Community Engagement: The Path Forward

Carmiel Arbit is the Senior Director for Government Relations at ADL, where she leads the federal affairs team. As ADL’s chief lobbyist, she oversees policy, legislative strategy and stakeholder engagement with Capitol Hill and the Executive. She has extensive experience working at the intersection of foreign policy and government relations. She is a nonresident senior fellow for Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. She was previously the Director of Strategic Engagement in AIPAC’s office of Policy and Government Affairs, where she helped drive the organization’s strategy for engaging key policy stakeholders. Prior to her time at AIPAC, she worked at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy. She has worked in government affairs and public diplomacy for Thomson Reuters, the American Jewish Committee and Penn Schoen and Berland Associates, and as a consultant leading the work of Key Bridge Strategies. Arbit earned her BA from George Washington University and her MS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She has been recognized as a top lobbyist by the Hill three years in a row, and as a top Foreign Policy Influencer by Diplomatic Courier. She is a term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Truman national security fellow, and a member of the national board of Women’s Foreign Policy Group.

Jeffrey Abrams is the Regional Director of ADL’s Los Angeles office, which covers Los Angeles. Riverside, San Bernadino and Kern counties, a territory with over 15 million people and the second largest Jewish community in the country, with over 750,000 people living in Jewish households. Prior to assuming his role in August 2020, Jeff practiced law in Los Angeles for over 25 years as an entertainment attorney, business advisor and mediator. Jeff currently is a director and trustee of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a member of the President’s Advisory Council of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a past director the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and is a co-trustee of the Samuel and Helene Soref Foundation. Jeff also is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Foundation leadership program and a Peabody Award winner. A native of Los Angeles, Jeff and his wife are proud parents of three sons, one high-schooler, one college student and one law student.

Remaya is an intelligence professional with expertise in extremism, disinformation, and emerging technologies. As the Senior Program Manager at the ADL’s Center on Extremism, she leads the Embedded Researcher Program, managing its staff, operations, and strategic planning. Her work focuses on partnering with community organizations to research and disrupt a broad range of domestic extremism. Additionally, Remaya is the Acting Chair & an appointed Commissioner on the District of Columbia Homeland Security Commission, where she formulates policy recommendations for both the Mayor and the District Council. She possesses a Master’s degree in Peace & Conflict Studies from the University of Otago and a B.A. in Law, History & Culture from the University of Southern California.