B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:  

The coordinated terror bombings on Easter Sunday against Christian worshippers at church as well as against popular tourist hotels is a devastating assault on religious tolerance in Sri Lanka. Though the country is mostly Buddhist, there is a sizable Christian population, along with Hindus and Muslims. More than 200 are dead and more than 400 injured.

The ability to practice one’s religion in peace and security should be a basic tenant of any society.

On this, one of the holiest days of the year on any religious calendar, we send our condolences to the people of Sri Lanka suffering from this terror attack.

(Washington, D.C., April 10, 2019)--Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, gave a detailed and insightful briefing on the Israeli elections this afternoon to top B'nai B'rith International leaders from around the world. 
 
In a conference call moderated by CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, Hoffman broke down how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed himself to abundant interviews in the final days before the election and he also paid particular attention to the fact that the prime minister “declared victory over the media.”
 
Hoffman addressed the small drop in voter turnout, from about 72 percent last year to about 68 percent now. But he also noted how high the turnout is in Israel, compared to voter turnout in the United States, indicative of a deeply engaged electorate in the Jewish state.
 
Hoffman also talked about the future of peace prospects and Saudi Arabia’s key role going forward. And he warned about the likely chaos, even possibly civil war, that will ensue when 83 year-old-Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas eventually dies. Hoffman said: “We’ve seen the U.S. get involved in elections in Israel under many presidents. It’s possible that the U.S. could have a role in the Palestinian elections as there could surface someone who is pro-American. Perhaps there has to be an intervention in politics there.”
 
This election was “more exciting than any other we have had,” Hoffman said.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org
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B’nai B’rith commends Airbnb for rescinding, as part of a court settlement, its decision to de-list properties in the West Bank.

In November, the vacation rental company announced it would de-list Israeli properties located in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This highly discriminatory action only served to embolden Palestinian rejectionists and gave encouragement to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement aimed at delegitimizing Israel.

The reversal is a welcome repudiation of BDS.

Other Features Include: Israeli start-ups helping the disabled and the poignant friendship between a Jewish philanthropist and his chess prodigy mentee

(Washington, D.C., April 9, 2019)--During a time of rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, an interfaith group of Muslim and Jewish women in Northern Virginia tackles tough topics over discussion meetings as they try to bridge the gap between the two targeted religious groups. The women, who have been meeting for four years and consider one another family, are members of a national group called the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. We delve into the strong bonds between the women and the challenges the group faces in the feature story: The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom: Finding Common Ground.

Israeli entrepreneurs are developing new technology – and adapting existing technology – to help the visually and physically impaired. In To See and Walk: Israeli Start-Ups Adapt Technology for the Blind and Disabled, readers will see some of the exciting devices created by Israeli companies for this purpose, including super-charged glasses that can read any text out loud and a harness designed to help young children with conditions affecting their mobility walk with the assistance of an adult.

Samuel Reshevsky was a young chess prodigy when prolific Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald took him under his wing. Reshevsky, who had learned to play chess well enough to beat skilled adult opponents by age 4, had foregone formal education to support his entire family through chess. Rosenwald, who was passionate about education and funded the creation of 4,000 schools in the South to educate African-American children, agreed to support the Reshevsky family if Samuel’s parents would agree to obtain tutoring for their child instead of forcing him to play chess professionally full-time. In The Philanthropist and the Phenom, we shed light on the long-lasting friendship between Reshevsky and Rosenwald.

Contemporary anti-Semitism is the focus of columns from CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and President Charles O. Kaufman. In The Many Faces of Contemporary Anti-Semitism, Mariaschin explores the history of dual loyalty accusations hurled at American Jews and condemns the disturbing resurgence of this anti-Semitic canard from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). Kaufman’s column, Unity Needed in the Fight Against Anti-Semitism, calls on American Jewry to unite in the face of this ancient hatred. He also shares how B’nai B’rith is working to fight anti-Semitism and urges readers to become involved.

Comedian Eddie Cantor hosted a radio show and starred in some of the first movie musicals filmed in color, but it is less well-known that he was a B’nai B’rith member and passionate advocate against anti-Semitism. We document the ups and downs of his life, during which he repeatedly risked his career to stand against anti-Semites like Henry Ford and Charles Coughlin, in Eddie “Banjo Eyes” Cantor and B’nai B’rith. 

Finally, our Seniors column urges Congress to find bipartisan ways to fix Affordable Care Act problems instead of doing away with the law altogether.  

Read those stories and so much more in the spring issue of B’nai B’rith Magazine, available here.​

B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org

                                                            Antonia Yamin (KAN) and Zvika Klein (Makor Rishon)
                                                                   Certificate of Merit to Attila Somfalvi (Ynet)
 
(Jerusalem, April 5, 2019)--B’nai B’rith has announced the winners of the 2019 B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage, in memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf. They are: Antonia Yamin, chief Europe correspondent for Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation – KAN and Zvika Klein, Jewish World correspondent for Makor Rishon and NRG360. A certificate of merit in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky will be conferred on Attila Somfalvi, lead anchor of Ynet News.
 
The awards will be presented at a ceremony on July 3 with keynote speaker Professor Deborah Lipstadt.
 
The award for broadcast media will be conferred upon Yamin for a series of reports broadcast in 2018 on Jewish life in Great Britain and Austria and on anti-Semitism in Germany. Klein will receive the award for print media for his series Distant Relatives https://distantrelatives.makorrishon.co.il/ exploring Israel and Jewish American relations.
A certificate of merit will be conferred upon  Somfalvi for a series of reports and commentaries on the relationship between Israel and American Jewry.

B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Chairman Haim Katz and Director Alan Schneider noted that “the interest and insightfulness shown by these fine young journalists in the lives of Diaspora Jewish communities and in their relationship with Israel is heartening and proves once again that this issue continues to fascinate the media and general population in Israel. Through this award, we seek to continue to encourage fine journalism in this field and urge editorial boards to invest more attention and means in it.”
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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 the Israeli print, broadcast and online media. The award is widely recognized as the most prestigious prize in the Israeli media industry for Diaspora reportage and was established to help strengthen the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. The award highlights the important contributions the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry by encouraging quality reporting on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations.
 
The distinguished members of the award jury are: Professor Yehudith Auerback, School of Communications, Bar Ilan University; Professor Sergio DellaPergola, the Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University; Sallai Meridor, international chairman, Jerusalem Foundation, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, former chairman of the Zionist Executive and Jewish Agency; Professor Gabriela Shalev, Higher Academic Council, Ono Academic College and former ambassador of Israel to the United Nations; Yair Sheleg, columnist; Asher Weill, publisher and editor of ARIEL-The Israel Review of Arts and Letters from 1981-2003.
 
The B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage is named for the late Wolf Matsdorf and his wife Hilda. Wolf was an editor of the World Center-Jerusalem’s journal “Leadership Briefing” and a journalist in Israel and Australia. Hilda was a pioneer in social work in both Australia and Israel. The award is made possible through donations from the Matsdorf family and B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem board member Daniel Schydlowsky.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org

Ceremony Dedicated to Rescue Efforts of the Jewish Defense Committee (CDJ) in Belgium
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The B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) will hold, for the 17th consecutive year, a unique joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony on Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah, Thursday, May 2nd). This is the only event dedicated annually to commemorating the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust. Jerusalem-area schools and pre-army preparatory academies will attend the ceremony together with Jewish rescuers and survivors, and the Border Patrol will provide an honor guard. The ceremony will take place at the B’nai B’rith Martyr’s Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza at 10:00 a.m. Israel time.

This year's ceremony will be dedicated to rescue efforts undertaken by the Jewish Defense Committee (CDJ). Speakers in the ceremony will be: Mr. Danny Atar, world chairman, Jewish National Fund; Dr. Haim V. Katz, chairman of the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem; Brigadier General Yehuda Yehoshua, commander of the Border Guard Combat Training Center; H.E. Olivier Belle, ambassador of Belgium to Israel; and Michel Werber, son of CDJ founding members Abusz and Shifra Werber.

The Jewish Defense Committee in Belgium was founded in September 1942 in reaction to the start of the deportation of Jews by the Gestapo in August 1942 in Brussels and Antwerp. The goal of the CDJ was to operate clandestinely to save as many Jews as possible. The CDJ united Jews from a broad ideological spectrum (including communists, revisionists, General Zionists, members of "Left Zion Workers", "Zionist Youth") and from different swathes of society (among them Belgian citizens and foreigners, secular and religious Jews and even some non-Jews, such as the teacher Andree Geulen) to engage in joint rescue operations. The CDJ urged Jews to disregard the orders of the local Judenrat – the AJB - and go underground instead, and also endeavored to win the support of the general public for persecuted Jews. Some of the CDJ members held positions in the AJB and secretly passed on vital information to foil the German's nefarious plans.

The committee managed to rescue 3,000-4,000 Jewish children – half of all the Jewish children who survived the Holocaust in Belgium – and provided life-saving assistance to 10,000 adults, including hiding places and forged documents. This activity endangered the lives of the CDJ members; some of them were captured, tortured and deported to concentration camps. Some did not survive. The CDJ operated as an adjunct of the "Independence Front" – the most significant resistance organization, founded in Belgium in March 1941, that united 17 different ideological and religious groups lead by the Communist Party in response to the German invasion of the USSR. At the time of the German invasion of Belgium – May 10, 1940 – 66,000 Jews lived in the country, of whom only 10 percent were Belgian citizens; 34,801 were arrested during the Holocaust (among them 5,092 children under the age of 16); 28,902 were murdered – 44 percent of the entire Jewish population in Belgium; 24,906 were imprisoned - usually for several days – at the transfer camp Mechelen-Malines and deported from there on 28 transports to Auschwitz beginning in summer 1942. Only 1,337 survived the camps.

The number of CDJ members reached 300. It operated an impressive administrative network to handle finance, forged papers and food coupons, clandestine press and concealment of children and adults. The department for forged papers was so successful that it also provided papers for non-Jews trying to avoid forced labor. The principal feature of CDJ – cooperation between groups across the ideological and political spectrum - was the basis of an organization unique in Western Europe. The main chapter of the committee was in Brussels. Other chapters were in Charleroi and Liege. In Antwerp, the committee was founded in 1943, when three independent groups started to collaborate. 55 percent of Belgian Jews survived thanks to the swift response of individuals who went underground independently, to the heroic operation of members of the CDJ and to the support of the local Belgian society at large, including many clergy. It should be noted that Jews also operated outside the CDJ in various resistance organizations in smuggling, intelligence, sabotage and clandestine press. The unequivocal conclusion resulting from the events in Belgium during the war is that passivity of the Jews facing the horrors of the Holocaust is a myth.    

 During the ceremony, the “Jewish Rescuers Citation” will be conferred on 11 leading members of the CDJ and four other rescuers who were active in Poland: David Ferdman, Hertz Jospa, Hava Jospa, Abraham Manaster, Chaim Pinkus Perelman, Fela Perelman, David Trocki-Muscnicki, Paulina Avstritski, Trocki-Muscnicki, Josef Sterngold, Abusz Werber, Shifra Werber and Shraga Dgani, Miriam-Mania Zeidman, Yaacov Segalchik, and Bela Yaari-Hazan. Since the establishment of the Jewish Rescuers Citation in 2011, nearly 270 heroes have been honored for rescue activities in Germany, France, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, Holland and Belgium.

The B'nai B'rith Martyr’s Forest is the largest joint B’nai B’rith and KKL-JNF project, which memorializes the victims of the Holocaust with 6 million trees planted in the picturesque Jerusalem mountains near Moshav Kesalon. At the pinnacle of the forest stands the “Scroll of Fire,” created by renowned sculptor Nathan Rapoport, which invokes the destruction of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and their redemption in the State of Israel. The event will commence with personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to classes of soldiers and students.

The phenomena of Jewish rescue and the instructive stories of thousands of Jews who labored to save their endangered brethren throughout Europe have yet to receive appropriate public recognition and resonance. Many who could have tried to flee preferred to stay and rescue others; some paid for it with their lives. With great heroism, Jews in every country in occupied Europe employed subterfuge, forgery, smuggling, concealment and other methods to ensure that Jews survived the Holocaust, or assisted them in escaping to safe havens, and in doing so foiled the Nazi goal of total genocide against the Jews. The organizers of the ceremony view it as especially important to expose Jewish youth to these narratives as a model for Jewish solidarity and courage.
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Program
 
09:00-09:30 a.m.         Personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to soldiers in the Forest
09:45 a.m.                    Coalesce in “Scroll of Fire” Plaza
10:00 a.m.                     Siren peal and ceremony commencement
11:00 a.m.                      Ceremony conclusion
11:00-11:30 a.m.             Personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to students in the Forest

For interviews and more details, please contact: B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider at 052-5536441 or aschneider@bnaibrith.org; Golan Yosiffun 052-4625135.
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B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org

(Washington, D.C., March 28, 2019)—Blatant anti-Israel bias within the United Nations is the topic of the latest B’nai B’rith International podcast.
 
David Michaels, B’nai B’rith International director of United Nations and intercommunal affairs, joins CEO and host Daniel S. Mariaschin for a discussion about the United Nations. The conversation focuses in particular on anti-Israel bias at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
 
Michaels and Mariaschin begin the podcast with a discussion of B’nai B’rith’s recent international mission to Paris and Geneva, where B’nai B’rith staff and volunteer leaders called on U.N. agencies to treat Israel as they would any other country. During the visit, Michaels addressed UNHRC.
 
UNESCO admitted “Palestine” as a full member state in 2011. Since then, UNESCO, an agency tasked with the mission of preserving history and culture, has been undergoing a politicization that is damaging both to the Jewish community and to UNESCO itself.
 
The podcast also features a discussion of the Aalst Carnival parade in Belgium, which UNESCO includes on its list of masterpieces of oral and intangible heritage of humanity. In both 2019 and 2013, the parade featured anti-Semitic floats. Despite this, the parade is still tied to UNESCO through its inclusion on the intangible heritage list; there is no mechanism in place for delisting events, as the need for one was not anticipated when the list was created. The B’nai B’rith delegation used part of its time in Paris to advocate for the creation of a delisting mechanism.
 
The concerns we expressed to UNESCO included attempts to erase Jewish history. On the podcast, Michaels explains how, by passing resolutions that “take the foremost holy sites in Judaism – not only elsewhere in the land of Israel, in Hebron and Bethlehem, but in Jerusalem itself, up to and including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall – and refer to them as primarily and exclusively Palestinian and Islamic sites,” UNESCO hurts “the cause of peace and reconciliation on the ground in the Middle East.”
 
Mariaschin and Michaels also accompanied the B’nai B’rith delegation to Geneva earlier this month that met with officials at the UNHRC. This annual delegation is planned to coincide with the customary consideration of a litany of anti-Israel resolutions. The UNHRC targets Israel with country-specific resolutions more than any other country in the world, including such notorious human rights violators as Iran, North Korea and Syria. The Council does not pass resolutions condemning the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, which regularly target Israel and publicly call for the annihilation of the Jewish State.
 
“[The] human rights organs of the U.N. have utterly failed to live up to the principle of universality in implementing and safeguarding those very human rights,” Michaels noted on the podcast. “And by that, I mean that Israelis’ rights are human rights too.”
 
To listen to the full podcast, click here.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org
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​(Washington, D.C., March 25, 2019)--B’nai B’rith commends Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila for her strong call for moving the Romanian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She made the remarks at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference. Romania’s move would follow the United States and Guatemala in relocating their embassies; the president of Honduras announced at the same meeting that his country would follow suit.
 
Dancila also addressed the dramatic growth of anti-Semitism in Europe. The Romanian presidency of the European Union, which runs until June 30th, organized a major conference on combating anti-Semitism in Brussels last month.
 
B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin met with Dancila today in Washington.

(Washington, D.C., March 22, 2019)— B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International condemns the five anti-Israel resolutions adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) today. The UNHRC consistently singles out Israel by passing endless resolutions that solely and falsely allege Israeli misdeeds. In particular, we strongly condemn the resolutions passed under Item 7, which makes Israel the only country separately and exhaustively scrutinized at every council session.
 
We wholeheartedly commend Australia for voting against each anti-Israel resolution, and note that the United Kingdom and Denmark voted against four of the five resolutions, including all of the resolutions considered under Item 7. Both countries abstained on the resolution shifted to outside of Item 7. We encourage other EU member states to join in voting against all Item 7 resolutions as an important first step toward the ultimate goal of eliminating the discriminatory agenda item. We welcome the fact that nearly all European states have by now desisted from speaking during the Item 7 proceedings. We also recognize as positive the improvement in any other countries’ overall voting, such as that by Brazil, which for the first time voted against two of the resolutions.
 
This session, one of the five anti-Israel resolutions, entitled, “Ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” was considered under a separate agenda item that does not focus solely on Palestinian and other Arab allegations. The resolution endorses the prejudiced report of the council’s “commission of inquiry” into the recent Palestinian riots along the Gaza border, which was accompanied by a secret list of Israeli individuals who could be threatened with prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
 
We condemn all countries that voted for the biased resolutions, especially a democracy such as Spain, which was the only European country to vote for the “ensuring accountability” motion.
 
B’nai B’rith International has advocated for global Jewry and championed the cause of human rights since 1843. B’nai B’rith is recognized as a vital voice in promoting Jewish unity and continuity, a staunch defender of the State of Israel, a tireless advocate on behalf of senior citizens and a leader in disaster relief. With a presence around the world, we are the Global Voice of the Jewish Community. Visit www.bnaibrith.org
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B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:   
We welcome President Donald Trump’s announcement recognizing Israeli control over the Golan Heights, which reflects the longtime strategic reality in the region.

It is from the Golan that Syria launched two wars against Israel, and it is from the Golan today that Iran’s proxy in Syria – Hezbollah – seeks to open a second front against the Jewish State. History is filled with numerous such examples.

Does anyone realistically think, given the destructive, chaotic civil war that has wracked Syria for much of the past decade that Israel should put itself in existential danger by returning the Golan to its sworn enemies? Syria has had numerous opportunities over 71 years to seek peace with Israel. It has repeatedly rejected that option, choosing instead to seek to destroy it, now joined by Iran and its agents in the region.

Common sense and geopolitical reality make the case for the president’s decision.