Category: Arutz Sheva

B'nai B'rith Diaspora Journalism Awards Garner Media Attention

5/7/2015

The B'nai B'rith World Center Diaspora Journalism awards are among the most prestigious honors in the Israeli media. In late April, B'nai B'rith International announced this year's recipients of the various awards, and has received dozens of media mentions in the weeks since.

Read English and Hebrew highlights from the publications and news outlets below, including the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Channel 10, Arutz Sheva, social media and more:

The Times of Israel (English):

Since its establishment in 1992, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reporting on contemporary Diaspora-Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations in Israeli print and electronic media.

The award is widely recognized as a prestigious prize in the Israeli media industry and was established to help shore up the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. It does this by highlighting the important contributions the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry — so essential for the resilience of both — by encouraging quality reporting on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations.

Times of Israel

Jerusalem Post (English):

Jerusalem Post correspondent Sam Sokol has won the B'nai B'rith World Center's annual award for excellence in Diaspora Reportage, the organization announced Sunday morning.

Sokol, who covers the Jewish World beat, won the award in he print categor for his ongoing series on Jewish communities displaced by the Ukrainian civil war. Just before Passover he returned ffrom yet another trip to eastern Ukraine during which he met with Jews in the city of Mariupol, which is widely considered to be one of the separatists' next targets should they renew their offensive.

"This is a great honor and I am incredibly thankful," said Sokol. "I hope that winning this award helps raise awareness of the issues facing Ukrainian Jewry during this incredibly difficult time."

J-Post

JTA (English):

Eyal’s hourlong program “Hate,” broadcast on Oct. 7, 2014, dealt with rising anti-Semitism in Europe and was filmed on location in Germany, England and Greece. The broadcast also aired earlier in the year as a four-part miniseries on Channel 10.

The Voice of Israel’s “Searching for Relatives Bureau” program was inaugurated in 1945 to help Holocaust survivors track down missing relatives. The program was broadcast continuously until 1969, and was relaunched in 2000 in a new format that includes interviews and investigative reporting.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Arutz Sheva (English):

The winners of the "B'nai B'rith World Center Award for Journalist Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage in Memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf" were announced today in Jerusalem. The awards went to Sam Sokol, the Jewish World correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, and Nadav Eyal, the chief international correspondent for Channel 10.

The jury is also giving a "Lifetime Achievement Award in Memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky" to Kol Israel, for its program "Searching for Relatives Bureau."

Arutz Sheva

JP Updates (English):

In 1992, Bnai Brith established their World Center Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportaģe. The award is widely acknowledged in the media industry as the most prestigious prize in its field in Israel.

[...]

The members of the award jury are: Chairman Asher Weill, publisher and editor of “ARIEL”– The Israel Review of Arts and Letters from 1981 to 2003; Yehudith Auerbach, professor in the School of Communication at Bar Ilan University; Eytan Bentsur, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs director general; Shalom Kital, former director general of News Company and Channel 2; Gabriela Shalev, professor and chair of the Higher Academic Council at Ono Academic College, as well as a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations; and Bambi Sheleg, founder and editor-in-chief of Eretz Acheret, and a 2011 award winner.

JP Updates

Winners of Prestigious Bnai Brith Journalism Award Announced http://t.co/pie5pjiVZR #diaspora pic.twitter.com/jUfrEkBFWj
— JP Updates (@JewishPolitical) April 29, 2015

Congratulations to @Jerusalem_Post Sam Sokol who has won the B'nai B'rith World 2015 award excellence in diaspora pic.twitter.com/ymkcBny95L
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) April 26, 2015

ICE.co.il (Hebrew)

Globes.co.il (Hebrew)

Telavivi.net (Hebrew)

B.Walla.co.il (Hebrew)

I just won an award from @BnaiBrith for my work on Ukraine for the @Jerusalem_Post . I am so thankful right now. http://t.co/S3cMAT1FSA
— Sam Sokol (@SamuelSokol) April 26, 2015

#MazelTov @SamuelSokol for winning @BnaiBrith award for his Ukraine reporting for the @Jerusalem_Post! http://t.co/C5DGFYoxQe
— William Daroff (@Daroff) April 26, 2015

Journalists win B’nai B’rith awards for stories on Ukraine, anti-Semitism http://t.co/T0IXL68tRd
— JTA | Jewish news (@JTAnews) April 30, 2015

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B'nai B'rith Holocaust Commemoration Draws Global Coverage

4/16/2015

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UPDATED: 04/22/2015, 4:58 p.m.

Today in Jerusalem, B'nai B'rith International and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) are memorializing Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach (1869-1955), and the “Jewish Rescuers Citation” will be posthumously conferred.

Pessach was an outstanding rabbinic and communal figure who served for 63 years as rabbi, including later in life as chief rabbi of Greece. During the Nazi occupation of Greece, he shepherded the Volos Jewish community of approximately 1,000 people through tumultuous times.

Read highlights from dozens of global media outlets, including articles in the Huffington Post, Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Arutz Sheva, Algemeiner and Haaretz, below:

Huffington Post:

The organizers behind the Jewish Rescuers Citation award ceremony view believe it is especially important to expose Jewish youth to the phenomena of Jewish rescue during the Holocaust as a model for Jewish solidarity and courage.

“We believe that the topic of Jewish rescue during the Holocaust for the past 70 years hasn’t received the attention it rightly deserves,” said B’nai B’rith World Director Alan Schneider to Tazpit. “There were thousands of Jewish rescuers who saved countless Jewish lives, who many people don’t know about.”

At the ceremony on Thursday, members of the underground Zionist youth movement in Hungary during WWII will also be recognized for their rescue efforts as will Yaacov (Jacko) Razon, a Greek-Jewish boxer who helped other Jews survive at Nazi concentration camps.

Since the creation of the Jewish Rescuers Citation in 2011, around 100 awards have been presented to Jewish rescuers who operated in Germany, France, Hungary, and Holland.

Huffington Post

Reprinted in The Jewish Link

Reprinted In Baltimore Jewish Life

Reprinted In 5 Towns Jewish Times

Reprinted In San Diego Jewish World

Reprinted in Intermountain Jewish News

Arutz Sheva (Recap):

Holocaust Remembrance Day - known as Yom HaShoah in Hebrew - began Wednesday evening, at the start of the Hebrew calendar day, with a powerful ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem.

Among the dozens of commemorative events taking place today was a unique ceremony at the Martyr's Forest on the outskirts of the capital, held jointly by the B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF).

The event - held now for the 13th consecutive year - is the only one dedicated exclusively to commemorating the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the years of torment in Europe. Some 200 Border Patrol Cadets – who will provide an honor guard - and 200 high school students are participating in the ceremony together with Jewish rescuers and survivors.

Arutz Sheva

Jspace News:

During the war, Rabbi Pessach also established a unit of partisans that rescued allied soldiers and fought the Germans. The Greek King Paul and the commander of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean decorated Rabbi Pessach for his actions.

“My grandfather was respected by Jews and Greeks alike and he always gave help and advice to all before and after the war,” said Eskanazi. “He was one of them, my grandfather, and the Jews were accepted by the Greek community.”

Rabbi Pessach’s good friend bishop Alexopoulos was recognized posthumously by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Gentiles in 1977 following the request of the Jewish community of Volos.

Jspace News

Times of Israel:

But the most significant outcome of Roet’s activism is an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony awarding the “Jewish Rescuers Citation,” held by B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel (KKL-JNF) at a plaza among the six million trees planted in the Martyrs’ Forest near Jerusalem.

While the ceremony is in its thirteenth year, the citation has been awarded only since 2011. Making up for lost time perhaps, over 100 Jewish rescuers who operated in France, Germany, Holland and Hungary have since received the honor.

“When we leave out the Jews, we’re leaving out an important part of the picture,” director of B’nai B’rith World Center Alan Schneider told The Times of Israel just after Wednesday’s Yad Vashem state ceremony.

Schneider applauded Yad Vashem’s increased efforts in the area of Jewish rescue, including a recent Hebrew-language book and several symposiums and seminars.

“But there’s a lot more to be done. This is something that we feel has not gotten the attention over the years, whereas there has been a lot of attention on how Jews were murdered, rounded up, the war, restitution efforts,” said Schneider.

Stories of Jewish rescue of Jews convey important principles to today’s youth, said Schneider.

“Jews should take these examples of Jewish solidarity and use them as educational tools,” he said.

Times of Israel

Jerusalem Post:

The memory of an elderly rabbi who led partisans against the Nazis in occupied Greece during the Second World War will be honored during a ceremony at Jerusalem’s Martyr’s Forest on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday.

The B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund will co-sponsor the event, which for the past 12 years has been dedicated to honoring the memory of Jews who rescued their coreligionists during the Holocaust.

J-Post Article 1

J-Post Article 2

Algemeiner:

In the Jerusalem Hills, there stands the single largest memorial to the Holocaust in the world, known as Martyrs’ Forest. The forest is comprised of six million trees planted in memory of the six million Jews who perished.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day in the capital, a unique ceremony takes place to commemorate the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

Algemeiner

Arutz Sheva (Preview):

Fiercely loyal to his country and to his community, Rabbi Pessach initiated and orchestrated the rescue of his community during the German occupation with the assistance of the Bishop of Volos Joachim Alexopoulos and other non-Jews - efforts that led to the survival of 74% of the Volos Jews.

This was an extraordinary achievement in a country where 85% of the Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

In addition to these efforts, Rabbi Pessach also led a partisan unit against the German Nazis.

On Rosh Hashana 5703, 30 September 1943, Rabbi Pessach was summoned to the headquarters of the German military governor Kurt Rikert, who demanded that he submit within 24 hours a list of all the Jews in the city and their assets, purportedly for the innocent purpose of determining the amount of food rations needed to sustain them.

Arutz Sheva

Haaretz:

On the Jewish New Year in 1943, Rabbi Moshe Pessah, the chief rabbi of the central Greek city of Volos, was summoned to the German military governor of the city, Kurt Rikert.

Rikert ordered the rabbi to provide a list of all the city’s Jews and their property within 24 hours, claiming that the list was needed in order to arrange food supplies to the residents during the occupation.

Haaretz English

Haaretz Hebrew

Hebrew Coverage:

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לישראל היום

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Greek Coverage:

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Argentina: Former B'nai B'rith Honoree Takes Over AMIA Case

2/6/2015

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http://www.derecho.uba.ar/

Following the tragic and mysterious death of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman in January, just hours before he was scheduled to deliver his findings on the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, a new name has been introduced to the case.

Daniel Rafecas, a respected human rights and Holocaust expert and former B'nai B'rith Argentina honoree, has assigned the next step of the investigation, according to articles by Arutz Sheva (English), Agence France-Presse (Spanish) and Agence France-Presse (Portuguese).

Separate investigation continues into the circumstances of Nisman's death, details of which are included in the full coverage below:

Arutz Sheva (English):

A respected Holocaust expert was named Wednesday to take over as judge in the politically explosive case of a 1994 Jewish center bombing that has shaken Argentina since the lead prosecutor's mysterious death, AFP reports.

[...]

Rafecas, a human rights expert, has authored studies on the Holocaust that earned him awards from three Argentine Jewish groups: B'nai B'rith Argentina, the Argentine Hebrew Society and the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum Foundation.

He is also known for trying military officers for abuses committed during the South American country's 1976-1983 dictatorship.

This Story Reprinted On:

Agence France-Presse (Spanish):

El juez Daniel Rafecas, experto en derechos humanos y en el Holocausto, tomará la causa del supuesto encubrimiento de la presidenta Cristina Kirchner a exgobernantes iraníes por un atentado antijudío en 1994, denuncia elevada por el fiscal Alberto Nisman, quien apareció muerto misteriosamente el 18 de enero.

[...]

El caso dividió al país entre quienes piensan que Nisman fue una víctima del gobierno y los que denuncian un complot internacional para desacreditar a Kirchner impulsado por poderosos exagentes de los servicios de inteligencia echados de sus puestos el 17 de diciembre pasado.

Rafecas juzgó a militares de la dictadura (1976-83) por delitos de lesa humanidad y por sus estudios sobre la Shoá que perpetraron los nazis recibió los premios Derechos Humanos de la Fundación B'nai B'rith, Moisés 2011 de la Sociedad Hebraica Argentina y Gilbert Lewi de la Fundación Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires.

This Story Reprinted On:

Los Tiempos (Spanish):

http://www.unoentrerios.com.ar/

Por otra parte, el juez Daniel Rafecas, experto en derechos humanos y en el Holocausto, tomará la causa del supuesto encubrimiento de la presidenta Fernández a exgobernantes iraníes.

[...]

Rafecas juzgó a militares de la dictadura (1976-83) por delitos de lesa humanidad y por sus estudios sobre la Shoá que perpetraron los nazis recibió los premios Derechos Humanos de la Fundación B’nai B’rith, Moisés 2011 de la Sociedad Hebraica Argentina y Gilbert Lewi de la Fundación Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires.

Full Article

Agence France-Presse (Portuguese):

http://www.180.com.uy/

O juiz Daniel Rafecas, especialista em direitos humanos e sobre o Holocausto, acolherá a denúncia de suspeita de acobertamento contra a presidente Cristina Kirchner a favor de ex-governantes iranianos, supostamente envolvidos em um atentado antissemita em 1994, em Buenos Aires.

[...]

Rafecas julgou militares da ditadura (1976-83) por crimes contra a humanidade e foi agraciado por seus estudos sobre a Shoá praticada pelos nazistas com os prêmios de Direitos Humanos da Fundação B'nai B'rith, Moisés 2011 da Sociedade Hebraica Argentina e Gilbert Lewi, da Fundação Museu do Holocausto de Buenos Aires.

Full Article

More on Nisman's Death Below

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B'nai B'rith Diaspora Journalism Awards Garner Media Attention

The Times of Israel (English):

Jerusalem Post (English):

JTA (English):

Arutz Sheva (English):

JP Updates (English):

ICE.co.il (Hebrew)

Globes.co.il (Hebrew)

Telavivi.net (Hebrew)

B.Walla.co.il (Hebrew)

B'nai B'rith Holocaust Commemoration Draws Global Coverage

Huffington Post:

Arutz Sheva (Recap):

Jspace News:

Times of Israel:

Jerusalem Post:

Algemeiner:

Arutz Sheva (Preview):

Haaretz:

Hebrew Coverage:

Greek Coverage:

Argentina: Former B'nai B'rith Honoree Takes Over AMIA Case

Arutz Sheva (English):

This Story Reprinted On:

Agence France-Presse (Spanish):

This Story Reprinted On:

Los Tiempos (Spanish):

Agence France-Presse (Portuguese):

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