B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International praises the Bulgarian government for demanding the extradition of two suspected Hezbollah terrorists from Lebanon, whom it believes are linked to the July 2012 bus bombing in Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver.

Last week the Bulgarian government released a report after six months of investigation, stating Hezbollah was behind the attack. Israel has long maintained that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.

It is commendatory to see the Bulgarians acting swiftly to bring the perpetrators to justice. The European Union will discuss the Bulgarians’ findings next week.

In the wake of this report, B’nai B’rith has renewed its call for the EU to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The Netherlands is the only EU member that does so.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement: 

B’nai B’rith International is encouraged President Obama will focus on aging programs, energy independence, immigration reform and reducing gun violence in his second term. His renewed commitments to Israel’s security and to preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons are also positive.

We are pleased with the president’s spirited defense of both domestic discretionary spending and the jobs created by these programs. The president spoke of aging programs like Medicare, and we are open to hearing more about his plan. B’nai B’rith is particularly interested in hearing about savings in Medicare from lower prescription drug costs and from encouraging better health care. We remain concerned, however, that unreasonably or arbitrarily high savings targets could force ill-advised measures that weaken the nature of the program by undermining its universality or eroding benefits. 

Energy independence received renewed attention from the president during his address. Our current dependence on foreign oil undermines our security, forcing the United States to rely on fossil fuels from countries whose interests are adverse to our own. B’nai B’rith supports the president’s call for investment in alternative energy programs. 

B’nai B’rith has long been a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform and we are pleased the administration is making it a priority. Creating a path to citizenship for millions of the country’s undocumented immigrants is important for the well-being of the country. 

We commend the president’s insistence that the United States will “do what is necessary” to prevent Iran from “getting nuclear weapons.” Iran, the world’s largest state-sponsor of terror, continues to pursue nuclear weapons, even as an international coalition has instituted tough sanctions.

B’nai B’rith is also encouraged the president outlined a firm commitment to Israel: “And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace.”

We welcome the president’s commitment to reducing gun violence. The president said: “Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because they are tired of being outgunned.”

Last month, the B’nai B’rith International Executive Committee passed a formal resolution that called for a ban on assault weapons, as well as a limit on ammunition magazine capacity. B’nai B’rith pledges to work with all political parties, interest groups and coalitions to make sure meaningful bipartisan gun regulations become reality. 

Of course the president’s annual address to Congress and the nation offers a framework for the president’s priorities. B’nai B’rith will review details as they emerge and work to ensure action on our key priorities.

B’nai B’rith International offers its best wishes to Pope Benedict XVI as he plans to step down as the leader of the Catholic Church on Feb. 28.

Benedict held the papacy for eight years and will be the first pope to resign in 600 years, a decision he has made in light of his increasing frailty.

“We wish Pope Benedict only good health as he steps down from his position,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “He consistently expressed his commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations, and his accessibility to Jewish leaders was significant. We are very grateful for the opportunities we had to meet with him to further the Catholic-Jewish friendship.”

B’nai B’rith leaders met with Pope Benedict, as with a line of his predecessors, on multiple occasions. In 2011, Jacobs and B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin led a B’nai B’rith delegation to the Vatican to meet with Benedict. Jacobs and Mariaschin spoke with him about the Middle East and the challenges facing Jews and Christians in the region. Representing the American Jewish community, B’nai B’rith Director of United Nations and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels presented a gift to Benedict from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum during the pope’s 2008 visit to Washington.

Benedict’s papacy was characterized by some controversies, including elevation of the status of the Tridentine Mass, with its Good Friday liturgy which, though revised by the pope, still included a prayer for Jews’ hearts to be “illuminate[d]” so that they would acknowledge Jesus as “Savior of all men.”

Despite this, Benedict visited Israel—and spoke warmly of the Jewish state—as well as important synagogues and other Jewish sites around the world, increasing goodwill between Jews and Catholics. Michaels and B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider greeted the pope at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2009.

“Pope Benedict deserves appreciation for his contributions to the great cause of Catholic-Jewish engagement,” said Mariaschin. “We hope that Benedict’s successor will continue to build upon decades of historic progression in Catholic-Jewish relations.”

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith is deeply disappointed with Facebook’s response to a request to shut down a dangerous page aimed at Israel.

Facebook’s response: “Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.”

In fact, Facbook’s own Community Standards (http://www.facebook.com/communitystandards) expresses it best:  “Facebook does not permit hate speech, but distinguishes between serious and humorous speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events, and practices, we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.”

The page in general and some particular posts most especially are clearly in violation of Facebook’s own standards.

While we support free speech, this page degenerates into incitement.

We urge Facebook to immediately review and enforce its own policy regarding outright expressions of hate and intolerance.

B’nai B’rith International sponsored and participated in Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations across Latin America in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela during January and into February.

On Feb. 4, B’nai B’rith Argentina took part in a commemoration ceremony chaired by Minister of Education Alberto Sileoni, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Julio Alak and other government figures. The top Jewish community leadership participated in the event as well, including B’nai B’rith Argentina President Mario Wilhelm and the chairman of a survivors of the Holocaust organization in Argentina.

Argentina is the only Latin American country that is a member of the International Task Force for Education and Remembrance of the Shoah.

Argentine Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Religions Guillermo Olivieri spoke at the event, saying that those who risked their lives to save Jews during the Nazi era had “a very special and remarkable concept of ethics.” He also commented on Holocaust deniers, saying it is “completely unacceptable to deny the Holocaust, the largest and most heinous crime in the 20th century.”

On Jan. 30, a commemoration ceremony was held in Brasilia, Brazil. In what is now an annual tradition the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff addressed the crowd. The tradition was started by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who began speaking at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Brazil, when International Holocaust Remembrance Day was established by the United Nations.

The event posthumously honored two Brazilian diplomats who saved Jews during the Shoah. Souza Dantas, a Brazilian ambassador to France, and Aracy Guimarães Rosa, an officer at the Brazilian Consulate in Hamburg, both gave visas to Jews to escape death in Europe and flee to Brazil. Their relatives were present at the ceremony.

On Jan. 31, B’nai B’rith Uruguay took part in a special ceremony held at the Permanent Parliament Commission of Uruguay to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. The audience included government ministers, legislators, the ambassadors from Israel, the United States and Germany, and Jewish community leadership.

Several legislators spoke on behalf of their parties, emphasizing tolerance, respect for others’ religions and traditions and the importance of education so such a catastrophe is never repeated.

In Chile, a remembrance ceremony sponsored by B’nai B’rith and conducted by B’nai B’rith Chile Executive Director Mario Sadovnik, was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santiago, with ministers, parliament members, ambassadors, civilian, religious and military authorities, survivors and their families in attendance. 

President of B’nai B’rith Chile Eduardo Weinstein discussed the main threats to Israel, Jews of the world and Chile. Weinstein spoke about the Anti-Discrimination Act that was enacted last year in Chile, but expressed his disappointment with the fact that anti-Semitism was not explicitly included in the definition of discrimination. He also called for legislation that would establish hate speech as a crime as well as the inclusion of the Holocaust in the official Ministry of Education curriculum.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfredo Moreno also addressed the government’s commitment to assisting minorities and the rejection of all types of discrimination.

In Mexico, B’nai B’rith Honorary President Moishe Smith, B’nai B’rith Mexico leader Dan Tartakowski and B’nai B’rith Director of Latin America Affairs Eduardo Kohn all participated in a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the Mexican Congress and the U.N. Hall. After the ceremonies, the leaders met with B’nai B’rith members in their newly renovated facilities to discuss the work of the organization in Latin America and plans to have the Argentine prosecutor in the AMIA bombing case, Albert Nisman, visit Mexico.

Additionally, the congresses of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Panama and Peru commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day, also sponsored by the countries’ respective branches of B’nai B’rith. At each commemoration, members of the Jewish community participated in the ceremonies.

On Feb. 3, B’nai B’rith Venezuela cosponsored a concert to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Jewish community in Cuba hosted a Holocaust Remembrance Day event that B’nai B’rith cosponsored. In Guatemala, B’nai B’rith also cosponsored a Holocaust Remembrance Day event at Israel Square in Guatemala City.

Since 2006, B’nai B’rith Latin America has conducted and sponsored Holocaust remembrance programs to teach society outside the Jewish community about the Holocaust. Due in part to B’nai B’rith’s efforts such programs have gained national and regional prominence.

B’nai B’rith International renews our long-standing call for the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization following a report today by the Bulgarian government linking the terrorist group Hezbollah to the July 2012 attack in Burgas that left five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian dead, while wounding 30 others.
    
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov informed top-level government officials today of the conclusions reached after six months of investigation. The report states the two individuals responsible for the attack entered Bulgaria with Canadian and Australian passports and their funding and forged documentation can be traced to Lebanon. Israel has long maintained that Hezbollah was behind the attack and this is the first confirmation by a European government that it was indeed the terrorist organization.

“We have well-grounded reasons to suggest that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah,” Tsvetanov said at a press conference after a meeting of Bulgaria's National Security Council. “We expect the government of Lebanon to assist in the further investigation.”

“It’s encouraging to see the Bulgarian government put the blame on Hezbollah for these murders when so many in Europe turn a blind eye to the group’s terrorist activities,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “Too often members of the EU conveniently ignore the violence of Hezbollah and insist it is merely a political organization. Hopefully this report will strip Hezbollah of any claim of legitimacy and finally allow people to see it for what it is—a violent and dangerous terrorist organization.”

While the United States, Israel, the Netherlands and Canada all list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the EU ignores that and instead continues to view Hezbollah as a political party as the group controls much of the Lebanese government and minimizes its terrorist activities.

“By releasing this report, the Bulgarians have made an important move in presenting the true face of Hezbollah to Europe,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “The EU continually drags its feet on classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization when there’s so much evidence to the contrary. With Bulgaria now putting the blame on Hezbollah after a thorough investigation, the rest of the EU should remove its blinders and immediately designate Hezbollah for what it is.”

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is outraged by yet another display of anti-Israel bias by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A panel of three judges working at the behest of the UNHRC released its “findings” on Jan. 31, saying Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention with its settlements in “Palestine.”

The panel said Israel must withdraw from all settlements or Israelis could be tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, should “Palestine” sign on to the Rome treaty, as Palestinian leaders have repeatedly threatened to do. The panel also suggested that businesses cut ties to business interests in the settlements.

This is yet another example of the UNHRC’s prejudice against Israel. When this supposed “fact-finding mission” was created, there was never any doubt that the panel’s report would return with conclusions and recommendations that were anti-Israel. The fact that the UNHRC continues its unrelenting focus on Israel while ignoring actual human rights crises in other United Nations member states is absurd.

The UNHRC’s actions are counterproductive and defy insistence by the international Quartet for Middle East peace, of which the United Nations itself is a member, that progress be made through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. This latest UNHRC action prejudges the outcome of such a negotiation.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is outraged by the suicide bombing attack on the U.S. embassy in Ankara, Turkey, that killed a Turkish security guard and injured several others.

Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said the bomber was likely part of a far-left group, but offered no possible motivation for the attack.

We hope Turkish officials will expeditiously investigate the bombing and bring those behind this terrorist act to justice.

We extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

We mourn the loss of Ed Koch, who died Feb. 1 at the age of 88. Known for his plainspoken nature and charisma, Koch was mayor of New York City during a particularly troubled time and became the face of New York around the world.

During three terms as mayor, serving from 1978-1989, Koch connected with New Yorkers of every background. His eager query to New Yorkers, “How'm I doing?” became his signature.

Before his storied tenure as mayor, Koch served in the U.S. Congress from 1969-1977.

His forthright support for Israel, and his great pride in his Jewish faith, were always part of his persona.

So connected to New York that he insisted on being buried there, five years ago, he purchased a burial plot at Trinity Church Cemetery, the only cemetery in the city that had space. He even ordered and inscribed his tombstone, which features the final words said by Daniel Pearl, the murdered Wall Street Journal reporter:  “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.”

B’nai B’rith International condemns an outrageous anti-Semitic article written by Sawsan Najib Abd Al-Halim and posted on the Ma’an News Agency’s website, a Palestinian news outlet. In the article, the author calls the Jewish people “outcasts in every corner of the Earth,” “evil,” “scheming” and the “root of conflict in the world,” which Allah has “decreed humiliation and degradation upon them until Judgment Day.”

The article was translated from Arabic and exposed by Palestinian Media Watch.

What makes this article even more alarming is the fact that Ma’an News Agency is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Ma’an also receives funding from the European Commission, the Danish and Dutch governments and UKaid, the development fund of the United Kingdom.

“Apart from the gross nature of these comments, we are most worried about the funding sources of this so-called news agency which publishes blatantly anti-Semitic content,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “Agencies of the United Nations and governments of Europe, which denounce hate speech on their own continent, are acting hypocritically by funding Ma’an.”

The article—titled “Israel is Trembling!”—has since been removed from the website for “hateful content” that does not “represent the opinion of Ma'an or its editorial policies,” according to a statement from the news agency’s administration.

“This isn’t the first time Ma’an has published something outrageous and hateful directed toward the Jewish people,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “The international community must immediately demand accountability from recipients of funding. The U.N. agencies and governments who fund this operation must cut off financial resources to those who traffic in hate. That’s the best way to get their attention and those others who would contemplate publishing anti-Semitic articles.”