30 YEARS OF AJC HISTORY
1996 After a wave of arson attacks on African American churches in the south , AJC “ adopts ” the Gay ’ s Hill Baptist Church in Millen , Georgia , working to rebuild it both with funds and on-the-ground construction help from AJC Atlanta .
October 1996 For the first time , fourteen emerging leaders from Central and Eastern Europe travel to U . S . cities under the sponsorship of AJC and The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom to learn about American ways of promoting acceptance and combating bigotry . This becomes an annual program and some alumni , such as Bulgarian politician Solomon Passy , become important leaders in the region .
30 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY
1996
May 1996 Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly defeats Shimon Peres in Israel ’ s national elections . Peres , leader of the Labor Party , became prime minister in 1995 following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin . Netanyahu has since won several additional elections , overtaking David Ben-Gurion as the longest-serving prime minister in the country ’ s history .
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