B’nai B’rith was well represented at the 4th International Conference of the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, held on May 28-30 in Jerusalem under the auspices of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Diaspora Affairs.

B’nai B’rith’s 10-member delegation included Executive Vice President Dan Mariaschin, Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn, B’nai B’rith Canada CEO Frank Dimant, Honorary B’nai B’rith France President Jacques Jacubert, former Vienna Lodge President Raimund Fastenbauer, B’nai B’rith Canada Senior Counsel DavidMatas, National Director for Legal Affairs for B’nai B’rith Canada Anita Bromberg, Sofia Bulgaria Carmel Lodge President Solomon Bali, former Prague Lodge President Tomas Kraus. B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider participated in the workshop on "Interfaith Dialogue as an instrument to mitigate anti-Semitism".

The B’nai B’rith delegation made important contributions to the 10 working groups whose deliberations constituted the heart of the conference. The main feature of the conference, which last convened in 2009, was the development of an action plan for combating anti-Semitism in 2013 and beyond based on the findings of the workshops, which will serve as a blueprint for future action.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Opening the conference in a recorded message, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that although anti-Semites took a respite after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is becoming fashionable again. Anti-Zionism, he argued, is inseparable from anti-Semitism. Israel Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett said that just as de-legitimization of the Jews preceded the Holocaust, so too is the de-legitimization of Israel today a precursor to an attempt to destroy the Jewish state.

Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin called on world governments to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism. Other featured speakers included Lithuanian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Neris Germanis, Greek Deputy Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights Konstantinos Karagounis, Hungarian Secretary of State Dr. Bence Retvari, Deputy Albanian Chief Mufti Gazmend Aga, Brighton Islamic Mission Mufti Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and eminent Holocaust historian professor Yehuda Bauer.

Speaking at the opening of a plenary session he chaired, Mariaschin praised the government of Israel for organizing the conference, noting that “even in the Internet age, there is no substitute to meeting and networking with so many leading activists in the struggle against anti-Semitism and sharing knowledge, experience and best practices.”

Delivering an opening lecture to the Anti-Semitism in Latin America working group, Kohn said that today demonization of Israel is central to promoting anti-Semitism. “The false analogy that is promoted goes as follows: If Israel is the State of the Jewish people, and Israel is supposedly evil, cruel, imperialist, aggressor, a power which occupies lands of other people, then the Jews must be evil. And if websites, dailies, radio and TV stations repeat these insults, the audience points their fingers to those who are close to Israel: Jewish communities.”

The Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism is an active coalition of parliamentarians, statesmen, NGOs and scholars from around the world and is the largest and most inclusive platform of its kind. Some 500 participants from over 100 countries, communities and organizations participated in the conference.

B’nai B’rith Canada’s 2013 President’s Mission to Israel took place on May 20-29. Participants included President Eric Bissell, CEO Frank Dimant, Director for Community Action Pearl Gladman, former President Ted Greenfield and other board members.

As in the case of past B’nai B’rith Canada missions to Israel, the B’nai B’rith World Center was instrumental in devising and implementing a varied and engaging itinerary including meetings, briefings, tours and site visits. Among other things, the group met with newly appointed Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in his Knesset chambers and with Knesset members Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid), Moshe Feiglin (Likud Yisrael Beitenu) and Elazar Stern (Hatenua). They also held a working meeting with Minister of Tourism Uzi Landau. The group was briefed by top Israeli diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At Yad Vashem, the group held a special ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at which President Bissell spoke of his own experience during the Holocaust and conducted an in-depth tour of the historical museum. The group also visited the cities of Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and the town of Beit El in Judea and Samaria where they met mayors and senior municipality officials. In Hebron, the group toured significant archeological findings from the time of Abraham, Jewish residential enclaves and the Tomb of the Patriarchs with Jewish community spokesman David Wilder. During the visit Wilder presented Dimant with honorary citizenship of Hebron in recognition of his long-time support for the community and a certificate of gratitude to Bissell for bringing the mission to Hebron. They also met with Sheik Jaab – a local Moslem leader – who presented his plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, including his opposition to the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority.

Another day was dedicated to touring Sderot and the Gaza border area where the group met with Sderot Mayor David Buskila, visited the Yiftach forward IDF base and heard a security briefing from Gaza Division spokesperson Lieutenant Sharon Banian. They also visited with representatives of the Gaza evacuees in Nitzan. While in Sderot the group visited the Keren Or community center that specializes in alternative schooling for alienated youth that B’nai B’rith Canada has supported. The group also enjoyed bathing in the Dead Sea, visiting the Tel Aviv Museum and tasting wines at the award-winning Psagot winery. They had a unique Shabbat experience in Jerusalem where they welcomed Shabbat at the Kotel and had morning prayers at the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem where the group received a VIP welcome. The highlight of the mission was a tour of Temple Mount with Temple Institute Director Rabbi Haim Richman.

B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Dr. Haim V. Katz and Director Alan Schneider visited Dormition Abbey adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City, to express their outrage at last week’s graffiti attack against the Benedictine monastery and church and express solidarity with Abbot Gregory Colins.

The ugly Hebrew-language graffiti is alleged to have been painted as part of a “price tag” action in reaction to the murder of Evyatar Borovsky by a Palestinian terrorist two weeks ago, although no arrests have been made yet. The Abbot also noted the recurring challenge faced by him and other identifiable Christian clergy who continue to be the target of personal assault, mainly spitting by ultra-orthodox Jews encountered randomly on the streets of the Old City. Katz told the Abbot that B’nai B’rith’s decades long commitment to interfaith dialogue would not allow the World Center to sit idly by when a house of worship is vandalized in united Jerusalem, whatever identity of the assailants.

Katz and Schneider also pledged to raise again the matter of personal assaults against Christian clergy with ultra-orthodox community leaders as they have in the past, insisting that they denounce such repulsive and harmful behavior.

Colins – a Belfast native who has served as Abbot of Dormition Abbey for the past two years – assured the World Center delegation that he and the other monks at the monastery recognize that the attacks are perpetrated by a fraction of the population and do not reflect the general peaceful atmosphere in Israel, so that is so different than the cataclysm engulfing the entire region.

Schneider recalled that the World Center had held an important event at Dormition Abbey some twenty years ago that became an impromptu memorial for dozens of Israelis who were murdered and injured the previous day in one of the first Palestinian suicide bombings of the Second Intifada. The three also discussed Jewish-Catholic relations and the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and agreed to seek out opportunities to cooperate in the future.

Prof. Virginia Echinope, Head of the Electric Energy Department in the National Directorate of Energy at Uruguay's Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, and winner of the B'nai B'rith Uruguay "Light and Truth Award” for 2011, visited Israel on March 13-22 as a guest of B’nai B’rith Uruguay. The “Light and Truth Award” is presented bi-annually to outstanding Uruguayan experts in the sciences and hi-tech and carries an all-expenses paid trip to Israel.

Like past winners, Prof. Echinope was hosted in Israel by the B’nai B’rith World Center. The B’nai B’rith Uruguay has been presenting awards to outstanding artists and scientists for over 25 years to recognize excellence in various artistic and scientific disciplines in Uruguay. Winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel where the B’nai B’rith World Center is responsible for preparing and implementing an intensive itinerary combining tourism with professional interchange, site visits and high-level briefings geared to fostering ongoing professional ties between the two countries.

During her visit, Prof. Echinope, who also serves as an associate professor of electrical engineering at the Universidad de la Republica, met with a broad range of Israeli academic institutions, government officials, professional associations and industry trend-setters. These included: "Yissum" Research and Development Company of the Hebrew University, Energiya Global, Renewable Energy Association of Israel, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour, Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute, Nation-E, Redivivus Energy and others. She also toured the country extensively including the Old City of Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, Masada, the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa and the historic hydroelectric power plant at Naharayim.

B’nai B’rith World Center director Alan Schneider said that the visit itinerary showcased Israel’s status as a scientific and innovation powerhouse, strongly anchored in ancient tradition, openness and democracy.

Pictured:  Prof. Echinope and Schneider with Energy Global co-founder and CEO Yosef Abramowitz

Gilad Shalit, the 26 year old former Israeli soldier who was released one year ago after spending over five-and-a-half years in Gaza incommunicado after being abducted by Hamas in a cross-border raid in October 2006, traveled to London on November 15 as guest of honor of the sixth annual B'nai B'rith Europe Young Jewish Adults Forum (YJAF).

B'nai B'rith World Center director Alan Schneider, who extended the invitation to Shalit and accompanied him during the visit, traveled with him from Israel together with childhood friend Ben Drori. Shalit's visit to London began only a day after one of his principal captors - Hamas military head Ahmed Jabari - was killed in an IDF air raid following incessant Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilian population centers.

Over 170 young people from 20 western and eastern European countries including Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia, France, Holland and Great Britain – many of whom had participated in the campaign for Shalit’s release - attended the three-day event and had the opportunity to interact with him. At the outset of the YJAF gala dinner, Shalit thanked the group for their warm reception and received honorary B'nai B'rith membership from international president Allan J. Jacobs and B'nai B'rith Europe president Ralph Hoffman.

Accompanied by Hofmann and YJAF initiators John Reevs, Simone Hofmann and Schneider, Ralph and Shalit met at the Foreign and Commonwealth office with MP Alistair Burt, Minister for Middle East and North Africa and MP Mike Freer for representing the heavily Jewish Finchey and Golders Green neighborhoods. Burt said that he and other concerned MPs ensured that Gilad’s plight was raised in Parliament every week of his incarceration. Shalit was also feted by Israeli ambassador to Great Britain Daniel Taub at a private meeting and reception at his residence with the participation of many local Jewish and non-Jewish Londoners who were active in the campaign for his release, including Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.  Both the Chief Rabbi and Ambassador Taub spoke movingly of Gilad as a symbol of Israeli and Jewish values that places the life of one of its soldiers above the potential threat from the release of over 1,000 convicted terrorists.

Schneider made a presentation to the YJAF participants on the activities of the World Center. As a keen football fan and sports writer for Yedioth Ahronoth, Shalit also attended the Premiership derby between Arsenal and Tottenham.

YJAF program combined an in-depth discussions on Jewish values along with an opportunity for the participants to socialize with their peers from all over Europe while providing insight into B’nai B’rith’s work and goals. The program this year featured addresses by B'nai B'rith International executive vice president Daniel Mariaschin and Ishmael Haldi, Counselor for Civil Society Affairs at the Israel Embassy in London and the first Bedouin diplomat in Israel's history.

News of the visit appeared in the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish News and Yedioth Ahronoth.

On Nov. 5-8 the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem co-sponsored a consultation with twenty Christian pastors, laymen, activists and intellectuals from the Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Dutch Reform, United Church of Canada and other Christian denominations to discuss anti-Israel attitudes that have infused Mainline Protestant Churches over the past 20 years or more.

The consultation was co-sponsored by the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity as part of the activities of the joint World Center-Ecumenical Fraternity "Liaison Committee" forum.

The purpose of the consultation, which has been in the planning for three years, is to create a bridge of understanding between the State of Israel and these denominations and affect the biased positions they have adopted regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, in consultation with individuals who have shown their support for Israel in the past.

The participants are currently formulating a joint concluding declaration as a point of departure for future activities.

The consultation took place at a significant juncture in the storied relationship between the Jewish community and the Mainline Protestant Churches, just three weeks after seven U.S. leading Jewish organizations – including B’nai B’rith International – canceled a long-planned meeting of a joint dialogue with representatives of these churches in the United States after leaders of their denominations sent a letter to Congress accusing Israel of war crimes and calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. B’nai B’rith International is co-chair of that dialogue.

Participants in the consultation represent churches, movements and institutions in the U.S., Canada, Finland, Norway, the U.K., Uganda, Germany and Holland.

The opening session of the consultation included a keynote address by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chancellor and Founder of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation on “The State of Israel as the Fundamental Component in Jewish-Christian Relations Today”. In a brilliant speech, Rabbi Riskin said that Jews and Christians should focus on many things that are common to their religions, particularly teachings about the god of love, morality and peace. “What unites us is far more important than what divides us, especially against fundamentalist Islam whose god is a god of power, not love, and who preaches jihad and war. Islam does not have to be like that, and in the far past it was not. Wahabi Islam that has taken over the Middle East is not monotheism but mono-Satanism. We have to have a united voice that talks about a god of love; then perhaps, with Jews and Christians united in this mission, we can teach it to the world and give strength to the moderate Moslems to join us.” Rabbi Riskin noted that Bethlehem has become a ghost-town for Christians today after most of them were killed or banished.  

In his response, Rev. Paul Wilkinson, Ph.D., Associate Minister, Hazel Grove Full Gospel Church, England - a small pro-Israel church - said: “Today there is a propaganda campaign being waged by the Palestinian Authority, the Islamic world and by the Protestant church, including the evangelical church, not only propagating replacement theology and its new manifestations, but the Islamic world is now claiming Jesus for itself – a Jesus of Islam who is coming to destroy every Jew on earth. That is the eschatological end-times teachings of Islam. But there are Christians who know a different Jesus, read a different bible, and understand Israel in a completely different way. The big lie is Christian Palestiniaism, the anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian crusade going on in the church today that will say from one corner of its mouth “we love the Jewish people” and from the other corner of its mouth “we hate Israel.” That is not possible. You cannot love the Jewish people and hate Israel. I am completely pessimistic about our ability to overturn 2000 years of erroneous theology that has manifested itself in all kinds of diatribes and anti-Semitic actions. A Goliath of replacement theology and Christian Palestinianism, taunts, goads, accuses and condemns Israel and those Christians who stand with Israel. That Goliath cannot be felled with a stone and a sling as in the times of King David, because the problem is a spiritual one.”

The consultation included additional sessions on "The Case for Israel", "The Conspiracy Against Israel" and the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Presenters included Israeli academics, legal experts, diplomats and activists. The group also enjoyed an audience with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and a presentation by the Custos of the Holy Land, toured the Old City of Jerusalem and Christian sites around the Sea of Galilee, and visited the Neighborhood League Jerusalem youth co-existence project. 

News of the event was carried in The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Arutz 7 , Makor Rishon and The Algemeiner.

Shocking testimony about, murder, forced conversion, abductions and other gross human rights violations inflicted on Christian minorities in the Middle East was presented on Nov. 8 at a symposium sponsored by the B'nai B'rith World Center and the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity under their joint “Liaison Committee” forum.

The title of the symposium, held in cooperation with the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, was "The Present and Future of Christians in the Middle East".

Over one hundred people attended the session that focused on the dislocation and violence by Muslims targeting Christians in the Middle East – a long-running phenomena that has increased since the Arab Spring.

The symposium exposed the predicament of Christian minorities in Iraq, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, Lebanon and other countries in the area and the implications for the State of Israel.

Raymond Ibrahim, a U.S.-based expert in Islam and the Middle East of Egyptian-Coptic descent and author of "The al-Qaida Reader", said that Christians are suffering unprecedented persecution in the Middle East. Ibrahim spoke of the harassment in Egypt against the Coptic Church which predates Islam, including forced conversions. He noted that in Iraq, for example, there is widespread dislocation based on religious identification against the Christian minority. He referred to the State of Israel as "the one Dhimmi that got away."

Juliana Taimoorazy - an Assyrian Christian and Founder and President of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council – noted that the gruesome attacks taking place against Christian minorities in Iraq and others countries in the Middle East must be brought to world attention.  The U.S. government should press the Iraqi regime to prevent attacks against the Christian minority and to protect it, she said, and called on Jews and Christians to strengthen their ties in the face of this danger.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar from Bar Ilan University, an expert on Islam, noted that Moslem hatred towards Jews and Christians has grown in the light of the success of the West.

In an opening statement, B'nai B'rith World Center director Alan Schneider said that human rights organizations must not remain silent in the face of these reports of gross human rights violations against Christian communities in the Arab and Moslem world and should ensure that they reach the attention of the international community and world public opinion. Ecumenical Fraternity Director Rev. Dr. Petra Heldt also spoke at the event which was chaired by Dr. Mordechai Nisan of Hebrew University.