“Attacks intensify along Gaza border” by Karin Brulliard leaves a vital part of the story untold.

You note: “…among more than 300 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza since the Israeli operation began Wednesday…”

While that is true—the Israeli operation did begin Wednesday—what you leave out and what is crucial to conveying the full situation—is that Israel was responding to hundreds of Hamas rockets fired into Israel from Gaza. Israel’s operation is a reaction to relentless terror attacks.

Your story leaves the impression that Israel started this situation. Israel showed remarkable and commendable restraint for days as its citizens hid in bomb shelters trying to escape from Hamas rockets.

To fairly report the situation, each story in the Post needs to include the fact that Israel was responding to attacks against its people.

Daniel S. Mariaschin
B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President

**Note: The Washington Post Ombudsman responded that he was looking into the issue and planned to write about it in the near future.

In “Israeli offensive kills Hamas Chief” Tobias Buck vaults past years of history to reach his preposterous description that the “surge in cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza-based militant groups” started Saturday.

This “surge” is actually a Hamas escalation of its years of terror attacks on Israel.

And “cross-border violence” is an incredible understatement in describing the hundreds of rockets Hamas fires into Israel.
Buck fails to note the relentless rocket fire aimed at Israel from Hamas terrorists hiding among civilians in Gaza. Israel’s targeted strike against Ahmed Jabari was a response to a Hamas offensive. Hundreds of Hamas missiles in the last few days have forced more than one million Israelis into bomb shelters. They can’t go to school. They can’t go to work. They exist inside, in fear of the next round of Hamas attacks. But Buck doesn’t report that.

By writing off the situation as “cross-border violence” Buck absolves Hamas terrorists of their incursion into Israel. There is no debate about which came first—days of Hamas rocket attacks.

After Hamas’ offensive, Israel’s actions were a response, a defensive action to protect its citizens.

No other country would tolerate the attacks that Israel has.

Israel left Gaza in 2005. So why is Hamas firing rockets into a sovereign nation?  That’s certainly worthy of investigation by Buck. But it’s apparently easier to omit key facts and use loaded language to blame Israel.

The most important message for your readers—Israel has every right to defend its citizens—is not conveyed in your reporting. Your readers deserve the full story.

Daniel S. Mariaschin
B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President

Eduardo Kohn, analista, especialista en Medio Oriente y Juan Dircie, director asociado de Instituto Latino y Latinoamericano del American Jewish Committe...more.

B’nai B’rith International has discovered biased media reporting of the situation in Gaza. In too many cases, Israel is portrayed as the aggressor, while the Hamas rocket fire into Israel is overlooked.

Follow the links below to read letters we have sent to the Associated Press and Reuters.

In response, AP’s assistant international editor wrote back in part:

“At AP we have ongoing, robust discussions about fairness _ in text, photos, video and interactives. I have already addressed this matter with the editors involved.”

And Reuters’ Global Editor of Ethics and Standards responded in part:

“I appreciate your concerns that we have not been explicit enough about the impetus for the Israeli attack.

In certain initial articles we did not focus sufficiently on the rocket attacks against Israel that preceded the Israeli assault. We apologize for that oversight.”

And he concluded: “Going forward we will redouble our vigilance to ensure that our coverage is fair and balanced and reflects all sides of the conflict.”

> Read the B’nai B’rith letter to the Associated Press
> Read the B'nai B'rith letter to Reuters

by Ron Kampeas

At the behest of leading U.S. Jewish groups, Congress is set to free Russia from the Jackson-Vanik restrictions, the Soviet-era law aimed at exerting pressure on Russia to loosen its emigration restrictions.

But that doesn't mean the Putin administration is off the hook for human rights abuses. Jewish groups are championing a new measure that imposes sanctions on Russians suspected of involvement with extrajudicial killings and torture...signing the June letter in addition to NCSJ (formerly known as the National Council on Soviet Jewry) were the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; the Anti-Defamation League; the American Jewish Committee; the Anti-Defamation League; the Jewish Federations of North America; B’nai B’rith International; the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations...more.

by James D. Besser

Israel could be a big loser in last week’s presidential and congressional elections — and not because of the re-election of a president whose middle name happens to be Hussein.

Support for Israel will remain strong in the second Obama administration despite the strained personal relationship between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

Traditionally, the Jewish community — a tiny minority — has magnified its clout through coalitions with other minority groups, based on a host of shared interests. It’s no accident that groups like the American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith and local community relations councils around the country have in the past decade created mechanisms designed to expand those coalitions...more.

On November 12-13, UNESCO hosted a symposium to explore Yiddish's place as a living language in today's world, and its central role in Jewish culture, music and literature.

Entitled “The Permanence of Yiddish”, the symposium featured experts, performers, writers, and journalists from France, Britain, Poland, Germany, Israel and the United States, including klezmer musician Michael Alpert and Kenneth Moss, Professor of Jewish History at John Hopkins University.

Some participants spoke while others sang, but all brought with them different perspectives on this rich and culturally vibrant tongue that served as a "go-between" language during the long Diaspora of Jewish communities throughout history.

The symposium was organized by the B’nai B’rith Representation to UNESCO and the Bibliotheque Medem with support from the U.S. Mission to UNESCO, the Israeli delegation to UNESCO and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.

In his remarks at the opening ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion stressed the place of Yiddish in American culture as well as the importance of promoting and protecting Jewish culture and heritage through institutions such as B'nai B'rith and UNESCO...more.

El cardenal Jorge Bergoglio encabezó hoy lunes, en la Catedral de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, la liturgia de conmemoración de la Noche de los Cristales Rotos (Kristallnacht), considerado el primer pogrom antijudío perpetrado por el régimen nazi y el inicio del Holocausto judío.

La emotiva ceremonia contó con la presencia de representantes católicos, evangélicos y judíos.

La homenaje fue organizado por la Comisión Arquidiocesana de Ecumenismo y Diálogo Interreligioso de la arquidiócesis de Buenos Aires conjuntamente con el Comité de Diálogo Interconfesional de la B'nai B'rith Argentina, y con adhesión de la Confraternidad Argentina Judeo Cristiana.

by Raphael Ahren

Protestant clergymen painted a largely pessimistic view of the church’s relationship with Israel and the Jewish community during a  visit to the Holy Land, suggesting that anti-Semitism is a deep-seated problem based in Christian theology that will be difficult to uproot...

Some 20 pro-Israel Christian pastors, laymen and activists from across the globe gathered this week in a hotel outside Jerusalem to discuss anti-Israel attitudes that have typified Mainline Protestant Churches over the past decades. According to B’nai B’rith World Center, the three-day consultation aimed to build bridges between Israel and the Protestant denominations, and “to help change the biased positions they have adopted regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict.”