B’nai B’rith has supported Israel since its pre-state days. Our World Center-Jerusalem gives us boots-on-the-ground access to government, technology and diaspora relations.

B’nai B’rith World Center Journalism Award

Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, delivered the keynote address at the 27th annual B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism for 2019. Her talk focused on “Old Wine in New Bottles: Antisemitism in the Contemporary World.” Winners of the 2019 Award for Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage, in memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf, are: Antonia Yamin, chief Europe correspondent for KAN – Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation (for broadcast media) and Zvika Klein, Jewish World correspondent for Makor Rishon and NRG360 (for print media). A certificate of merit in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky was conferred on Attila Somfalvi, lead anchor of ynet news. A special citation for Fostering Israel-Diaspora Relations through the Arts was bestowed upon singer, actor and Israel Prize laureate Yehoram Gaon.

Yom Hashoah Ceremony

The B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) held, for the 17th consecutive year, a unique joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah). This is the only event dedicated annually to commemorating the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust. Jerusalem-area schools and pre-army preparatory academies attended the ceremony together with Jewish rescuers and survivors; the Border Patrol provided an honor guard. The ceremony took place at the B’nai B’rith Martyr’s Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza. This year’s ceremony was dedicated to rescue efforts undertaken by the Jewish Defense Committee (CDJ). The Jewish Defense Committee in Belgium was founded in September 1942 in reaction to the start of the deportation of Jews by the Gestapo in August 1942 in Brussels and Antwerp. The goal of the CDJ was to operate clandestinely to save as many Jews as possible. During the ceremony, the Jewish Rescuers Citation was conferred on 11 leading members of the CDJ and four other rescuers who were active in Poland. Since the establishment of the Jewish Rescuers Citation in 2011, nearly 250 heroes have been honored for rescue activities in Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Holland and Belgium.

Jewish Rescuers Citation – Part II

The B’nai B’rith World Center and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust (JRJ) posthumously presented in April their joint Jewish Rescuers Citation in memory of Dutch siblings Harry Meyer and Gerda Wijler Meijer. Another presentation was made in March to two Dutch Jews who endangered their own lives to rescue fellow Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland. The first presentation was made in Amsterdam to Marga Grunberg, age 94, by Hillel Lodge Amsterdam President Orlando Heijmerink and Eron Wolf, treasurer.  The second presentation went to Juliette Engelander de Miranda, age 94, in honor of her late father Dr. David Rodrigues de Miranda (1898-1949).  

The Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jews who Rescued Fellow Jews during the Holocaust and B’nai B’rith World Center–Jerusalem also presented in the fall the Jewish Rescuers Citation posthumously to Rabbi Nathan Cassuto, chief rabbi of Florence and head of the Jewish underground in Florence during the Holocaust, and Matilda Cassin, a member of the underground. In a unique example of Jewish-Christian cooperation, the group, which included Jews and Christian clergy, endangered their lives to arrange hideouts for hundreds of Jews in Catholic institutions and homes while the Nazis and Fascists sought to capture and deport them to concentration camps.  The citation was presented to Asher Vardi, son of Matilda Cassin, and David Cassuto, son of Rabbi Nathan Cassuto.

In September, B’nai B’rith Europe held an event in Brussels honoring Maurice and Esta Heiber, two of the many Jewish heroes of World War II. The ceremony was co-organized by B’nai B’rith Europe and CCLJ (Centre Com¬munautaire Laïc juif), in coordination with B’nai B’rith World Center–Jerusalem, JRJ – the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust and L’Enfant Caché. In attendance: B’nai B’rith Europe President Serge Dahan; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of For¬eign and European Affairs and of Defense Didier Reynders, who is also in charge of Beliris and Federal Cultural Insti¬tutions; Political Counselor at the Mission of Israel to the EU and NATO Noa Ginosar; MP Vivianne Teitelbaum; former President of CCLJ Menia Goldstein; President of CCLJ Isi Halberthal; President of CCOJB Yohan Benizri; members of B’nai B’rith Eu¬rope Executive Committee Valerie Achache and Andre Ouazana; and B’nai B’rith Internation¬al Director of EU Affairs Alina Bricman.

Diplomatic Outreach from Israel

B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider met in June with Ambassador Nathaniel Imperial of the Philippines and with newly appointed Greek Ambassador Elias Eliadis. The meeting with Imperial focused on his country’s war-time efforts to provide a safe haven for Jews fleeing extermination in Europe and the close state-to-state relations that began with Philippine support for the U.N. Partition Plan in 1947. The plan to rescue as many as 100,000 Jews from war-torn Europe was devised by Manuel Quezon, who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his death in 1944. More than 1,300 Jews arrived in Manila before the Japanese invaded and occupied the country in 1942.  

With Eliadis, Schneider discussed the many projects undertaken by B’nai B’rith to strengthen ties between Israel and Greece. These include a bi-annual leadership mission to Israel, Greece and Cyprus initiated by B’nai B’rith with the participation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA) and American Hellenic Institute (AHI).

Also discussed: major international conferences on security in the eastern Mediterranean with the participation of senior Greek politicians and intellectuals, a conference held in Sparta that showcased the close relationship between the Hasmonean and Spartan kings in antiquity and the proposed Israel-Hellenic Forum (in formation). Schneider and Eliadis also discussed anti-Semitism in Greece and Europe and the need to ensure that good relations go beyond the governments and armies of both countries and include intellectual and public figures who will help counter lingering prejudices.

Israel-Greece-Cyprus – Part II

The Israel-Hellenic Forum convened this fall for the first time in Jerusalem. The meeting was moderated by Alan Schneider, director of the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and George N. Tzogopoulos, senior research fellow, Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE); research associate, Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA); and lecturer, Democritus University of Thrace, who co-founded the forum. B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin gave remarks at the opening session.

More than 30 prominent journalists and academics from Greece and Cyprus took part in the historic meeting. Sessions included the strategic importance of the Mediterranean democratic bloc; the regional economy; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; national security policy under Israel’s new government; the relationship between Israel and the United States; innovation, tourism and humanitarian aid; the emerging new paradigm in Israel’s relationships with Arab states; and Greek-Jewish relations.

Established by the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem, the Israel-Hellenic Forum is envisioned as a setting for discussion and action by Israeli, Greek, Cypriot and related academics, intellectuals and other public figures who have shown support in the public sphere for the burgeoning relationship solidified in recent years between these three countries – reflected in the regular tripartite meetings between their leaders and the flourishing state-to-state relations. The forum was created in close consultation with B’nai B’rith in Greece and with Israeli experts.

B’nai B’rith has long been dedicated to advancing Hellenic-Jewish relations and has maintained a local chapter in Greece for more than 100 years. In just the last six years, we have held a number of conferences and missions focusing on the trilateral Israel-Greece-Cyprus relationship, including several with our Hellenic-American partners the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA), the American Hellenic Institute (AHI) and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.  

Educating About Israel

B’nai B’rith International and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) hosted a group of eight foreign ambassadors and representatives serving their countries at the U.N. Human Rights Council and other U.N. bodies in Geneva.

Israeli Ambassador in Geneva Aviva Raz Shechter; Alan Schneider, director of the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem; and B’nai B’rith International Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels devised the intensive program and accompanied the diplomats, who represented the Czech Republic, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, for the week-long visit.

The purpose of the visit was to further expose the senior diplomats to the complex geopolitical circumstances of the State of Israel in the region and to its diverse and dynamic society. The U.N. Human Rights Council has long constituted one of the most hostile multilateral forums toward the State of Israel. President Reuven Rivlin met privately with the group and emphasized his own roots in Jerusalem.

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