In the News
B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin sat down with Iton Gadol for a wide-ranging interview about the continuing surge in anti-Semitism globally and how important it is for world leaders to stand up and loudly speak out against the tsunami of hatred against Jews that is spreading. The interview was edited for clarity and length.
Read in Iton Gadol in English, OR read the article in Spanish.
B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin held an interview with ItonGadol to discuss the situation of the Jewish community and the fight against anti-Semitism globally, in which he stressed the importance of ‘world leaders standing up to the tsunami of hatred against Jews that is spreading globally.’
‘Seeing a pogrom in the 21st century on the streets of a European city should have provoked a loud chorus of repudiation from world leaders. Unfortunately, it did not,’ said Mariaschin, referring to the anti-Semitic attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam.
‘Global leaders: open your eyes. See how Israel and the Jewish people are once again being isolated,’ he stressed.
In addition, he analyzed the spread of hate speech through social media and emphasized: ‘Meta, X and others, despite what they tell us, still have to do more to prevent anti-Semitic language from opening the way.
B’nai B’rith has participated in a Meta working group that aims to ensure that Meta enforces its own rules and to allow us to offer ideas and guidance for stricter standards.’
B’nai Brith recently participated in Kristallnacht commemorations in different parts of the world. How do you relate this historical fact to the present, especially in light of recent anti-Semitic events?
There are some analogies, of course, and the first that comes to mind is October 7. I have said that what we saw in those 10 to 12 hours on 10/7 was just a glimpse into what the Holocaust must have been every minute from 1939-1945.
Another analogy is what happened in the streets of Amsterdam during the Nov. 7 pogroms. The lesson is that contrary to anti-Semitism diminishing over the years, it has returned to a level that is frightening.
Commemorating Kristallnacht has tremendous meaning today. We need to be constantly vigilant about the hatred leveled at Israel and at the Jewish people and be ready to speak out and push it back and defeat it.
Since October 7, we have seen a growing rise in anti-Semitism. Do you fear that the recent brutal anti-Semitic events in Amsterdam could spread and take hold in other parts of the world with similar characteristics?
Amsterdam was frightening but we should be aware that the danger for Jews in the streets of a number of European cities has been apparent for some time. I am concerned about copycat events that could approximate what happened in Amsterdam. After watching what took place there, we need to redouble our efforts in public diplomacy vis-a-vis governments, diplomats and law enforcement agencies to demonstrate that we are watching and that we expect absolute and total sensitivity to the rise in anti-Semitism in these countries, and to get serious commitments from law enforcement agencies and from judicial authorities to double down on those who carry out these acts of terror and violence.
Do you think that the repudiation of the majority of the main world leaders was forceful?
No. I don’t think it was forceful; nor was it sustained. To see a pogrom in the 21st century in the streets of a European city within the memory of Holocaust survivors should have evoked a loud chorus of repudiation from world leaders. And sadly, that was not the case.
Too often the condemnation of violence against Jews is weak or perfunctory and has little or no effect.
What do you think of the virulence of anti-Semitism on social media? Are they changing? Do you think that Meta or X should take more measures against hate speech? Is B’nai Brith working on this?
I think the virulence has not diminished. It’s grown. One example: One European website, which was reporting on a Kristallnacht observance in a former Eastern European country, contained a flood of comments after the article. In reading them, I saw the most vile language being used against Israel. Most of those comments connected the report on Kristallnacht to what has become the blood libel charge of genocide being leveled against the State of Israel. So, the intensity of hate language, of anti-Semitic language continues apace.
Meta, X and others, notwithstanding what they tell us, still need to do more against opening their pathways to anti-Semitic language.
B’nai B’rith has participated in a Meta task force whose objective is to ensure Meta enforces its own rules as well enabling us to offer ideas and guidance for more stringent standards.
Our B’nai B’rith office in Brussels has been working with European authorities to monitor online anti-Semitism. We teamed up with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, and partnered with UNESCO to create, “Online Antisemitism: A Toolkit for Civil Society.” We have described this important report as “a unique, practical and action-oriented guide for Jewish institutions and their allies to better address the challenges posed by online hatred, especially in a European context.”
Working with our team in Latin America, we also offer the report in Spanish, HERE.
More than a year after the October 7 attack, what are the challenges that B’nai Brith is facing and what do you expect for the future?
The challenges we face are the same as those faced by the entire global Jewish community, especially, the blood libel of genocide being promoted by Hamas and its friends in order to turn Israel from a victim into a victimizer. With that we have seen a torrent of anti-Semitism on university campuses, in the legacy media and social media, not to mention in the halls of the United Nations itself.
Understanding the importance of your organization in the world, what is your message to world leaders?
The 1930s produced an abandonment of the Jews. Very few countries saved Jews. We are always mindful and grateful to those non-Jews, later described as “Righteous Among the Nations” and Jewish rescuers (Jews who saved fellow Jews, even in the face of danger to their own lives) for their extraordinary effort to save Jews. We constantly call on world leaders to stand up in the face of the tsunami of hatred against Jews that is spreading globally.
I would also say: Israel is a strong member of the community of democracies and yet, it is incessantly pilloried, despite being a free, open and democratic country. Global leaders: open your eyes. See how Israel and the Jewish people are once again being isolated and train your attention on Iran and its allies and proxies who are so responsible for the dangerous slide into chaos that we see today in the Middle East and subsequent rise of anti-Semitism.
For us, fortunately, we live in an era of an independent Jewish state, which is not only a place that is the fulfillment of the Zionist dream, but also one that inspires strength and confidence in the future of the Jewish people.