B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

France’s announcement that it will recognize a “Palestinian State” if there is no progress soon in peace talks for a two-state solution prejudges the issue and will more than likely inhibit the pace of talks, rather than facilitate peace negotiations. This will serve as a disincentive to negotiations.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has dragged its feet for years on returning to the negotiating table. Learning that France will recognize a state if talks don’t move forward is hardly incentive for PA leaders to sit down with Israel to engage in direct talks. Why would the PA talk, when it knows already that it has French recognition? It suggests a baffling example of "backwards diplomacy."

Such a unilateral recognition ignores Israel’s vital, rightful and what should be mandatory role in peace negotiations aimed at a two-state solution. B’nai B’rith has long advocated bilateral peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

France’s suggestion that it will recognize a “State of Palestine” is more than unhelpful. Instead France should urge the PA to return to the table without preconditions.

The Palestinians have repeatedly rejected talks. The PA has instead chosen to circumvent Israel, going to the United Nations and various world leaders rather than make hard decisions in bi-lateral talks. Such internationalization of the conflict with the Jewish Sate allows the PA to avoid talks aimed at compromise.

​As a staunch advocate for Israel, B’nai B’rith will work to ensure that Israel’s security is fairly considered.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on Jan. 27, the date in 1945 the allies liberated the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. In addition to U.S. observances, B’nai B’rith International commemorated this significant day across Latin America.
 
In Argentina Human Rights Office Director Claudio Avruj, who is also a former B’nai B’rith executive vice president of District 23, held a memorial service in the Square of the Shoah in Buenos Aires. A memorial statue for the Righteous Among Nations was inaugurated in the square. Keynote speakers included Avruj and Minister of Culture Pablo Avelluto. Other government officials and leaders of the Jewish community attended the event as well. Argentine President Mauricio Macri hosted a delegation of Holocaust survivors in the presidential house, Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires the day before.
 
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santiago held an event that was attended by more than 300 people. Acting president of Chile, Jorge Burgos and Leon Cohen, president of B’nai B’rith Latin America and the Jewish community in Chile, spoke at the commemoration ceremony. Writer Maria Angelica Puga gave a touching tribute to her great grandmother, Maria Edwards. Edwards, who rescued Jewish children throughout the Holocaust from the Rothschild Hospital in Paris, is the only Chilean recognized by the Righteous Among Nations. Puga accepted the Light and Memory Award in Edwards’ honor. 
 
Uruguay’s congress held a special session commemorating the day, and acting Foreign Minister Jose Luis Cancela, Israeli Ambassador Nina Ben Ami and hundreds of others attended the event. President Tabare Vazquez gave a speech that was broadcast across the country on the radio and several television channels. In his speech Vazquez stated, “Our remembrance of Holocaust victims is also a commitment to fight for a real never more, and a commitment to fight for a better future, which was also dreamed by those who perished in this tragedy.”
 
Brazil held several events across the country in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. The commemoration ceremony in Brasilia took place in Colegio de Abogados (Lawyer’s Hall), and was attended by congressmen, ambassadors, B’nai B’rith Brazil President Abraham Goldstein and other Jewish community leaders. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was abroad at the time, had a message read aloud to attendees at the ceremony by Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner. In her message Rousseff stated, “This day brings to our memory the most horrifying moment in history. We want to join our hearts with those who lost their families in the Shoah. We will always keep fighting in order to avoid that the horror of the Shoah never happens again.”
 
In Ecuador, the University of the Americas hosted an event by the U.N. office, the Israeli Embassy, Albert Einstein College and the local Jewish community. Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia held special congressional sessions observing the day, and several members and leaders of the Jewish community attended these commemoration ceremonies. A minute of silence was observed across Panama, and all radio stations fell silent, and throughout the day, national television channels showed documentaries about the Holocaust.
 
Paraguay also held a special session in congress and Israeli Ambassador Peleg Lewi and several other ambassadors came to the event. President of the Permanent Commission of the Congress, Senator Adolfo Wiens, gave a speech on the Holocaust and human dignity. “This remembrance is a warning against hate, discrimination and racism,” Wiens said.

​To commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Nations held a memorial ceremony in New York City at General Assembly Hall. Opening remarks were given by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and other speakers included: Ambassador Danny Danon, permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, Ambassador Samantha Power, permanent representative of the United States, Nazi-Hunter Beate Klarsfeld and personal testimony given by Holocaust survivor Haim Roet.
 
Roet was born in 1932 in Amsterdam and grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. He described his life in Nazi-occupied Holland as difficult, particularly as a child, “I was forbidden from playing in playgrounds, visiting parks, riding a bicycle, using public transportation and even going to a public school.” In 1942, Roet’s family was taken to a ghetto in Amsterdam, and he lived with his parents and three brothers in a small apartment. His two sisters and grandfather lived in another, and were eventually deported in 1943. They were never seen again. Before they left, Roet’s sisters were able to warn their parents that the SS was coming. When the SS guards knocked on their door, Roet’s parents didn’t open it. Two SS guards arrived again the next day for the rest of the Roet family. Roet’s mother knew German and argued with the men until they gave up and left, “My mother’s courage is the one of reasons that I can stand here today.” There were 144,000 Jews in Holland before the Shoah; only 35,000 survived.
 
Roet continued to speak about how his Holocaust experience led him to think about different ways for people to remember and learn about the Shoah. In 1989, Roet and Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust museum and research center, created the memorial program “Unto Every Person There is a Name.” This program is commemorated every year around the world on Yom Hashoah and B’nai B’rith is the North American sponsor. “Unto Every Person There is a Name” honors victims of the Holocaust by reading their names out loud, stating when and where they were born and when they died. Roet also serves as the chairman of the Committee for the Recognition of Jews who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust. This committee works with B’nai B’rith World Center every year to hold a unique Shoah commemoration ceremony that recognizes courageous Jews who saved their fellow brethren.
 
Ambassador David Roet (Haim Roet’s son), deputy permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, helped convene the first meeting on combatting anti-Semitism at the U.N. General Assembly last year.
 
Sadly, the growth of anti-Semitism today is steadily increasing throughout the world, but especially in the Middle East. B’nai B’rith International commends United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director General Irina Bokova for condemning a Holocaust cartoon contest Iran plans to hold for the third time in June. Past entries deny that the Holocaust even occurred. Bokova sent a letter to officials in Tehran expressing her concerns about the contest. Bokova was set to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday in Paris. These near-daily occurrences of hate, as seen by the horrific terrorist attacks committed against Israel and against Jews all over the world, must be stopped. B'nai B'rith calls on governments to speak out forcefully against anti-Semitism, and to educate young people about the Shoah and its consequences.
 
B’nai B’rith commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day by urging everyone around the globe to listen to the stories of survivors, and read and learn about the Holocaust, so we can remember the victims and survivors, and say never again.

​B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International condemns the recent remarks of U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. During a session earlier today Ban spoke to the U.N. Security Council stating, “It is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”
 
This speech is an unacceptable rationalization of terrorism, and Palestinian violence is not a “natural reaction” to Israeli policies. It is, sadly, an easily foreseeable consequence of continuous Palestinian incitement to hatred against Israel, Israelis and Jews in general by Palestinian leaders, in school curricula and through television and other media. When some leaders in the international community seek to excuse this violent behavior, it only gets reinforced, leading to the possibility of more terrorist attacks.
 
Terrorism against civilians would never be considered acceptable in any other conflict situation. Only when the murdered are Israelis do we hear within the halls of the United Nations blaming of the victims. Neither Ban nor anyone else of authority in the international community would ever justify an act of brutal terrorism, if the perpetrator were Israeli, on the grounds that such deliberate violence against innocents is a natural/understandable response to frustration or grievances. Today’s speech is part of a worrying pattern from the secretary general’s office in response to the latest wave of Palestinian violence. B’nai B’rith has spoken out about this troubling pattern and has written to Ban previously to express our concerns.
 
If Palestinians are indeed frustrated by their political situation, then they must look to their corrupt leadership, which has consistently refused to make necessary compromises in negotiations toward a two-state solution. The oft-repeated U.N. rhetoric that the murderers of Israeli civilians are frustrated by the political situation is a fundamental misreading of reality. They murder because of hatred of Jews, not of any specific Israeli policy. They are not looking to bring about a two-state solution—they want to destroy Israel.
 
The United Nations cannot be taken seriously as a partner for dialogue on issues relating to the conflict as long as top officials are seen to be giving justifications for Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians. Simply, the international community must condemn the murder of Israelis without any equivocation. Not doing so only allows terrorism to fester, and to lead those who carry out terrorist acts to believe they have license to do so.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International condemns a letter signed by 71 British doctors requesting the expulsion of Israel from the World Medical Association, claiming that Israel has been “torturing” its Palestinian patients.
​
This unfounded and outrageous allegation of “medical torture” further demonstrates the intentions of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS’ purpose is to isolate and delegitimize Israel by boycotting its companies, universities, entertainers, athletes and others—and now its doctors.
 
Actual human rights violations all over the globe are continuously overlooked. These vicious BDS attacks on Israel are not only unfair, they must also be called out and opposed by diplomatic leaders and other public figures everywhere. 

B’nai B’rith International is deeply disappointed that presidential candidate Donald Trump re-tweeted a post from a person with the twitter account user name “White Genocide.”

The tweet Trump re-posted was mocking one of his rivals for president. But an unfortunate consequence is leading his own followers to an account that promotes hate.

The “White Genocide” account is full of racial slurs and links to anti-Semitic and outright pro-Hitler propaganda. It is inappropriate for a presidential candidate to promote such hateful and dangerous views.

B’nai B’rith International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and as such does not endorse or oppose any candidate for elected office.

​Earlier this month, B’nai B’rith International Senior Vice President Eric Engelmayer attended an all-day event at the B’nai B’rith Elie Bloch Lodge in Metz, France. New members were inducted and Corinne Cahen, the Luxembourg Minister of Family Affairs, Integration and Greater Region, spoke on the rising refugee crisis and its current challenges.
 
Engelmayer, who is originally from Metz, presented highlights of B’nai B’rith’s work around the world. Engelmayer also presented a letter to Cahen on behalf of B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin.
 
“In more than 50 countries around the globe, members of our order join together to further the work of B’nai B’rith, helping each other and the Jewish community, and preserving the Jewish traditions of tikkun olam—repairing the world. We offer our appreciation, as well as our support, to all of you. We assure you that our strong partnership will continue as will the bonds between B’nai B’rith International and B’nai B’rith France, ably led by President Serge Dahan.”

Visite du Vice-Président du BBI Eric Engelmayer à la loge Elie Bloch de Metz​

Le 10 janvier 2016, une cinquantaine de S&F de la Loge Elie Bloch de Metz auxquels s’étaient joint également des membres de la Loge Sœur messine, Armand Kraemer, se sont réunis à 10h30 au centre communautaire de Metz. Deux membres de la Loge Emmanuel Levinas de Strasbourg et notre Frère Eric Engelmeyer, VP du BBI , ainsi que notre frère Eric Fiszon, VP du BBF délégué régional de l’est de la France, représentant le président du BBF, Serge Dahan, nous honoraient également de leurs présence.

Le Frère Président remercia chaleureusement Frère Bertin Ditesheim, ancien Président de la Cour d’Appel du BBE qui présidait la tenue solennelle d’installation de quatre S&F dans notre Loge., un Frère absent sera installé ultérieurement. De même il remercia Frère Bernard Israël, président de la commission d’enquête ainsi que les membres de  ladite commission pour leur travail remarquable.

Un grand moment d’émotion fut partagé par les présents lorsque Patrick Hirsch, le Président en exercice, après avoir évoqué sa mémoire demanda à l’assistance de respecter une minute de silence en mémoire de notre regrettée sœur Erika Van Gelder, ancienne Présidente du BBE récemment disparue et qui avait procédé à l’installation du nouveau bureau de la loge Elie Bloch le 15 février 2015.

Après l’initiation des nouveaux S&F, notre Frère Eric Engelmeyer nous expliqua avec beaucoup de détails le travail du BBI, ce qui intéressa l’ensemble des participants et nous fit découvrir une part de l’organisation des BB que nous ignorions. Il fut invité à venir désormais nous informer régulièrement sur les travaux du BBI.

Notre Frère Michel Gerstenhaber de la Loge Elie Bloch nous fit part du travail de la commission anti BDS qu’il préside et  des actions positives consécutives à leur travail.

La Tenue solennelle fut suivie d’un repas convivial de très bonne qualité réunissant 70 personnes auxquelles s’étaient joints entre autre des veuves d’anciens Frères de notre Loge disparus, invitées pour cette occasion.

A l’issue de ce repas, une conférence ouverte à tous les membres de la Communauté de Metz fut présentée par Madame Corinne Cahen, ministre de la famille, de l’intégration  et à la Grande Région du Grand Duché du Luxembourg dont le titre était  « La crise des réfugiés, un défi européen », exposé très vivant et très bien documenté.

En conclusion, ce fut une très belle journée qui nous a permis de renforcer les effectifs de notre Loge à un moment crucial où nous avons besoin de réunir toutes les forces vives pour lutter contre l’antisémitisme, un défi majeur auquel nous devons faire face en France aujourd’hui.

​B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:  
 
B’nai B’rith Europe President Daniel Citone was in attendance when Pope Francis spoke at the Great Synagogue of Rome on Jan. 17.  Francis is now the third pope to visit the synagogue. The event included speeches by Ruth Dureghello, the president of the Jewish community of Rome, and Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni.
 
The Pontiff spoke about the Holocaust and strongly urged to “say no to all forms of anti-Semitism, all insults, discrimination and persecution arising thereform.” In October of 1943 the Nazis deported more than 2,000 Jews from Rome. Francis also met with several Italian-Jewish Holocaust survivors and mentioned that his relationships with the Jewish people “are in his heart,” and that previous “enemies and strangers” have now become “friends and brothers.”
 
B’nai B’rith is gratified that the Catholic-Jewish friendship continues to grow and hold strong. We are pleased that the pope shares a commitment to create “an authentic relationship of friendship.” This visit sends a clear and concise message to the world that the fight to end anti-Semitism cannot stop. 

​B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International remembers valiant Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who died a year ago under suspicious circumstances. Nisman was building a case against the Iranian government, and discovered key members were behind the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) building, before he met his untimely death. That terrorist attack killed 85 and wounded 300 people.
 
Nisman announced to the public, several days before his death, that he would present his findings to the Argentine Congress on Jan. 19, 2015. He believed that former President Cristina Kirchner and then Foreign Minister Hector Timerman were both involved with the Iranian government. Nisman was found dead in his home on Jan. 18, 2015.
 
On Jan. 18, 2016, in Buenos Aires, a candlelight vigil was held in Nisman’s honor. Vice President Gabriela Michetti was in attendance, and President Mauricio Macri privately met with Nisman’s daughters the day before.
 
B’nai B’rith recognizes the important changes that have occurred within the last two months. In December, Macri voided the Argentina-Iran memorandum of understanding, which allowed Iran to “investigate” the AMIA building bombing. Government officials have stated that all officers who handled Nisman’s case are required to provide testimony to Judge Fabiana Palmaghini.
 
Our thoughts are with the Nisman family, and B’nai B’rith hopes that justice will soon prevail.