In the cartoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who appears with a kippah on his head and an armband with the Star of David – pushes a coffin covered with the flag of Palestine into a crematory. On top of this, one can read ‘’Arbeit Macht Frei’’, the inscription at the entrance gate to the Auschwitz death camp, used by Nazi propaganda to trivialize extermination camps. A Jewish group dedicated to human rights has accused Portuguese cartoonist Vasco Gargalo of anti-Semitism after he used antisemitic symbols to portray the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

B’nai B’rith condemned the publication of the cartoon and asked that the illustrator be fired from the media with which he collaborates regularly.

“O Crematório”, a cartoon designed by Gargalo last November and published on the Cartoon Movement platform, illustrates the presentation last week of US President Donald Teump’s  peace plan.

In the cartoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who appears with a kippah on his head and an armband with the Star of David – pushes a coffin covered with the flag of Palestine into a crematory. On top of this, one can read ‘’Arbeit Macht Frei’’, the inscription at the entrance gate to the Auschwitz death camp, used by Nazi propaganda to trivialize extermination camps, suggesting that they were intended for re-education by forced labor.

In another Gargalo’s cartoon, Netanyahu was depicted as an octopus, a creature whose tentacles have long been a favored symbol for antisemitic agitators of supposed Jewish world domination. The Israeli premier was enclosed by a large Star of David as he gripped large bags of money marked with US dollar signs.

B’nai B’rith, the oldest Jewish organization in the world, condemned the cartoon as “a black politician being‘ crucified ’on a Star of David”.

Several Jewish digital publications and pro-Israel groups criticized the work of Vasco Gargalo.

The cartoonist told Portuguese magazine PUBLICO that he is not “against the Jewish community” but against “the policy exercised by Israel towards Palestine”. He believes that the “persecution” that he is being subjected to constitutes an “attack on freedom of expression.”
​
Esther Mucznik, a scholar of Jewish themes and a chronicler for PÚBLICO, considers “O Crematório” to be an “ignoble” cartoon. She said that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is “very criticizable”, but considers that the comparison to the Holocaust and the Nazi regime is “erroneous and ignorant.”

​ President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is now in overdrive, judging by the way he turned much of his State of the Union into a campaign pitch.

“We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!” he said on Tuesday night.

In an unusually partisan address, Trump lashed out at the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama, and took shots at the social democracy embraced by one of his potential Democratic rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders. There were rehearsed surprises redolent of the reality TV that earned Trump much of his fame, moments of real drama and no discussion of Trump’s soon-to-conclude impeachment trial.

And there were a few moments of Jewish significance, from the Middle East peace plan the president unveiled last week to an unusual disruption to what went unsaid. Here’s what you need to know.

One sentence about Israel: Three times, Trump conjugated “fail” to ding the Obama administration. Once was when he touted the peace vision that his adviser son-in-law, Jared Kushner, rolled out last week at the White House, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance.

“Last week, I announced a groundbreaking plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said. “Recognizing that all past attempts have failed, we must be determined and creative in order to stabilize the region and give millions of young people the chance to realize a better future.”

It’s been critical for Kushner and Trump to note that the plan, which sanctions Israel’s partial annexation of the West Bank, comes in the place of failed initiatives by Obama and two other presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The plan thus far is stuck in neutral: The Palestinians have rejected it outright, while Israeli action is likely delayed until after next month’s elections.

Bipartisan applause for Iran intervention: Trump celebrated his administration’s most notable kill, the assassination in December of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general. That brought one of the rare moments of applause from both sides of the aisle.

Trump also extended the possibility of peace with Iran if the country capitulates to his demand that it halt its nuclear program entirely (Iran insists it is not a weapons program) and cease its adventurism.

“The Iranian regime must abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, stop spreading terror, death and destruction, and start working for the good of its own people,” Trump said. “Because of our powerful sanctions, the Iranian economy is doing very poorly. We can help them make it very good in a short period of time, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help.”

The overture to Iran, however cautious, fit into an overarching theme of the foreign policy portion of Trump’s speech: the need to end U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts.

“It is also not our function to serve other nations as a law enforcement agency,” Trump said. “These are war fighters, the best in the world, and they either want to fight to win or not fight at all.”

Support for private schools: One rehearsed surprise reality TV-friendly moments came when Trump announced that Janiyah Davis, a fourth-grader from Philadelphia who was present, would receive an “opportunity scholarship” — money to attend whichever schools she prefers, public or private.

Trump used the moment to tout his administration’s signature education legislation, a bill that would expand the scholarships. That was music to the ears of many Orthodox Jews who favor increased public funding of Jewish day schools. The legislation, which Congress has not advanced despite Trump’s urging, would create a national version of programs that exist in 18 states.

Trump also declared that he would protect “the constitutional right to pray in public schools,” but mentioned only Christian symbols, such as crosses. A Jewish parent in the 1960s spearheaded the case that led the Supreme Court to restrict organized school prayer.

Renewed attacks on undocumented immigrants: A big chunk of Trump’s speech was a vivid and grim depiction of migrants as criminal threats. He was touting a Republican bill that would allow victims to sue cities that had offered sanctuary to migrants who go on to commit crimes.

“The United States of America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans — not criminal aliens!” Trump said.

Jewish groups, particularly HIAS and T’ruah, have been at the forefront of the sanctuary movement since Trump first cracked down on undocumented migrants. They note that the crimes cited by Trump and his aides are not representative of a population numbering in the millions.

Disruption by a grieving Jewish father: When Trump spoke about protecting the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to bear arms, one person in attendance shouted out in protest and was quickly escorted from the room.

That person was Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, one of 17 students and teachers murdered during the school shooting two years ago in Parkland, Florida. Guttenberg, who has dedicated himself to protesting for gun safety, had been present as a guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“Tonight was a rough night. I disrupted the State Of The Union and was detained because I let my emotions get the best of me. I simply want to be able to deal with the reality of gun violence and not have to listen to the lies about the 2A as happened tonight,” Guttenberg later wrote on Twitter.

“That said, I should not have yelled out. I am thankful for the overwhelming support that I am receiving. However, I do owe my family and friends an apology. I have tried to conduct myself with dignity throughout this process and I will do better as I pursue gun safety.”

What went unmentioned: Jewish defense groups say anti-Semitic expression has spiked, including two violent attacks in New Jersey and New York in the final weeks of 2019. Yet anti-Semitism went unmentioned.

“We were disappointed that the president did not acknowledge the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in the United States,” B’nai B’rith International said in a statement that praised Trump’s foreign policy initiatives. “With Jews under attack — physically as well as through relentless social media assaults — a plan to combat anti-Semitism would have fit in well with his overall themes of security and equality.”
​
The theme of combating anti-Semitism may have been absent from Trump’s speech, but it was in the chamber. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., brought as his guest Rabbi Zev Reichman of the East Hill Synagogue in Englewood, a beneficiary of nonprofit security grants championed by Pascrell. The grants have helped numerous Jewish institutions add security protections.

​In the annual State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump touted, albeit briefly, his policies on Iran and other areas of the Middle East.

In what was a 78-minute speech in the U.S. House of Representatives that mostly focused on domestic policy, Trump called out Tehran’s nuclear program and sponsorship of terrorism. He touted what the administration has called a “maximum pressure” campaign on the regime that has mainly consisted of imposing sanctions, both those that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, which the United States withdrew from in May 2018, along with new ones put in place.

Nonetheless, Trump said Tehran can change its economic destiny were it to change direction.

“We can help them make it very good in a short period of time, but perhaps they are too proud or too foolish to ask for that help,” he said. “We are here. Let’s see which road they choose. It is totally up to them.”

The president also expressed support for Iranian protesters, as well as mentioned the killing last month of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force in Iran.

“At my direction, the U.S. military executed a precision strike that eliminated Soleimani and ended his evil reign of terror forever,” he said.

Additionally, Trump briefly mentioned rolling out his long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who detonated a suicide vest and killed himself after being detected in a U.S. special forces’ operation in Syria in October.

He also called for U.S. troops to be brought home from the Middle East, including Afghanistan, in which his administration has had on-and-off talks with the Taliban to end the nearly 20-year war.

The “designated survivor” during the course of the address—a member of the president’s Cabinet selected to stay at an undisclosed location in case of an attack or instance of the president and line of presidential succession being deceased—was U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who helped light the National Menorah the first night of Hanukkah this past December in Washington, D.C.

‘A celebration of American exceptionalism and economic renewal’

Jewish groups immediately issued mixed reactions to Trump’s remarks.

Jewish Democratic Council of America executive director Halie Soifer denounced the president’s speech.

“Tonight, we witnessed a State of the Union address delivered by a president whose egregious wrongdoings are clear to the American people, and whose policies, rhetoric and behavior are antithetical to Jewish and American values,” she said in a statement.

“Instead of dissecting President Trump’s State of the Union address, we are putting the pieces of our country back together by electing Democrats who share our values,” she continued. “We don’t accept the state of the union as President Trump outlined tonight, and instead are focused on changing the state of our union by laying the groundwork for Democratic victories in November.”

Democratic Majority for Israel CEO Mark Mellman concurred, echoing his inner Mark Twain.

“Larded with lies, damn lies and statistics, the State of the Union address was an extraordinary display of Trumpian narcissism, bigotry and demagoguery,” said Mellman in a statement. “Even the beautiful moments scripted by his aides could not hide the chaos, divisiveness and impropriety that has marked the Trump presidency. His vision for America needs to be repudiated in November.”

On the other side of the aisle, Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks praised Trump’s address.

“This was the greatest speech of President Trump’s presidency,” he told JNS. “It was a celebration of American exceptionalism and economic renewal.”

“The speech not only outlined the historic accomplishments of his administration that have made us stronger, more secure and ignited a ‘blue collar’ economic boom,” he continued. “The president was compassionate, strong and instilled confidence in his leadership and commitment to leading America to even higher heights.”

B’nai B’rith CEO and executive vice president Dan Mariaschin applauded the parts relevant to the Jewish and pro-Israel community.

“The president’s strong statement on fighting terrorism, particularly Iran’s role in fomenting it, was especially noted,” he told JNS. “We laud the administration’s use of sanctions to curb Iran’s malign behavior, and financial and logistical support of terrorism. And the mention of the recently announced Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal speaks to the rightful priority that is being placed on that important initiative that takes into account Israel’s current and future security needs.”
​
However, he noted disappointment that the president did not acknowledge “the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in the United States. With Jews under attack, physically as well as through relentless social-media assaults, a plan to combat anti-Semitism would have fit in well with his overall themes of security and equality.”

​Aegis Trust, the Embassy of Israel in Kigali and B’nai B’rith International will convene a conference in Kigali dubbed “Incitement and Dehumanization as Precursors to Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity”.

The conference will take place at the Kigali Marriott Hotel on Monday, February 3, 2020.

This international event is bringing together distinguished officials, scholars, activists and survivors, from and outside Rwanda to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, signaling the final chapter of the Holocaust as well as reflecting on the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, ahead of Kwibuka 26 to be observed on April 7, 2020.

Participants will examine forms of indoctrination to hatred, fanaticism and violence that have historically led to mass atrocities, as well as relevant contemporary challenges and some approaches to trauma and future prevention.

“Especially nowadays, when we witness more and more antisemitism in Europe and elsewhere, we are proud and honored to partner with an organization like Aegis Trust and B’nai B’ rith International to provide a platform to discuss important issues like how to fight anti-Semitism and denial of the Genocide Against Tutsi”, says H.E Dr. Ron Adam, Ambassador of the State of Israel in Rwanda.

From B’nai B’rith World Center – Jerusalem Director, Alan Schneider and B’nai B’rith International Director of UN and Intercommunal Affairs, David Michaels, says, “As critically as guns and knives, it is words that kill. No one is born seeing others as less than human.”

He added that, “As we again see the surging of fanatic ideology around the globe, it is urgent that we address the incitement and indoctrination – the violent words – that lead to the most violent of actions.”

Meanwhile, the Aegis Trust Founder & CEO, Dr. James Smith, said that, “The failure to prevent genocide against the Armenians, Jews, Cambodians and Tutsis in Rwanda is a lesson for our time. When we don’t call out antisemitism, racism or any form of injustice, we are part of the problem.”
​
“To stop hate destroying, we must Stand Together and as Aegis Trust, we are pleased to welcome scholars, practitioners and policy makers from across the globe in this important conference to exchange knowledge and experiences, reflect and take action against growing antisemitism and genocide denial in all its forms,” Dr. Smith said.

​On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed on Monday the Never Again Education Act, a bill that seeks to expand Holocaust education in the United States.

The final tally was 393-5, with four Republicans and one Independent, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, voting against the bill.

If enacted, it would expand the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s education programming to teachers nationwide, requiring the museum to develop and disseminate resources to improve awareness and understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons.

The bill heads to the U.S. Senate, whose version slightly differs from the one in the House.

“We have learned over time that it’s not enough to simply condemn these attacks and disgusting actions,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who co-introduced the bill with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) last year, at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Monday ahead of the House vote.

“We also need to get to the root causes of the hatred, denial, intolerance that drives these acts,” she continued. “Studies have shown that education is one of the best ways to knock down the lies and the denials, and foster mutual understanding and respect.”

Under the House bill, which had 299 co-sponsors—204 Democrats and 95 Republicans—$2 million would be allocated annually for this year and each of over the next four years to the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund, administered by the USHMM’s governing body, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Private donations for the fund would be permitted.

“It’s a start, butit’s an important start,” Maloney told JNS at the press conference when asked how the bill would keep up with the demand in terms of funding for Holocaust education.

The original House version designated the U.S. Department of Education to oversee the program. The Senate version, which was introduced in July by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), is identical to that. It currently has 28 co-sponsors: 18 Democrats, nine Republicans and one Independent.

“We’re two different bodies,” said Maloney when asked by JNS about the discrepancy.

She explained that “there was some disagreement about how the curriculum should be handled and I just felt that it would be better to move it to the Holocaust museum where it would become the prime focus of that museum to tell the story, to preserve it and to combat anti-Semitism.”

The legislation would create an online Holocaust-education repository of resources for educators to teach both middle-school and high school students about the genocide that killed 11 million people, 6 million of whom were Jews.

Additionally, the House bill would establish a 12-member Holocaust Education Advisory Board to carry out the responsibilities under the bill.

Three of the members would be appointed by the Senate majority leader, three by the House speaker, three by the Senate minority leader and three by the House minority leader. Each member would serve a four-year term with four of the members serving an initial six-year term. Vacancies wouldn’t affect the board’s powers.

Currently, 18 states either encourage or require teaching about the Holocaust.

One-third of Americans believe murder of Jews ‘exaggerated’

A survey released last year by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany revealed that a third of all Americans believe the scope of the murder of Jews in the Holocaust has been exaggerated.

The data showed that the large swath of Americans believe that just 2 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, rather than 6 million.

In addition, 45 percent of Americans could not name any of the 40 ghettos or concentration camps erected by the Nazis, with a whopping 66 percent of millennials being unable to state the significance of “Auschwitz.”

While 93 percent of those polled said they believe students should learn about the Holocaust in schools, 70 percent said people are less concerned about the Holocaust than in the past, and 58 percent said a Holocaust or similar catastrophe could occur again.

“Holocaust can be referred to, for instance, a nuclear Holocaust, a natural disaster Holocaust,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at the press conference. “But this is a very specific type of Holocaust. And it is hate against a people because of their ethnicity, their religion, their color of skin, some factor that should be irrelevant.”

Less than half of Americans, some 45 percent, know that 6 million Jews perished in the Holocaust, while 29 percent weren’t sure or had no answer, according to a Pew Research Center study released on Wednesday.

However, 69 percent of respondents correctly said that the Holocaust was between the years 1930 and 1950, while 63 percent of respondents correctly defined the Nazi-created ghettos as “parts of town where Jews were forced to live.”

Moreover, 43 percent of participants responded that Adolf Hitler became German chancellor “by Democratic political process,” while 25 percent replied “by violently overthrowing German government.” Another 28 percent saying they didn’t know or had no answer.

According to Pew, “the data suggests that relatively few people in this group express strongly negative feelings toward Jews,” and that “respondents who get more questions right also tend to express warmer feelings toward Jews.”

Maloney had introduced the Never Again Education Act numerous times over the past years, first doing so 20 years ago.
“It’s not easy to pass a bill in the United States Congress,” she said when asked why it took so long for the bill to finally come up for a vote.

“This has been a divisive Congress in many ways. First of all, you have to find the right people to work with you. And I thank Stefanik and [Nebraska Republican Rep. Don] Bacon for coming forward and working so vigorously for it.”

Maloney noted that it’s “hard to move” a bill unless “there’s a groundswell of support from the American people.”

She said that after talking about the bill at the Jewish Community Relations Council in her district, where Hadassah CEO Janice Weinman was in attendance and approached the congressman to give her organization’s support on behalf of its 300,000 members nationwide and making the bill a top priority for Hadassah.

‘Legislation addresses critical need for our country’

Along with Hadassah and the Holocaust museum, other organizations that support the bill include the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress.

“This legislation addresses a critical need for our country and an urgent priority for Hadassah,” said Weinman in a statement. “It is imperative that we make every effort to push back against the hatred, bigotry, anti-Semitism and extremism fueling violent attacks—and the best way to do that is by passing the Never Again Education Act.”

“Improving the availability and enhancing the quality of Holocaust education is within our reach. Educators deserve our full support in their efforts to instill its universal and timeless lessons in every generation,” she continued. “The House has spoken clearly and on a bipartisan basis. Now is the time for the U.S. Senate to make the same powerful statement by quickly passing the Never Again Education Act.”

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told JNS that “we are pleased that the House has taken action today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust will be passed from one generation to the next. We look forward to this law’s swift passage and to working closely with teachers and districts across the country to ensure that Holocaust education is uniform and consistent across the country.”

In a statement, American Jewish Congress president Jack Rosen noted that “with anti-Semitism experiencing a sharp resurgence across the nation and the world, it has never been more important for our youth to be educated on how 6 million men, women and children were brutally murdered against a backdrop of collective silence.”

B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel Mariaschin told JNS, “The importance of this act, especially in this 75th year after the Holocaust cannot be overstated. Making available the resources to tell the story of the Holocaust to new generations of Americans is absolutely essential to ensuring ‘Never Forget.’ ”

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, president of Conference of Jewish Affairs, told JNS: “It is a worthwhile attempt to help reduce anti-Semitism and credit should be given to those who are trying to stem anti-Semitism.”

“I do, however, hope that it speaks directly to and stays focused on what the Holocaust was about: Jew-hatred and the destruction of the Jewish people,” he continued. “I hope it does not become so universalized, as we have often seen, that the specific intent of the Holocaust is lost in a general and overarching theme about hate in general or intolerance in general … the Holocaust was designed as the mechanism to specifically erase forever the Jewish people in a Final Solution.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, told JNS that the bill’s passage was “an important bipartisan action taken on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Education is an important component in the battle against Jew hatred. But it must be part of a comprehensive program including raising the penalties for hate crimes.”
​
“As with most bills, this one went through many versions. Bottom line it is clear that younger generations of Americans need to learn the lessons of the Shoah, especially in a time of increased anti-Semitic acts and rhetoric,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper told JNS. “This bill will help guide teachers and curricula issues.”

​Oporto is steeped in Catholicism. While our city may be best known for its wine production, it is now also home to a pioneering interfaith initiative.

The one lesson we can draw from history is that we never learn from history. Unfortunately anti-Semitism has resurfaced throughout Europe. It has taken a pernicious, often vicious turn. Too often, the story of small Jewish communities is one of a fight for survival. In Oporto, however, we have decided to combat this new strain of anti-Semitism through dialogue, collaboration and education.

Towards the end of last year, the Jewish and Catholic communities of Oporto came together to maximise what they had in common as opposed to focusing on what divided them. Interfaith initiatives are commonplace but as far as we know, this was a unique project, attracting support from many quarters, including B’nai B’rith International and The Vatican. Notably, the Pope himself wrote offering his prayers and good wishes.

Oporto’s Catholic body has an enviably rich history. It can trace itself back to the sixth century, has an imposing Episcopal Palace which is a visible landmark, while the Diocese comprises about two million people. By contrast, the Jewish community consists of roughly 400 members – albeit with the striking Kadoori Mekor Haim synagogue, being the largest in the Iberian peninsular.

Noting the disquiet in Europe, some members of the Jewish community wondered whether the Catholic community would join with them in combatting this new iteration of anti-Semitism.  But this was not to be through sermons or discussions in an echo chamber, but by participating in a ground-breaking interfaith project.  We may have different rites, rituals, and language, but one point of commonality is that we both have faith, the faith in a Power greater than ourselves. And this was a spark which generated the idea for this project.

Our project stemmed from a friendship and collaboration protocol, signed in 2018, between our two communities. While that delivered a closer understanding, we were also keen to capitalise on the growing relationship and over a period of months agreed on a series of initiatives that would help some of the most vulnerable in the wider community in and around Oporto. We will be actively working together to help the elderly, the sick and children contributing to a range of charities which have these key groups as beneficiaries.

This is a chance also to celebrate the richness of our distinct religious and cultural heritage, make a break with the divisions of the past and look ahead together to a more tolerant and supportive society. As a first step, we have produced a programme of four films, that bring to light some little known acts of kindness and religious tolerance as well as giving a historical account of the history of Jews in Oporto from the Middle Ages to the modern day.  All the proceeds generated from the films will be donated to our selected charities.

With so much attention and concern expressed over the resurgence of anti-Semitism across the world, we want this collaboration to stand as a beacon of hope for others and a re-awakening of Jewish life in Oporto and beyond.
​
This initiative has caused us to join in friendship to celebrate each other’s differences and collaborate to help those less fortunate than ourselves. For in doing so not only do we banish anti-Semitism, but unite in acts of lovingkindness and justice. This is the history we are now writing, together.

​The Philippine Embassy in Israel, in partnership with the B'nai B'rith World Center, will be holding "Safe Haven: Jewish Refugees in the Philippines", a commemorative event held in tandem with an event in New York hosted by the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York, B’nai B’rith International, and the US-Philippine Society, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January at the Balai Quezon.

The event will take place at the Embassy of the Philippines in Tel Aviv, 18 Bnei Dan Street at 18:00 PM (arrival and registration from 17:30).

The event, which focuses on Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon's landmark "Open Doors Policy" offering safe haven in the Philippines to Jewish people fleeing the Holocaust in Europe, will feature a panel discussion with Professor Robert Rockaway of Tel Aviv University, as well as screenings of excerpts from ABS-CBN iWANT documentary, The Last Manilaners, and Star Cinema's feature film on President Quezon's decision to accept Jewish refugees, Quezon's Game.

Mr. Max Weissler and Ms. Margot Pins Kestenbaum, the two "Manilaners" still living in Israel, will attend the event as special guests.

From 1937 to 1941, President Quezon extended visas to Jewish refugees who sought to escape the growing terror of the Holocaust in Europe. This policy, which came to be known as the "Open Doors Policy", led to the entry of close to 1,300 Jewish refugees to the Philippines, where they settled in Manila - leading them to refer to themselves, fondly, as "Manilaners". This little-known part of the shared history between Filipinos and the Jewish people was first brought to light in Frank Ephraim's book, Escape to Manila, and has since become the foundation of bilateral relations between the Philippines and the State of Israel.
​
Balai Quezon, the Philippine Embassy's cultural center, was inaugurated in 2019 to build awareness of President Quezon's policy and its impact on Philippine-Israel relations.

The Jewish Broadcasting Service covered testimony B'nai B'rith submitted to the Committee on Homeland Security in advance of a hearing on domestic terrorism. The testimony advocated for anti-Semitism countermeasures, including the appointment of a special coordinator on anti-Semitism based in the Department of Justice.