long-standing
advocacy on behalf of the U.S.-Israel
relationship,” Deutch said in a state-
ment. “Beyond foreign policy, we have
also seen an unprecedented rise in
antisemitism in our own country and
abroad, and I have been at the fore-
front of the Congressional response
as the founding co-chair of the House
Bipartisan Task Force for Combating
Antisemitism.” JE
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