When historian and Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer spoke before the Bundestag in 1998, he declared that it was important to add three additional commandments to the original ten. Before the room of German politicians, he said:

• “You, your children and your children’s children shall never become perpetrators.”
• “You, your children and your children’s children shall never never allow yourselves to become victims.”
• and “You, your children and your children’s children shall never, but never, be passive onlookers to mass murder, genocide, or (let us hope it may never be repeated) to a Holocaust-like tragedy.”

That was over 20 years ago, and despite the protestations, it is clear that there remain many atrocities and massacres still being perpetrated around the world.

The questions we have to ask ourselves is how we ensure that these types of events are not repeated and ensure that future generations neither perpetrate nor passively stand by while others are involved in such egregious horrors.

Like every generation, today’s youth look to musicians, actors and athletes as their heroes in an ever-encompassing social media-driven world. These ‘heroes’ do not provide the next generations with the ability to distinguish between good and bad, or the moral fiber to face the ethical global challenges of the day.

​Instead, social media influencers could be utilizing their power, impact and the ability to inspire younger generations for good. They could celebrate and disseminate the great stories of heroism of those who, during the greatest mass slaughter in modern history, chose to stand up to evil.

That is why the Combat Antisemitism Movement, on this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, with our partners, B’nai B’rith International, the National Hellenic Society, European March of The Living and the Hellenic American Women’s Council, will be celebrating the remarkable heroism of Loukas Karrer and Dimitrios Chrysostomos.

Before the Second World War, 275 Jews lived on the island of Zakynthos off the coast of mainland Greece. Nazi forces arrived in Zakynthos on September 9th, 1943 and demanded a complete list of the island’s Jews from mayor Loukas Karrer.

Unsure of how to proceed, Karrer turned to the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church on the island, Metropolitan Dimitrios Chrysostomos, for assistance. Chrysostomos assured Karrer that he would negotiate with the Nazis and ensure the protection of the Jewish community of Zakynthos.

​After hesitating for months, the Nazis confronted Karrer at gunpoint to give up the names and locations of Zakynthos’s Jews. At this point, Chrysostomos handed the island’s Nazi leadership a list of the island’s Jews with two names on it: Loukas Karrer and Dimitrios Chrysostomos.
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The two leaders then mobilized the island’s citizens to hide all of the town’s Jewish people in rural villages, allowing them to escape deportation. While more than 80% of Greek Jews were killed during the Holocaust, the entire Jewish community of Zakynthos was saved. Loukas Karrer and Dimitrios Chrysostomos were honored in 1977 with the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for saving their island’s Jewish community.

THIS IS AN extraordinary episode which amply highlights the ability of individuals to make a difference and save lives. There are now generations of people who are alive just because of the actions of these two courageous leaders, one political and one religious.

They understood that their leadership positions did not just give them authority, but also responsibility. When confronted with a choice between endangering themselves and saving many people, most of whom it is doubtful they knew intimately, they placed the welfare of others above their own.

This story of heroism, and many others like it, should be widely known and recognized. They should be honored for their actions and their strong moral and ethical stands.

Especially in Greece, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) –  which brings together governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education, research and remembrance – it is important to show how fellow nationals nobly acted during a time when so many did not.

However, the lessons go far beyond space and time and are as applicable today as they were in 1943. The way we ensure ‘Never Again’ is to make sure the lessons of the past are clearly understood.

Of course, we must raise the alarm when we hear hate speech gaining ground, the scapegoating of populations and the call to harm people because of their race, religion or background. But we must also teach about the meaning of heroism so there will be good people who can stand up when the moment necessitates action.

Those like Karrer and Chrysostomos should not just be honored but celebrated, and their rousing stories should be spread much further than the latest YouTube sensation.

On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we should be thinking of how to celebrate heroism, specifically those of the Righteous Among the Nations. They are a vital part of Holocaust and education, but they are an even greater antidote to the possibility of the next mass murder or genocide.

Social media can become a source of positive impact, and those who wield extraordinary influence on its platforms can use their following to ensure the heroes of the Holocaust – those who stood against ultimate and industrial-scale evil – become the standard-bearers for today’s global challenges against hate and intolerance.

Then, we can truly say we are fulfilling Bauer’s three extra commandments.

A Jewish Rescuers Citation was presented in memory of Teddy Kollek (1911-2007), former mayor of Jerusalem, at a ceremony held in Hebrew at the Jerusalem Cinematheque on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022. The citation, a joint project of the B’nai B’rith World Center and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust, was conferred in recognition of Kollek’s heroic efforts to rescue fellow Jews in Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria. Read more about the event.

The B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust (JRJ) created the Jewish Rescuer Citation in 2011 to honor and pay respect Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust. Since then, nearly 600 heroes have been honored for rescue activities in Germany, Holland, France, Slovakia, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Belarus, Italy, Poland, Morocco, Algiers, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Belgium.

See how media outlets covered the ceremony:

Israel National News - Arutz Sheva
"The sign of the Jewish savior" – To the late Teddy Kollek

Jerusalem Post
Grapevine January 21, 2022: Herzog weighs in on Meron tragedy
​Legendary Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek will be memorialized yet again through a Jewish Rescuers’ Citation to be presented in his memory by the B’nai B’rith World Center and the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers during the Holocaust. BBWC has for several years now, honored Jews who saved Jews. The citation will be presented this coming Sunday, January 23 at 6.30 p.m. at the Jerusalem Cinematheque in recognition of Kollek’s heroic efforts to rescue fellow Jews in Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria.

In the spring of 1939, Kollek left England for German-occupied Czechoslovakia to undertake a complex and dangerous mission to allow Jews to transfer assets to Great Britain. From Czechoslovakia, Kollek, carrying a great many certificates for Austrian Jews, continued to Vienna for a meeting with Adolf Eichmann, who at the time was head of Jewish Affairs at the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst – SD). The meeting took place in April 1939 at SD headquarter in Villa Rothschild, which had been nationalized by the Nazis. Taking considerable personal risk at so dangerous a time, Kollek succeeded in convincing Eichmann to apply to Austrian Jews the same regulations that allowed Jews to still leave Germany with entry permits from foreign countries. In doing so, he saved many lives.

The citation will be presented in conjunction with the premiere screening of the film Recognition, directed by Shoshi Ben Hamo and produced and initiated by Avraham Huli. The film tells the exceptional story of rescue of Jews by fellow Jews who endangered their lives to do so during the Holocaust. The rescuers operated in cities, villages, ghettos, and camps and employed resourcefulness, tenacity and courage, risking their lives to save others. Some paid with their lives and those of their families. The film was shot in Israel, France, Poland, Greece, Holland and Hungary, beginning in 2016.

Speakers at the event will be Osnat Kollek, the daughter of Teddy and Tamar Kollek; Arie Barnea, chairman of the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust; BBWC Director Alan Schneider; Huli and the film’s historical adviser Prof. Gideon Greif.

Associated Press reports from Washington DC that the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Order of AHEPA), American Hellenic Institute (AHI), B’nai B’rith International, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, on January 19, held a virtual Ambassadors Forum with the US ambassadors to Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus Judith Garber, and U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt briefed the leadership of each of the four organizations on the 3+1 framework in the Eastern Mediterranean, touching on developments in sectors such as energy, defense and security, commerce, and tourism.

Following the briefing, the organizations issued the following statement:

“We sincerely thank Ambassadors Nides, Garber, and Pyatt for their generous time and for highlighting the importance of the trilateral partnership and the engagement of the United States as part of the 3+1 framework.

“The 3+1 framework is in the best of interest of the United States as it fosters peace, security, stability, and shared democratic values and ideals, in a vital region. We will continue to lend our broad diaspora support, ideas, and encouragement for advancing the framework, especially as we plan our fifth Leadership Mission to Israel, Cyprus, and Greece, later this year.”
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The participants were AHEPA Supreme President Jimmy Kokotas and Executive Director Basil Mossaidis, AHI President Nick Larigakis, AHI Foundation President Leon Andris, AHI Foundation Board Member James Lagos, AHI Board Member Kostas Alexakis, B’nai B’rith International President Seth J. Riklin, CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, Director of B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Alan Schneider, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Chair Dianne Lob, CEO William C. Daroff, and Vice-Chair Malcolm Hoenlein.

The Jewish Journal covered our tweet, along with tweets and statements made by other Jewish organizations, regarding the hostage situation at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas.

A gunman has taken a rabbi and three others hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, TX on January 15.

The hostage situation started toward the end of Shabbat services at Congregation Beth Israel; the suspect is reportedly calling for sister, Aafia Siddiqui, to be released from prison. Authorities have yet to confirm that the suspect is in fact Siddiqui’s brother. Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 for attempting to kill United States soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan. She is currently serving her sentence at Federal Medical Center Carswell prison in Fort Worth. The gunman reportedly said during a live stream of the services he is “going to die doing this” and that the hostages are “going to die.”

As of this writing, no one has been injured inside the synagogue. SWAT and the FBI are at the scene and the White House is monitoring the situation. The situation is ongoing.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also tweeted that he is monitoring the situation. “We pray for the safety of the hostages and rescuers,” he wrote.

Various Jewish groups voiced their prayers for the hostages and called for a peaceful resolution.

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B'nai B'rith tweeted: "We are closely monitoring reports of a possible hostage situation unfolding at Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. We are praying for a swift and peaceful outcome."

The rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, has been the rabbi of the congregation since 2006 and was previously the president of the South West Association of Reform Rabbis, according to the synagogue’s website. He also previously worked for Focus: HOPE, a Detroit-based organization focusing on ending racism and poverty, and Amherst Survival Center, a Massachusetts-based organization providing food for the needy. Cytron-Walker is the first full-time rabbi at the synagogue and Congregation Beth Israel is a reform synagogue that was first established in 1998.
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A 2014 Foreign Policy article stated that Siddiqui is known as “Lady Al Qaeda” over her alleged ties to the terror group. According to Jewish News Syndicate, Siddiqui was initially arrested by Afghan police in 2008 for carrying sodium cyanide and a flash drive filled with instructions on how to build Weapons of Mass Destruction. While detained, Siddiqui allegedly grabbed a rifle on the floor and fired it at U.S. military personnel. Siddiqui has denied the allegations and over the years various activists have called for her freedom, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR did condemn the ongoing hostage situation.

The Forward noted our call, along with other Jewish organizations and elected officials, for solidarity and a peaceful outcome to the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. The hostages were eventually released later that day, January 15, 2022.

As the hostage situation at a synagogue near Fort Worth, Texas, continued into Saturday night, Jewish leaders shared calls for solidarity and prayers for the hostages and their community.

​A man took four people hostage in Colleyville’s Congregation Beth Israel late Saturday morning, professing to be the brother of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence in a facility near the synagogue. Siddiqui, a relative by marriage of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, a primary organizer of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is serving time for an attempt on the lives of American military personnel after her 2008 arrest in Afghanistan on suspicion of planning attacks in New York.

Just after 7:30 Eastern time, one of the hostages was released, uninjured. Texas governor Greg Abbott announced just after 10:30 that the other three, including the synagogue’s rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, had been successfully rescued and were safe.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson shared that the city was taking extra precautions to secure Jewish sites in the area. While the man, who was reportedly armed, is believed to have made bomb threats, Michael Masters, director of the Secure Community Network — which offers security consultations to Jewish organizations — said his team had not found credible threats to other synagogues.

Jewish organizations and leaders in Texas, as well as across the country and world, shared on social media that they were monitoring the situation and praying for those within the synagogue. But as the country awaited a resolution to the ongoing situation, many abstained from offering further comments.

Elected officials, including Jewish senator Jacky Rosen and Jewish representatives Jerry Nadler, Jamie Raskin, Lee Zeldin and Josh Gottheimer, weighed in as well.

Some drew a connection between the situation and other recent antisemitic attacks on Jewish communal spaces, especially the 2018 Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, Pa.

​And some remembered that Cytron-Walker had himself shared powerful words after the tragedy at the Tree of Life.

Journalist Lauren Zakalik, who reported on a memorial service Congregation Beth Israel held for the 11 victims of the massacre, particularly remembered Cytron-Walker’s perspective on the long impact of such tragedies: “Jewish tradition tells us that when we see tragedy, we come together,” he told her.

And a Facebook post that Cytron-Walker published after that event also began to circulate, shared by organizations like Bend the Arc.

​“When it comes to hatred and violence,” he wrote, “we all must stand together.”

The Holocaust is once again being trivialized in the name of the politics. On Wednesday, Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson compared COVID restrictions to the Nazis' treatment of Jews. "This has been done before. #DoNotComply," he tweeted.

The Congressman joins a long list of those reaching for the Holocaust for such cheap political points. In June, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene compared wearing a mask to wearing a yellow star and had to apologize. In November, Lara Logan compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to Joseph Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor who did cruel experiments on Jews in concentration camps.

Across the globe, things are even worse; outright Holocaust denial is spreading like a virus. Earlier this week, outside a church in central Rome, a funeral concluded with a coffin draped in a Nazi flag, surrounded by participants giving Nazi salutes. In Iran, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, often tweets things like "why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust?" and "#Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain." In 2019, right before attempting a mass-carnage attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, on Yom Kippur, a gunman livestreamed a video in which he said, "I think the Holocaust never happened."

​The Holocaust—the most documented and systematic genocide in history—took the lives of two-thirds of European Jews. Among our own family members, in Poland and Lithuania, most were wiped out: innocent men, women and children.

Of the Jews who managed to survive, all are now at least 77 years old, and thousands are dying each year. That trend has likely been accelerated by the ongoing pandemic. And if Holocaust-denial can persist even as first-hand witnesses to the atrocities are among us, we can only imagine how malignant these pathologies will become once the survivors pass on.

The correlation between denial of past atrocities and indifference to new atrocities is clear. Whether it comes from the extreme right or radical Islamists, antisemites uniquely belittle or justify the Holocaust while also belittling or justifying current and prospective violence against Jews.

​Of course, distortion or instrumentalization of the Holocaust is not new. Among white supremacists, denial of the Nazi gas chambers' existence has been an article of faith. Even in America, certain local legislators or educators were recently found to have urged "neutrality" in teaching about Nazism. In parts of the Baltics, the whitewashing and lionizing of Nazi collaborators has been commonplace. And through much of the Middle East, the Holocaust has long been tarred as a "Zionist myth" alongside a false narrative that Palestinians paid the price for Germans' misdeeds with the invention of a "colonial" Israel by foreigners.

And whether at the United Nations or street demonstrations, bigots wholly rejecting the history and legitimacy of a Jewish minority presence in the Middle East have sought to add insult to injury by weaponizing the Holocaust, saying Hitler hadn't gone far enough or that Israel is guilty of Nazi-like practices.

At a 2001 U.N. conference against racism in Durban, South Africa, activists asserted both. A decade later, Iran's president hosted Holocaust-denial conferences and cartoon competitions, attracting such luminaries as former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, a newfound champion of Palestinian nationalism.

A few years later, Malaysia's then-prime minister—a self-identified antisemite who had called Jews "hook-nosed" and said they "rule the world by proxy"—questioned the number of Holocaust victims. And during outbreaks of Hamas or Hezbollah hostilities with Israel, social media platforms have facilitated an unprecedented spread of hateful lies concerning Israelis, Jews and the Holocaust, with negligible intervention by those profiting from them.

Next week, the U.N. will have an opportunity to help more seriously address the scourge of historical revisionism. 15 years after the U.N. began marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a resolution on Holocaust-denial and distortion will come up for a vote. We hope member states will join in adopting an important working definition of Holocaust-denial, as well as, ultimately, an equally vital working definition of antisemitism.

​While combating trivialization of the Holocaust is only one element of strengthening basic societal norms, it is a critical one. Let it be said once more: those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

A coalition of pro-Israel organizations sent a letter to Senate leadership on Tuesday taking aim at Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for blocking supplemental funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system and arguing that folding the funding into a larger package would “undermine Israel’s security.”

The funding passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in September of last year, but Paul has repeatedly blocked passage in the Senate, insisting that funding be reallocated from Afghanistan aid to pay for the $1 billion Iron Dome supplement.

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​A second letter, from some overlapping groups — the American Jewish Congress, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Agudath Israel of America, Ameinu, B’nai B’rith, Hadassah, the Israel Policy Forum, Jewish Women International, Rabbinical Assembly, Orthodox Union, Union for Reform Judaism and Zionist Organization of America — was also sent to the Senate leaders on Tuesday.

That letter does not directly attack Paul, but instead decries “unfortunate gamesmanship that is taking place right now in the Senate.” The signatories also do not directly criticize the omnibus strategy and instead “implore [Schumer and McConnell]  to not allow any more needless delays in passing this legislation. Blocking immediate consideration of the legislation weakens our entire nation’s commitment to our Israeli ally’s security.”

A statement about the letter from the American Jewish Congress highlighted that it includes a “diverse array of Jewish organizations spanning diverse religious, political, and policy spectrums” and “shows the strong support that exists across the Jewish community for getting the funding approved.”

As Congress prepares to return to its second session later this week, and with the midterm election in November on the horizon, Jewish organizations are working on their legislative agenda for 2022, deciding what they should promote and what they should oppose before the 117th Congress is dissolved.

The main priority for 2022, as several organizations noted, is securing $1 billion to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome system.

The funding has been blocked in the Senate for three months over the opposition of Senator Rand Paul. The Republican from Kentucky said last month that he would support the bill if it would be offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

​Some organizations reiterated the need for a permanent envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. In July, US President Joe Biden announced he would appoint Deborah Lipstadt to the position, but she is still awaiting her confirmation vote in the Senate.

Another item that is receiving wide support is the Israel Relations Normalization Act.

​Marshall Wittmann, spokesperson for AIPAC, said that the pro-Israel lobby’s immediate priorities in the new year are “working to gain final congressional approval of $1 billion to replenish the Iron Dome system and $3.8 billion dollars in security assistance funding for Israel.

“We also will be urging quick final passage of the Israel Relations Normalization Act. We will continue to urge Congress and the administration to confront the Iranian push for a nuclear weapon and combine diplomacy with added economic pressure and the credible threat of military force. We will be developing additional legislative initiatives to enhance US-Israel bilateral cooperation, and to ensure that Israel has the necessary resources to defend itself against the threat of Iranian aggression.”

Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, said “High on our agenda for 2022 is the need to secure Iron Dome funding. It’s our top priority on Capitol Hill for the moment.”

​He noted that Congress has passed legislation mandating the appointment at the State Department of a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.

“The administration has nominated Professor Deborah Lipstadt to fill the position,” Mariaschin said. “The Senate now needs to confirm her so that she can carry out the important work of this job in the fight against global antisemitism. We are also supporting bipartisan legislation in Congress that would impose sanctions on foreign individuals and agencies that support the terrorist activities of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

Mariaschin noted that B’nai B’rith will also be advocating for adopting the Israel Relations Normalization Act, which mandates a government-wide strategy to expand and strengthen the Abraham Accords.

“On the domestic side, we are supporting the House-passed version of the Build Back Better Act, because of funds appropriated for affordable housing for seniors,” he said. “Senior housing is a major project of B’nai B’rith. As the largest national Jewish sponsor of low-income housing for seniors, we sponsor nearly 40 residential facilities with over 5,000 residents around the United States.”

Jason Isaacson, chief policy and political affairs officer at AJCommittee, said his organization is focused on advancing the various items from its legislative advocacy agenda, including funding for the replenishment of Iron Dome; Senate confirmation of key presidential nominees including Lipstadt and Ambassador Barbara Leaf as assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Sarah Margon as assistant secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Tamara Wittes as USAID assistant administrator for the Middle East.

Another item, he noted, is the passage of S.Res.377/H.Res.558, urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in its entirety.

“With our ongoing national focus on raising awareness and providing necessary tools for the fight against antisemitism, we’ll continue working across the country to ensure adequate hate crimes reporting, reaching out to and securing commitments from governors, mayors, and other officials, and we’ll continue to press for the adoption by state and local authorities of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism,” said Isaacson.

​The Jewish Federation of North America has a busy schedule as well. Among the items on its agenda: securing $360 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program; securing $10 million for the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program; and advocating for investment in home-based health care for older adults and people with disabilities through the Better Care Better Jobs Act.

JFNA will also focus on Holocaust education and addressing online antisemitism, including fighting the delegitimization of Israel and supporting the implementation of No Hate Act.

“We have important legislative work to do this year in order to ensure that our community is safe, healthy, and inclusive, and that our society protects the most vulnerable,” said Jewish Federations SVP for Public Affairs, Elana Broitman. “The pandemic continues to show how important the national system of local nonprofit services is to supporting our communities, and the need for strong, bipartisan support behind our priorities to continue enabling these services.”

Sam Markstein, national political director for the Republican Jewish Coalition, said that “RJC’s focus this year will continue to be opposing the Biden administration’s wrong-headed efforts, most notably their plan to revive a dangerously flawed nuclear deal with Iran, their scheme to open a US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, and their disastrous ‘Build Back Better’ bill.

“RJC will also be supporting measures to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome, broaden and strengthen the Abraham Accords, and compel the Palestinian Authority to end ‘pay for slay’ subsidies for terrorism.”

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said that one of JDCA’s top legislative priorities for 2022 is passage of federal voting rights legislation “to defend our democracy and combat widespread Republican-led voter suppression. JDCA strongly supports the Freedom to Vote Act, which has the support of all 50 Democrats in the Senate, as well as efforts to abolish or reform the Senate filibuster in order to ensure its passage.

“Jewish Dems will also continue to support Democratic efforts to protect and expand abortion access, working with coalitions to advocate for passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act in the Senate, and to pursue reproductive justice,” said Soifer. “JDCA will continue to advocate for the confirmation of key Biden administration nominees in 2022, including Sarah Margon as assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Dilawar Syed as deputy administrator for the Small Business Administration; and Deborah Lipstadt as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.”

Michael Koplow, policy director for the Israel Policy Forum, emphasized that while the organization is not a lobbying group and does not lobby Congress on legislation, it “absolutely has a policy agenda. There are a few policy items we hope that Congress takes up in the new year, including normalization between Israel and regional states that is furthered, and that is also leveraged to make progress on Israeli-Palestinian issues; continuing to robustly support Israeli security needs; Israel-Palestinian security coordination; and funding to the Palestinian Authority Security Forces that prevents terrorism and violence against Israelis.
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Koplow said that the IPF also supports “people-to-people ties that further a viable peace process through continued support for Lowey funding, and continued support for UNRWA as the only entity currently able to provide critical humanitarian services in Gaza, predicated on its continued pledges to the US on transparency, accountability, and neutrality.”

The verdict is already in, writes B’nai B’rith.

​Your editorial “The U.N.’s Libel Machine Expands” (Dec. 28) correctly calls out the outrageous creation of yet another one-sided, permanent, standing United Nations commission, set up solely to investigate and castigate Israel. The U.N. already has three incongruous bodies (the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices) whose sole purpose is to vilify Israel. With all the crises, conflicts and catastrophes facing the world, no other U.N. member state merits the “honor” of such unique treatment.

Despite the new commission’s theatrical public “call for submissions,” there is no hope of transparency or due process. The verdict is already in: Israel is guilty as charged, of every manner of war crime and abuse.

The irony of this continuing and absurd star chamber proceeding is that the presumed victims on whose behalf this is all being done – the Palestinian people – will gain nothing tangible from these machinations. The road to peace between Israelis and Palestinians still lies through honest, good faith direct negotiations, not through yet another hypocritical, ill-conceived and biased U.N. body.

From this side of the ocean, attempting to analyze contemporary French antisemitism sometimes feels like a roller coaster ride.

The history of French Jewry, which has its origins in Roman times, is one of repeated ups and downs, exile and return, official discrimination and emancipation, searing antisemitism, accomplishment in many fields (especially, but not only, in politics, commerce, and culture), persecution and deportation, communal re-birth, and over the past 20 years or so, a compendium of violent acts committed against French Jews, against the backdrop of hatred from the far-left, the far-right, and, increasingly, from Islamists.

To demonstrate how much French antisemitism has shaped our view of Jew hatred over all of Europe, most conversations about the subject begin with offering examples of a never-ending string of violent acts against French Jews.

The list is lengthening, but most will recall these amongst the worst: the 2006 beating, torture, and killing of 26-year-old Ilan Halimi by assailants who held him for ransom; the killing of an adult and three children by an Islamist gunman in Toulouse in 2012; the 2015 killing of four and hostage taking at the Hypercacher market; the 2017 defenestration killing of 65-year-old Sarah Halimi by an antisemitic neighbor; the 2018 killing of 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll in her Paris apartment; and, just a few weeks ago, a 70-year-old Jew was beaten by intruders, demanding to know whether he was “a jeweler and a Jew” and where he was hiding “the gold.”

​Indeed, it was from the French Jewish experience that we first heard warnings about wearing kipot or Magen David necklaces in public. Those admonitions have now spread worldwide.

That the story of French Jewry is one of contradictions makes the current explosion of incidents that much more difficult to absorb. Paris is one of the great centers of diaspora Jewry, with over 40 synagogues and a highly organized communal structure, including dozens of Jewish schools and community centers, numerous organizations (including my own), radio programs, and — some say — more kosher restaurants than New York City. Jews hold high positions in government and academia. In a country that places high value on intellectualism, France counts many Jews who figure prominently in national discussions and debates about politics, the economy, and values.

But there is a dark side that runs up against all the pluses. As we are now seeing right here in the United States, Jews in France are caught in a vise of vitriol and violence from the political extremes, and from a growing Islamist threat that finds its origins in many neighborhoods where Jews once, and still, live.

The new antisemitism has, some say, replaced that which existed in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jewish officer was convicted on trumped-up charges of espionage; a deep vein of extreme nationalism; and a proliferation of antisemitic newspapers and books only set the stage for the murderous period of the Nazi invasion and occupation, and the establishment of the collaborationist Vichy government. Of the 76,000 French Jews — 25% of the community —  sent to the death camps, less than 500 returned.

Antisemitism in high places has affected French Jewry as well. The story of the thousands of French Jewish soldiers who fought valiantly in World War I and the community’s steadfast patriotism is well known. Yet, in 1980, after a terrorist attack on Simchat Torah at the synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris — carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — killed four and injured 40, then Prime Minister Raymond Barre commented that “a despicable attack sought to target Jews who were in this synagogue and that struck innocent Frenchmen who were crossing Rue Copernic.”

That remark set off a global firestorm of criticism of Barre for suggesting that the intended victims — the Jews in the synagogue — unlike the passersby, were, indeed, not Frenchmen at all.

Some Vichy collaborators, who managed to get rehabilitated after World War II, had their protectors and defenders. Maurice Papon, who was the secretary general of police in Vichy-controlled Bordeaux, was initially charged in 1983 for the deportation of 1,690 Jews to the death camps. Papon, who after the war had entered politics and served in the French cabinet under Barre, was ultimately convicted in 1998 of crimes against humanity and served just three years in prison.

Today, elected officials, cabinet members, and law enforcement have been quick to condemn acts of antisemitism, including current President Emmanuel Macron. Indeed, just a couple of weeks ago, in response to the sentencing of a French schoolteacher who waved an antisemitic sign during a demonstration against the government’s Covid policies, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin stated that “Antisemitism is a crime, not an opinion.”

But are statements enough to turn back the tide of Jew hatred in France?

In the meantime, French Jews continue to leave on aliyah; many buy apartments in Israel “just in case.” There are population shifts in the community, with many Jews leaving their old neighborhoods for what they consider to be far safer areas to live. The leadership of the French community has been outspoken about the current state of affairs, and its relationship with the country’s top political leadership has generally been good. Unfortunately, the day-to-day situation is such that the community needs to speak out frequently as antisemitic incidents add up and as questions of security loom large.

The entry into next year’s French presidential election of Eric Zemmour, a far-right journalist and pundit, who is Jewish, has added a new dimension into intra-community politics, sparking debate by supporters and detractors, adding another layer of stress to an atmosphere already fraught with angst about what the future holds.

For much of its history, France has been an immigration nation. That said, it wasn’t that long ago that it was known for expecting of its population allegiance to its iconic motto of “liberte, egalite, fraternite.” Even with a growing, diverse population over the decades, that was the glue that held the nation together. That fabric is now being tested and frayed. The attacks on the Jewish community are a canary-in-the coal mine situation, which indicate that the generations-old common denominators that brought all French people together are in trouble.

In times like this, analysts often look to the educational system for answers. It is more than worrisome that some schools in certain French neighborhoods refuse to teach Holocaust education, because to do so might ipso facto create sympathy for Israel as a homeland for Jews, reinforcing in the process the anti-Zionism already present and growing in those communities. Paroxysms of antisemitic acts, as for example, after the war in Gaza this past May, speak to how hatred of Israel, and by extension French Jewry, drives violence against Jews and their institutions.

Others look to the judiciary. Many in the French Jewish community feel that in cases like that of Sarah Halimi, whose killer shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he took her life and who was not held criminally responsible because he was high on cannabis, Jews are also victims of imperfect justice. The immediate outrage in the community over what is seen as a legal technicality speaks to the need for the French judicial system to review how it tries those who perpetrate violent hate crimes.

And, as elsewhere, social media in France is a daily conveyor belt of antisemitism. France is not the United States, with its distinct constitutional protections. The opportunity to crack down on websites that thrive on Jew hatred is more readily available to French public officials. There must be a doubling down on identifying and tracking down those who traffic in hate on the Internet.

The combination of traditional, nationalist/far right antisemitism and militant anti-Zionism from the far left and the Islamists have produced a disturbing cocktail of hate in France. Contemporary antisemitism there affects us all. It’s not an overstatement to say the soul of France is on trial. Is the will and the means present to reverse the tide?

Going on 22 years into the new century, we anxiously await that answer.

Daniel S. Mariaschin is the CEO of B’nai B’rith International.

Seit einiger Zeit wird nicht nur in Brüssel hitzig über die Frage diskutiert, ob die Europäische Union durch ihre unkonditionierten – also nicht an Bedingungen geknüpfte – Finanzspritzen für die Palästinensische Autonomiebehörde in Wahrheit das Gegenteil dessen erreicht, was sie will: nämlich den Aufbau demokratischer Strukturen im Westjordanland zu fördern und die Palästinenser so auf die Eigenstaatlichkeit vorzubereiten.

GEHÄLTER Immer wieder gibt es schwere Vorwürfe, die auch Fragen aufwerfen nach dem Sinn und Zweck der Millionenzahlungen aus dem europäischen Steuersäckel. Immerhin finanziert Brüssel rund sieben Prozent des Budgets der Palästinensischen Autonomiebehörde in Ramallah.
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Mit einem als »Pégase« genannten Zahlungsmechanismus beteiligt sich die EU sogar substanziell an den Salären und Renten der Mitarbeiter des greisen PA-Präsidenten Mahmoud Abbas, der seit 2005 im Amt ist und sich in dieser Zeit erst ein einziges Mal einer demokratischen Wahl stellen musste.

​Abbas wiederum hält daran fest, an die Familienangehörigen palästinensischer Terroristen – von palästinensischer Seite als Märtyrer gefeiert – fürstliche Renten auszuzahlen. Die Proteste Israels und Vorwürfe, europäische Gelder würden so indirekt auch militanten Gruppen zugutekommen, die auf der EU-Liste der verbotenen terroristischen Organisationen geführt werden, werden immer lauter.

GEBER EUROPA Nun nahm das EU-Büro der jüdischen Organisation B’nai B’rith International (BBI) die Brüsseler Subventionspolitik für die Palästinenser genauer unter die Lupe und beauftragte zwei Akademiker mit einer umfassenden Untersuchung. »Aligning Principles in Practice« (»Prinzipien mit der Praxis in Einklang bringen«) lautet der Titel des von Tommaso Virgili, aktuell Forscher am Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung in Berlin, und dem britischen Terrorismus- und Sicherheitsexperten Paul Stott verfassten Berichts.

Mehr als 300 Millionen Euro fließen jedes Jahr aus verschiedenen Töpfen des EU-Haushalts in die palästinensischen Gebiete. Erst unlängst beschloss das Europäische Parlament, die Mittel für das UN-Flüchtlingshilfswerk UNRWA nicht einzufrieren, sondern sogar weiter aufzustocken.

NARRATIVE Hinzu kommen die teils üppigen direkten Zahlungen einzelner Mitgliedsstaaten. Obwohl Europa damit der größte Geldgeber der Palästinenser und für ausschließlich dort tätige Organisationen wie das UNRWA ist, nutzt sie ihren potenziellen Einfluss in der Region kaum – schon gar nicht, um Druck zu machen für Reformen und um die Menschenrechtsverletzungen gegen Palästinenser und andere zu beenden. Zu diesem Schluss kommen auch die beiden Autoren.

Zwar formuliere Brüssel gern hehre Ziele seiner Förderpolitik. In der Praxis verfolge man dann aber einen äußert nachsichtigen Kurs –selbst gegenüber zweifelhaften Akteuren in der Autonomiebehörde und der palästinensischen Zivilgesellschaft, so die beiden Experten. Häufig würden von EU-Seite kritiklos palästinensische Narrative akzeptiert, denen zufolge die israelische Besatzung oder mangelnde Fortschritte im Friedensprozess als Ausrede herhalten müssen für die sich nicht bessernde Situation der Palästinenser.

POLITISCHE BOTSCHAFT Ende November stattete eine 20-köpfige EU-Delegation unter Leitung des deutschen Diplomaten Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff dem Gazastreifen einen Besuch ab. Ziel sei es gewesen, berichtete die palästinensische Nachrichtenagentur WAFA, sich aus erster Hand ein Bild von den Entwicklungen in der von der Hamas seit 2007 regierten Küstenenklave zu machen.

Und auch, um »eine politische Botschaft zu übermitteln«, nämlich die Forderung nach Aufhebung »der unmenschlichen Blockade des Gazastreifens und die Überwindung der nationalen Spaltung in der palästinensischen Arena gefordert wird, damit die palästinensische Regierung ihre Aufgaben im Gazastreifen wieder in vollem Umfang wahrnehmen kann.« EU-Repräsentant Kühn von Burgsdorff ließ sich von den bestellten Pressefotografen mit einem vollen Korb Erdbeeren ablichten.

Die Europäische Union sei den Palästinensern gegenüber nicht nur überaus nachsichtig, so Virgili und Stott, sondern rechtfertige die Nichteinhaltung der EU-Prinzipien und Förderkritierien durch die Palästinenser sogar noch, indem sie selbst solche politisch einseitigen Narrative bediene. Trotz bestehender Anti-Terrorismus-Klauseln poche man in Brüssel nicht auf ein Ende der Zahlungen an die Angehörigen verurteilter Terroristen – die USA unter Donald Trump hatten die Zuwendungen an die PA deshalb sogar komplett eingestellt.

ANSPRUCH Die EU gehe auch viel zu lasch mit Hass und Hetze in Schulbüchern um, die an palästinensischen Schulen verwendet werden, betonen die Autoren des Berichts. Bereits im Mai diesen Jahres hatte der israelische Inlandsgeheimdienst Schin Bet behauptet, NGOs wie das palästinensische Health Work Committee missbrauchten durch fiktive Projekte und gefälschte Lohnabrechnungen europäische Gelder für den Kauf von Waffen oder für propagandistische Zwecke – unter dem Deckmäntelchen vermeintlich karitativer Aktivitäten.

Eigentlich, befinden Stott und Virgili, habe die Europäische Union ja durchaus recht mit ihrem Anspruch, Demokratie, Stabilität und wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit mit den Staaten in ihrer unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft zu fördern. Denn das helfe auch den Ländern in der Europäischen Union.

​Um dem Anspruch aber gerecht zu werden, fordern die beiden Autoren des Bnai-Brith-Berichts, müsse Brüssel bereit sein, ein robustes System wirksamer Konditionalität entwickeln – mit klaren Forderungen hinsichtlich der Umsetzung von Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Menschenrechten, entschlossenem Handeln gegenüber terroristischen Aktivitäten und der Bekämpfung von Antisemitismus.

HEBEL Bei der Vorstellung des Berichts stießen auch andere Redner in dieses Horn. Der SPD-Europaabgeordnete Dietmar Köster sagte, die EU müsse sich mit Israel (»der einzigen Demokratie im Nahen Osten«) solidarisch zeigen. Dazu gehöre auch, dass man genau hinschaue, was in den Palästinensergebieten passiere, bestehende »Hebel« dann auch umlege und Veränderungen einfordere.

Nur ein demokratisches Palästina wird in Frieden mit Israel und seiner eigenen Bevölkerung leben können«, glaubt Köster.

Sydney’s James Altman has been elected senior vice president of B’nai B’rith International by the organization’s International Board of Governors during its triennial meeting in Washington.

​In this leadership position, Altman takes an active role in implementing B’nai B’rith’s policies and programs during a three-year term.

James Altman served as president of B’nai B’rith Australia/New Zealand (BBANZ) from 2002-2006 and 2010-2013. He is also past chairman of B’nai B’rith Courage to Care—a community education program for students and adults aimed at teaching how to be an upstander rather than a bystander in the face of discrimination and prejudice, especially in relation to anti-Semitism. Having been involved with the program since its inception in 1999, he became chairman of Courage to Care in 2019 and was honoured with the B’nai B’rith International President’s Award for his work with the program.

Altman is also chairman of the B’nai B’rith Foundation in Australia, which aids victims of natural disasters around the world.

Through his involvement in BBANZ, Altman was instrumental in securing amendments to the Resolution on the Rights of the Child from the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. He has also volunteered with the Refugee Council of Australia, the Australian Refugee Foundation and the Online Hate Prevention Institute.

In 2008, he received the Medal of the Order of Australia from the Australian government for his service to the Jewish community and for fostering intercultural understanding.

Altman is the son of Austrian Jews who escaped to Australia from Vienna in 1938. They were among the founding members of B’nai B’rith Australia, established in 1944.

James Altman told J-Wire: “In my new role as Senior Vice-President in B’nai B’rith International, I’m hoping to expand the awareness of our amazing Courage to Care program, promoting the importance of every person being an upstander when confronted by discrimination and racism.  We have had expressions of interest in this unique program from the USA, UK, Israel, and New Zealand, and I’m looking forward 1to being able to build on this.

B’nai B’rith is involved in some world-leading initiatives and advocacy in the areas of human rights and social justice, especially in Canada, but also in other countries. I hope to be able to bring an awareness of these to our members and supporters in Australia, and to raise our profile in the community through innovative programs and events.”

Outside of his work with B’nai B’rith, Altman has a passion for music and has been involved in choirs for most of his life, including in the late 1970s and 1980s when he conducted the choir of the Great Synagogue in Sydney. Altman is married to Elaine and together they have two adult daughters and three grandsons.

The European Union has not done enough to ensure that its funding to the Palestinian Authority does not support incitement to violence and human rights violations, a study published on Tuesday argued.

“Despite existing anti-terrorism regulations, the EU has not addressed funding by the Palestinian Authority to families of convicted terrorists as well as the persistent issue of incitement to hatred and widespread antisemitism in Palestinian textbooks,” wrote researchers Tommaso Virgili and Paul Stott, who previously authored a report on hidden Muslim Brotherhood networks in Europe.

The study was commissioned by B’nai Brith International, a Jewish non-profit that also advocates on behalf of Israel in the United States and abroad.

​The report slammed the EU for failing to ensure accountability in the Palestinian Authority education system. Palestinian textbooks have long been assailed by critics as containing hate speech and incitement, including by a 2021 EU study.

Brussels is the PA’s largest single donor and helps pay the salaries of many of its civil servants, including those who design PA curricula. It is also the second-largest donor to the United Nations Works and Reliefs Agency — which supports Palestinian refugees — sending over $157 million in aid in 2021.

“For many years, the EU has been criticized for failing to align its practice with principles with regard to the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian nonprofits,” B’nai Brith director Alan Schneider said during a webinar inaugurating the report.

​The report also charged that the EU does not uphold its own values when it continues to fund the PA, given the PA’s practice of paying stipends to the families of those imprisoned or killed by Israeli forces. Critics call the practice “pay for slay,” as the funds can also go to Palestinians convicted of brutal acts of terror.

The EU for too long “turned a blind eye towards the practice of payments to the families of convicted terrorists, praised as martyrs,” said European parliamentarian David Lega during the report’s launch.

​The researchers argued that Brussels should impose conditions on its aid to the PA and consider adopting legislation that bans aid as long as Ramallah continues paying out stipends to Palestinian security prisoners and their families.

While Israeli officials have consistently condemned the prisoner stipends and alleged incitement in textbooks, the government has also sought to bolster the PA, seen as more moderate than its Islamist Hamas rivals, including by increasing international aid to its rapidly draining coffers.

As recently as November, Israel lobbied international donors in Oslo — including the European Union — to step up support for the Palestinian Authority.

The report elided any mention of Ramallah’s policy of security coordination with Israel, in which Palestinian Authority forces work with Israeli intelligence to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the West Bank.

​La Unión Europea no ha hecho lo suficiente para garantizar que su financiación a la Autoridad Palestina no apoye la incitación a la violencia y las violaciones de los derechos humanos, según un estudio publicado el martes.

​“A pesar de la normativa antiterrorista existente, la UE no ha abordado la financiación por parte de la Autoridad Palestina de las familias de los terroristas condenados, así como la cuestión persistente de la incitación al odio y el antisemitismo generalizado en los libros de texto palestinos”, escribieron los investigadores Tommaso Virgili y Paul Stott, autores anteriormente de un informe sobre las redes ocultas de los Hermanos Musulmanes en Europa.

El estudio fue encargado por B’nai Brith International, una organización judía sin ánimo de lucro que también aboga por Israel en Estados Unidos y en el extranjero.  El informe criticaba a la UE por no garantizar la responsabilidad en el sistema educativo de la Autoridad Palestina. Los libros de texto palestinos han sido condenados durante mucho tiempo por los críticos por contener discursos de odio e incitación, incluso por un estudio de la UE de 2021.

Bruselas es el mayor donante individual de la AP y ayuda a pagar los salarios de muchos de sus funcionarios, incluidos los que diseñan los planes de estudio de la AP. También es el segundo mayor donante del UNRWA -que apoya a los refugiados palestinos– enviando más de 157 millones de dólares en ayuda en 2021.

“Durante muchos años, la UE ha sido criticada por no alinear su práctica con los principios con respecto a la Autoridad Palestina y las organizaciones palestinas sin fines de lucro”, dijo el director de B’nai Brith, Alan Schneider, durante un seminario web que inauguró el informe.

El informe también denuncia que la UE no defiende sus propios valores cuando sigue financiando a la AP, dada la práctica de la AP de pagar estipendios a las familias de los terroristas encarcelados o abatidos por las fuerzas israelíes. Los críticos llaman a esta práctica “pagar por matar”, ya que los fondos son dirigidos a palestinos condenados por actos brutales de terrorismo.

Durante demasiado tiempo, la UE “hizo la vista gorda ante la práctica de los pagos a las familias de los terroristas condenados, alabados como mártires”, dijo el parlamentario europeo David Lega durante la presentación del informe.

Los investigadores argumentaron que Bruselas debería imponer condiciones a su ayuda a la AP y considerar la adopción de una legislación que prohíba la ayuda mientras Ramallah siga pagando estipendios a los prisioneros de seguridad palestinos y a sus familias.

Aunque los funcionarios israelíes han condenado sistemáticamente los estipendios a los prisioneros y la supuesta incitación en los libros de texto, el gobierno también ha tratado de reforzar a la AP, considerada más moderada que sus rivales islamistas de Hamás, incluso aumentando la ayuda internacional a sus arcas, que se están agotando rápidamente.  En noviembre, Israel presionó a los donantes internacionales en Oslo -incluida la Unión Europea- para que aumentaran el apoyo a la Autoridad Palestina.

​El informe eludió cualquier mención a la política de Ramallah de coordinación de la seguridad con Israel, en la que las fuerzas de la Autoridad Palestina trabajan con la inteligencia israelí para reprimir a los terroristas de Hamás y la Yihad Islámica en Cisjordania.

Cal State Northridge graduate and Woodland Hills resident Eric Book has been elected senior vice president of B’nai B’rith International, the organization announced Sunday.

Book is expected to take an active role implementing B’nai B’rith’s policies and programs during his three-year term. He was elected to the post by the organization’s International Board of Governors during its triennial meeting in Washington, D.C.

Book joined B’nai B’rith in 1975 as an Encino B’nai B’rith Lodge member, and for his first project raised money for the B’nai B’rith youth programs. He is currently a member of the group’s International Board of Governors and Executive Board of Directors, and previously served as vice president (finance) of B’nai B’rith Southern California and president of B’nai B’rith Pacific Southwest Region.

​He has received many service awards including the Akiba Award, Guardian of the Menorah Award, Past Presidents Service Award, Anti-Defamation League Distinguished Service Award and the Pioneers of Israel Award.

Book was born in Montclair, New Jersey, and is a member of Temple Judea in Tarzana, along with his wife Julie and son Robert.

B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. More information can be found at www.bnaibrith.org.

Kicking the can down the road is no longer an option, it seems. The world is finally coming to a crossroads with Tehran’s nuclear program.

When Joe Biden entered the Oval Office in January this year, one of the most urgent tasks he set out was returning to the Iran nuclear deal. This goal was supposed to be an easy one to achieve. Obama administration veterans were brought on board: Rob Malley, a key figure in the original JCPOA negotiations, was made US special envoy to Iran, and Jake Sullivan was made national security advisor. Tony Blinken, Biden’s former advisor, was appointed secretary of state, and said the goal was for both sides to first return to the original deal, and then negotiate “a longer and stronger agreement.”

The feeling in Jerusalem was that a return to the nuclear deal was only a matter of time, that all it would take is sorting out a few technicalities. But the Iranians had different plans. Since Trump’s withdrawal from the deal in 2018, they continued uranium enrichment at an accelerated pace, and this time they’re coming to the negotiating table one step away from the nuclear threshold.

If Washington expected them to be desperate for a deal, they were soon disillusioned. The Iranians are not only no longer content with the 2015 terms, they want a lot more from the West in exchange for far more modest concessions on their own part. In their view, America has to not only lift all sanctions, but also commit to never impose sanctions in the future for Iran to even consider restrictions on its nuclear project.

The Iranians’ arrogance led to Blinken sounding pessimistic at the end of the week.

“Iran doesn’t seem serious,” he said, in what could signal a dramatic change of approach on Iran. “If the path to a return to compliance with the agreement turns out to be a dead end, we will pursue other options.”

“Other options” is a deliberately vague term, intended to leave the door wide open to interpretation, possibly extending as far as a military threat. But it could also mean imposition of further sanctions, something Iran will clearly find unacceptable.

Danny Danon, former Israeli ambassador to the UN, tells Mishpacha that for his part, he wasn’t particularly surprised by Iran’s conduct.

“We are not at all surprised at the breakdown of talks in Vienna,” he said. “Iran has been deceitful in the past, and they are playing the same game now. After months of hard work and negotiations between the parties, Iran no longer accepts the agreed-upon compromises and is demanding outrageous walk-backs and changes. The diplomatic approach didn’t work at the beginning, and it is clearly breaking down now.

“There is a recognition that we are at a critical crossroads,” Danon continued. “Now is the time for the United States and other countries to adopt a new approach with the Iranian regime, in light of its dishonest and shameless conduct. They should speak to the Iranians in a way that they’ll understand, and apply more sanctions.”

Danon’s call for additional sanctions would fit neatly into Blinken’s threat to pursue “other options,” without banging the drums for war — perhaps a stark recognition that Israel can’t get too far in front of its powerful ally.

Dan Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International, has been active and vocal in opposition to the JCPOA since 2015. During this time, he has met with numerous leaders and diplomats and tried to convince them that any agreement should include not only the nuclear aspect, but also Iran’s malign regional activities and human rights abuses. His comments to Mishpacha echoed some of Danon’s rhetoric.

“It comes as no surprise that Secretary Blinken has said the Iranians are not serious about a resumption of negotiations,” he told Mishpacha. “For years, Tehran has done nothing but signal it is dead set on moving ahead with its nuclear weapons program.

“The first order of turning to ‘other options’ should be to hold fast to sanctions already imposed on Iran and adding additional measures to pressure the regime,” he said. “It’s long past time for the international community to stop treating Iran as a credible negotiating partner and to begin calling it out for the dangerous, rogue outlier it is.”

Mariaschin, in other words, sees sanctions as only the first step in Blinken’s unspoken threat; and if those don’t work, stronger measures would clearly be needed to deal with a dangerous adversary.

Richard Goldberg, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, brings up another point: The US should leverage its influence in the UN to prod the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the watchdog over Iran’s nuclear activities, to act as well.

“The most important issue to take up at the IAEA is Iran’s failure to cooperate with a three-year probe into undeclared nuclear material, which constitutes a breach of Iran’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT],” he said. “The IAEA board should pass a formal resolution finding Iran in NPT non-compliance and refer the matter to the UN Security Council. This investigation goes to the heart of Iran’s nuclear deceit and reminds the world of the folly of any nuclear agreement absent a full accounting of Iran’s nuclear program.”

This full accounting is something to which Iran has been implacably resistant. It was in this context that Mossad chief Dadi Barnea and Defense Minister Benny Gantz embarked on a whirlwind visit to the US. The purpose is to expose the Americans to more intelligence about Iran’s intentions. But what’s the goal of the visit? After all, America isn’t going to take military action against Iran, so what are Barnea and Gantz hoping to achieve?

Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to Washington and former deputy foreign minister, told Mishpacha that Israel’s security chiefs are bringing an “unequivocal message” to Washington: “Any deal that enables Iran to achieve breakout capacity — the ability to produce a nuclear weapon in weeks or even days — poses a strategic threat to Israel, which has the right and duty to defend itself by all possible means.”

Like Oren, Danny Ayalon served as Israel’s ambassador to Washington and then as former deputy foreign minister. He told Mishpacha that we are in an “extremely sensitive time period,” and that in the upcoming week we will know the faith of the Vienna negotiations — whether the sides are headed for a crisis and the end of the negotiations, or for another attempt to save the 2015 deal.

“Israel should be reasonable and rely on previous experience,” he said. “We should have a detailed discussion with the Americans about the different scenarios ahead of us.”

In the past week, we also witnessed tension brewing between Jerusalem and Washington. Thus, on Thursday Israeli media reported that Bennett had a “tough” phone call with Blinken, in which he warned the secretary of state that the US should not trust the Iranians. And Mossad chief Dadi Barnea said publicly that he “will not let Iran acquire nuclear weapons.”

Ayalon believes that a public feud with the US will not benefit Israel. “We shouldn’t fight with the US publicly. Gantz and Barnea’s visit is an opportunity to act wisely, and to try and convince the administration behind closed doors.”

JNS highlighted B'nai B'rith International praising Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for hosting a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in Lisbon with Israeli Ambassador to Portugal Dor Shapira.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa hosted a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony in Lisbon on Friday with Israeli Ambassador to Portugal Dor Shapira.

De Sousa wished a happy Hanukkah to all Israelis, to the Israeli community in Portugal and to Portuguese living in Israel.

​Shapira noted that “we appreciate very much the president’s long-lasting friendship with the Jewish community in Portugal and with the State of Israel.”

B’nai B’rith International welcomed de Sousa’s “warm show of solidarity,” calling it “heartening.”

“Great to see President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa light Chanukah candles with Israel em Portugal Ambassador Dor Shapira—the first time a Portuguese president has done so since Jorge Sampaio, who himself had Jewish roots,” the group posted on Facebook.

The Jewish Journal noted our condemnation of the United Nations General Assembly for passing a resolution that omits any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, as well as our criticism of several countries for their votes for or abstentions from this resolution.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution on December 1 omitting any Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism.

The Jerusalem Post and CNS News reported resolution, which passed by a vote of 129 in favor, 11 against and 31 abstentions, referred to the Temple Mount solely by its Islamic name, Haram al-Sharif. The Temple Mount, which is located in Jerusalem’s Old City and houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is the third holiest site in Islam.

Richard Erdman, the United States representative, said that “it is morally, historically, and politically wrong for the members of this body to support language that denies both the Jewish and Muslim connections to the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan also criticized the resolution’s passage. “A resolution about Jerusalem that does not refer to its ancient Jewish roots is not an ignorant mistake but an attempt to distort and rewrite history,” Erdan said. “The eternal bond between the Jewish people and our capital will never be erased.”

By contrast, Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour lauded the resolution’s passage as providing “hope and support to our people” and that it challenges the narrative that the conflict is based on religion. “We will never accept to continue living under occupation in an apartheid system, we deserve freedom and dignity in our homeland,” he said.

Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) denounced the resolution as a “joke” in a tweet. “The United States firmly stands with our great ally Israel & the Jewish people & against this false rhetoric that delegitimizes ties to the land of Israel,” he wrote.

​UN Watch Executive Hillel Neuer said in a statement, “The UN shows contempt for both Judaism and Christianity by adopting a resolution that makes no mention of the name Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site, and which is sacred to all who venerate the Bible, in which the ancient Temple was of central importance.” UN Watch did note that the number of abstentions increased from 14 for a similar resolution in 2018 to 31 in the 2021 resolution, which UN Watch argued was “modest yet notable progress.”

Jewish groups also criticized the resolution.

“UN degrades its historic mission/violates its mediation role in conflicts by parroting those who deny 3,500 year love affair between Jewish people [and the] Land of Israel highlighted powerfully by the bravery + victory of the #Maccabees —in those days, in our time,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted.

AIPAC similarly tweeted that the resolution was the U.N.’s “latest attack on Israel.” “Attempting to erase 3,000 years of continuous Jewish connection to Jerusalem does nothing to advance peace.”

​B’nai Brith International criticized France for voting yes on the resolution in a tweet as well as Germany for abstaining. They applauded the U.S., Canada, Hungary and other countries that voted against it.

Lawfare Project Executive Director Brooke Goldstein, who also is the founder of End Jew Hatred, said in a statement that the resolution “is the definition of cultural appropriation – and during Chanukah, the holiday that marks liberation centered around the temple. They are trying to make us feel disconnected so we don’t feel powerful. The Jewish people have faced corrupt politicians in the past. We know who survives. No one knows the name of the Greek generals. Everyone knows the names of the Maccabees.”

Afghanistan is tense in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal and the Taliban takeover. In Hong Kong, democracy is steadily being eroded. Haiti is reeling in the aftermath of political violence and natural disaster. In the Horn of Africa, war and drought threaten the lives and well-being of millions. But at the United Nations, all of this matters not a whit. For what ails the world, all of this is secondary to one well-known culprit for the world’s ills: the State of Israel.

At every session of the UN General Assembly, more than a dozen resolutions are passed to demonize Israel — more than are passed against all other countries combined. All of them are preposterous in their bias, one-sidedness and counter-productivity. Most are simply declaratory and, while deplorable, are of limited practical consequence.

​But this year one out of the barrage of annual anti-Israel resolutions is of real significance: the reauthorization of the mandate of and funding for The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices or SCIIHRP. Established by the UN General Assembly in 1968, the SCIIHRP was purposely modeled after a similar UN body that already existed to monitor abuses in apartheid South Africa. The sole purpose of this Special Committee is to excoriate Israel before the court of world public opinion as a uniquely evil violator of human rights and an abusive colonial oppressor.

Created in the context of the Cold War, the SCIIHRP peddles a false narrative about Israel that was not true in 1968 and certainly not true today. Despite internationally recognized human rights violations occurring in numerous states globally, no other country has the distinction of having a “special committee” devoted to investigating its supposed human rights abuses. Year after year, this Special Committee churns out harsh and inflammatory reports criticizing Israel mercilessly. Again, no other country is subjected to similar treatment.

​The existence of such a body within the United Nations system discredits the UN and harms its credibility. It also is offensive to U.S. taxpayers, who after all pay close to 25% of the entire UN budget and deserve accountability.

The world and the Middle East have changed drastically since 1968. But at Turtle Bay, time apparently stands still. The Abraham Accords have created dynamic partnerships between Israel and visionary, forward-looking Arab countries. They have created hope for all the people of the Middle East, including the Palestinian people. Isolation of Israel and the fetishization of Palestinian victimhood is not conducive to peace, which can only come about through direct, good-faith, unconditional negotiations between the parties.

​Support for the Special Committee is waning. Last year, an all-time low of only 76 countries (out of 196 members) voted in favor of supporting the activities of the SCIIHRP. Obviously, more and more countries are realizing that this kind of poisonous kabuki theater serves no constructive purpose. But many countries no doubt continue to vote to ratify the activities of this outdated institution out of inertia, or without realizing the true nature of its activities. These countries ought to be encouraged to make a contribution to peace by voting down the Special Committee once and for all. Such an outcome would benefit both Israelis and Palestinians and would serve the interest of the United Nations itself.

Berkeley, a former congresswoman from Nevada, is currently CEO and senior provost of the Western division at Touro College. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Jewish International Relations Institute-B’nai B’rith International (AJIRI-BBI). Burton, a former congressman from Indiana, was a senior member of House Foreign Affairs Committee. Engel, a former congressman from the Bronx and Westchester, was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Jewish International Relations Institute-B’nai B’rith International.

A special ceremony was held in Oporto, Portugal on Friday honoring the victims of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, according to the International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR), which initiated the event.

The ceremony took place at the Oporto Holocaust Museum—managed by members of the city’s Jewish community whose relatives were murdered by the Nazis—and was attended by 200 teenagers from the city’s schools.

​“The event is part of a world cordon of solidarity for universal peace and for a better world for all humanity,” said IOHR president Luis Andrade, adding, “This appalling mass assassination took the lives of millions of Jews, as well as an untold number of other human beings.”

As part of the ceremony, Andrade presented a certificate of tribute to Oporto Holocaust Museum director Michael Rothwell.

​“It is a privilege to receive such a tribute, meant for all Holocaust victims, such as my grandparents, Jewish people who were targeted for scientific and industrial annihilation, the likes of which had never before happened in the history of humanity,” said Rothwell upon receiving the certificate.

OIHR said in a statement that “to ensure that the memory of the horrendous massacre remains alive, the Jewish Community of Oporto will make sure that all Holocaust Museums around the world, the Anti-Defamation League and B’nai B’rith International, the oldest Jewish organization in defense of human rights, receive a copy of this certificate.”

Inaugurated early this year by the Jewish Community of Oporto (CIP/CJP), in partnership with the Holocaust Museums of Moscow, Hong Kong, the United States and Europe, the Oporto Holocaust Museum contains a replica of the barracks at Auschwitz, a room of names, photo galleries and more.

​As the superpowers and Iran gear up for Monday’s seventh round of talks in Vienna, B’nai B’rith International is calling for a united front to make sure that the talks address not only the nuclear program, but also Iran’s malign activities and human rights abuses.

In recent months, the organization has held “many” meetings with EU diplomats both in Europe and at the UN to address these issues.
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“We were advocating against the JCPOA even before 2015, and at the time we said that this is not a regime that can be trusted,” says Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith International.

​“We called for three baskets of negotiations: the nuclear one, which of course is the most threatening, but also for a basket for malign behavior and support for terrorism,” he said. “And then the third basket would be human rights, because the Iranians are among the worst abusers of human rights in the world.”

But the response he got from the Obama administration was “nuclear is front and center,” Mariaschin said. “And I believe it was a naive assumption. Over the past 11 months, our position essentially has not changed. In fact, if anything, it has been reinforced by the behavior of the Iranians from the beginning of this year.

“Three days ago, there was a drone attack on the American base in Syria. I mean, we’re talking about reconvening talks in Vienna at the end of this month, and three days ago they’re still attacking us. They’re attacking our bases in Iraq. They’re attacking the base in Syria.”

Mariaschin said that while the key player is the Biden administration, “the key to presenting a united front on this issue is whether the Europeans are all on the same page. That’s the issue, and I’m not sure we’re there.”

For that reason, B’nai B’rith International has been very active in Europe over the past few months, said Mariaschin.

“In our meetings with European diplomats, and we’ve had many meetings, we have raised all of the issues. My sense is that the Europeans are not as exercised about the Iranian threat as they should be. The Europeans need to be much less equivocal on this issue than they are. I sometimes feel they don’t see Iran’s behavior necessarily as an existential threat for them. I think sometimes they see it as an academic exercise, but not as an existential threat. It’s an existential threat when it comes to the threats against Israel, the threats against the Gulf states. But I think that they are not as exercised. To go back into talks – that’s good [for them] because it’s kicking the can down the road continually, and they would rather kick the can down the road, I believe.

“We’ve also discussed these issues with a couple of Latin American countries because of our concern about the penetration of Iranian influence in the Western Hemisphere.”

Mariaschin said it would be harder to get the Iranians to agree to a “longer and stronger” agreement if the West is signaling eagerness to return to the JCPOA.

“I hope the administration has learned that over the last 11 months, notwithstanding they’re signaling that they want to go back into the JCPOA,” he said. “The Iranians are drawing conclusions based on a sense that the West is desperate.
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“If they sense an eagerness, then why would they at any point give up and change their mind about what they’re going to do with the nuclear program? I think ratcheting up your enrichment to 60% is a threat. It’s not a gambit on a negotiating position. So I believe that we have to learn from 2015. Don’t free up the sanctions, don’t allow them to take the extra cash and plow it back in as an investment in their hegemonic activity. Keep sanctions on. Keep it tight. Don’t signal that there’s eagerness.”​

The Christian Zionist pastor of a major church asked forgiveness for allowing the church to host an event where Michael Flynn said that the United States should only have one religion.

“Last week I allowed an event to be held at Cornerstone Church by an outside organization,” Pastor Matt Hagee said in a statement Thursday. “Regrettably, the organization was not properly vetted. It was not appropriate to allow this event at our church. The Church is not associated with this organization and does not endorse their views.”

Hagee’s father is Pastor John Hagee, who founded Christians United For Israel, the powerhouse Christian pro-Israel group.

The event took place on Saturday and was part of ReAwaken America, a Christian-themed speaking tour backed by the Christian news network America Faith. Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, gave a speech at the event calling for a single U.S. religion.

Flynn is also one of the most ardent defenders of Trump’s false claim that he won last year’s presidential election.

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion,” Flynn said. “One nation under God, and one religion under God.”

The church distanced itself from the rally earlier this week, but video subsequently emerged of Matt Hagee greeting the rally at its outset, which spurred the stronger statement on Thursday. The rally had come under fire from other evangelical Christians because it was political in nature and held in a church, and because it embraced some of the most vituperative themes of the current moment. The crowd chanted “Let’s Go Brandon,” a euphemism for an obscene phrase targeting President Joe Biden.

“I was invited to welcome the crowd where I thanked veterans for their service and thanked the crowd for their commitment to their faith,” Hagee said in his statement. “I deeply regret, and ask forgiveness, for what took place in the Cornerstone sanctuary as a result of my oversight. In the future, Cornerstone Church will ensure that organizations using our facility are an appropriate reflection of our mission and vision.”

Hagee’s father founded Cornerstone and launched his signature “Nights to Honor Israel” at the church in the early 1980s. Those rallies and their popularity led the elder Hagee to found CUFI in 2006.
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Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, the Zionist Organization of America and B’nai B’rith International have condemned Flynn’s remarks.