In keeping with the automatic majority enjoyed at the world body by Arab, Muslim and aligned states, the United Nations General Assembly has again repeated an annual ritual of adopting multiple resolutions and reports blindly reflecting only Palestinians' narrative of their ongoing conflict with Israel. B'nai B'rith condemns those member states, oblivious to grave Palestinian misdeeds and to the most basic rights of Israelis, that accepted these texts replete with glaring falsehoods, omissions and political invective.

The resolutions mimic Palestinian rhetoric inimical to peace and coexistence – referring to the creation of Israel as "the Nakba" (or "Catastrophe"), referencing alleged "acts of terror" by individual Israelis but never by Palestinian jihadist groups, calling for a "contiguous" state of Palestine that would by definition end the contiguity of Israel, and decrying the detention of violent Palestinian extremists but not the continuing hostage-taking by Hamas terrorists of Israeli civilians and service-members. Yet again, the resolutions commit the outrage of repeatedly referring to the holiest site in Judaism, Jerusalem's Temple Mount, by its Islamic name alone, and even demand the transfer of the strategically vital Golan Heights, a haven of stability and intercommunal coexistence under Israeli sovereignty, to the brutal regime of Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

The decisions also perpetuate permanent bureaucratic bodies, including the Division for Palestinian Rights, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine, exclusively dedicated – at the annual cost of millions of dollars to global taxpayers, and with the imprimatur of the U.N. – to advancing Palestinian political propaganda and objectives worldwide.

B'nai B'rith strongly commends the United States, Australia, Canada, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Nauru, along with Israel, for their brave and principled opposition to all of these motions, and also takes note of a substantial number of member states that declined to support the resolutions, through abstention, and those that opposed individual motions.

The predictable adoption of the batch of anti-Israel texts came on a day formally testifying to systemic U.N. prejudice against the world's only Jewish state and the Middle East's only democracy: the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Palestinians alone enjoy exceptional privileges and expressions of automatic support at the world body, even though the occasion marks the day in 1947 when the General Assembly endorsed Jewish statehood in Israel – a vision rejected by Palestinian and other extremists then and still today.

The day itself was observed with a customary litany of one-sided and often defamatory statements by the representatives of authoritarian governments hostile to Israel, and a keynote U.N. speaker on the eve of the General Assembly proceedings. CNN personality and Temple University instructor Marc Lamont Hill, made blatant his bigoted position by calling for the effective erasure of Israel, justifying all Palestinian "resistance" tactics and endorsing economic pressure campaigns that single out Israel for targeting. B'nai B'rith called yesterday for Hill's immediate dismissal by his employers, after which CNN rightly ended its relationship with Hill.

Until U.N. bodies demonstrate an unvarnished awareness of actual realities in the Middle East, and genuine commitment to equality and to fairness, they will be in no position to contribute to peace in the region – or to improve the circumstances of Israelis and Palestinians alike.  
 
B’nai B’rith strongly urges member states to be mindful of this when voting next week on a U.S.-sponsored resolution set to provide for critical General Assembly condemnation, for the first time, of Hamas, the Palestinian jihadist group that controls the Gaza Strip and vows Israel’s destruction.

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., Nov. 29, 2018)--B’nai B’rith International President Charles Kaufman and CEO Daniel Mariaschin sent a letter to the CEO of short-term property rental company Airbnb denouncing the company’s decision to delist Israeli properties in the West Bank and calling on Airbnb to reverse its decision immediately. In the letter, Kaufman and Mariaschin called the move the “latest attempt by Israel’s adversaries to isolate the Jewish state and undermine its standing in the international community.”

In a release announcing the move, Airbnb said its decision was made in the context of an all-encompassing “framework for evaluating how [Airbnb] should treat listings in occupied territories.” However, Airbnb has not applied this framework to any country other than Israel.

Kaufman and Mariaschin point out that Airbnb’s press release “concedes that U.S. law permits companies like Airbnb to engage in business in these territories.” The decision could not have been motivated by legal concerns.

According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of anti-Semitism, “manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” By singling out Israel from the hundreds of countries that Airbnb has listings in, the company is doing just that. ​

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

B’nai B’rith Urges Dismissal of Marc Lamont Hill Over Call to Erase Israel

(Washington, D.C., Nov. 28, 2018)--B’nai B’rith International calls for the immediate dismissal of CNN commentator and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill over explicitly anti-Semitic statements he has made as featured speaker at the primary United Nations event marking the body’s yearly International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Coming in the aftermath of CNN’s release of a survey showing the persistence of global anti-Semitism—whose most lethal strain is now the demonization and delegitimization of the world’s only Jewish state—Hill endorsed the anti-Jewish discrimination of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and justified all forms of Palestinian “resistance,” which largely refers to terrorism against Israeli civilians. Most shockingly, he echoed the jihadist aspiration of erasing Israel completely, asserting that justice requires “a free Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”

Ironically, today’s Palestinian solidarity event marks the day in 1947 on which the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the right of Jews to a homeland in Israel—a right that continues to be rejected by Middle East extremists.

Hill has regularly engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric at events hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a radical activist group that has advocated the destruction of Israel. SJP actively promotes support for terrorists, including Rasmea Odeh, who participated in a grocery store bombing that killed two students in Israel, and Ahmed Manasara, who indiscriminately stabbed Israeli civilians on a street in Jerusalem and told police officers he “went there to stab Jews.”

Hill has also been an open proponent of the BDS campaign, whose founding was motivated by a desire to isolate, harm and ultimately eradicate Israel by promoting economic warfare against it. 

Additionally, he has had a longstanding relationship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a foremost purveyor of modern anti-Semitism, who has called Judaism a “gutter religion” and Jews “satanic.” In 2016, Hill posted online a picture of himself smiling with Farrakhan, adding the caption, “Been blessed to spend the last day with Minister Louis Farrakhan. An amazing time of learning, listening, laughing, and even head nodding to music. God is Great.” Last month, when challenged on his association with Farrakhan after the latter compared Jews to termites, Hill tweeted: “Although I disagree with the Minister on those important issues, I will not allow that to be an excuse for allowing dishonest media or poorly intentioned observers to create unnecessary division. I will not be told who to speak to, sit with, or engage.”  

Hill’s continued career at CNN, and as a professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University in Philadelphia, is especially ironic in light of the network’s recent survey highlighting widespread anti-Semitism in Europe. The poll revealed that many Europeans continue to believe in anti-Semitic tropes. Over a quarter of those surveyed said they think Jews have too much influence in business and finance. Nearly one in four said that Jews have too much involvement in armed conflicts and wars worldwide. The survey also revealed a troubling lack of knowledge surrounding the events of the Holocaust. Although the Nazi genocide resulted in the murder of six million Jews on European soil, a third of the survey’s respondents said they knew little or nothing about the Holocaust. Nearly a third blamed Israel’s actions for anti-Semitism in their countries, and 18% blamed the behavior of Jews in general.

It is intolerable that Hill, who describes himself as “one of the leading intellectual voices in the country,” has enjoyed important platforms to spread his bigoted views. His association with anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic groups and figures prevents him from speaking with any moral authority on peace and justice, particularly to a global television audience and to students. He must be swiftly repudiated and replaced by CNN and by Temple University. ​

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

(Jerusalem, Nov. 27, 2018)-- B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem conducted a six-day mission to Israel last week with 12 members of Congress from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, the first of its kind undertaken by B’nai B’rith.

B’nai B’rith brought the congressmen to Israel to encounter first-hand the security and political challenges facing the country, its strong democratic institutions and its culture, history, technological innovation and demographic diversity.

The mission kicked off with a meeting with Reuven Azar, head of the Foreign Policy Department, National Security Council and foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The delegation conferred with Shmulik Bass, director for Latin America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and met with Knesset member Sharren Haskel (Likud), chair of the Israel-Chile Parliamentary Friendship Group, at the Knesset.

The group was also briefed by Knesset Member Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid), chair of the Israel-Argentina Parliamentary Friendship Group, near his home at the Israel-Gaza border and received strategic briefings near Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon.

In Jerusalem, they visited the Holy Sepulchre, Yad Vashem, the Israel Museum and the Western Wall. Uruguayan-Israeli journalist Jana Beris (who is also known by her maiden name, Jerozolimski) and educator-guide Gabriel Ben Tasgal discussed current affairs with the group, including the peace plans since the Oslo Accords and the situation between Israel and Palestinians since 1948.

Other highlights of the itinerary included visits to Bethlehem, the Galilee, the Jordan River and the Golan Heights. The group was introduced to Israeli high-tech at OrCam Technologies and Taglit innovation center.​

The delegation was assembled in close cooperation with B’nai B’rith Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider, B'nai B'rith Director for Latin America Eduardo Kohn and B’nai B’rith Chile Director Jorge Zeballos accompanied the mission.
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 bnaibrith.org.

(Jerusalem, Nov. 26, 2018)--Noted historian Sir Simon Schama will deliver the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem 'Jerusalem Address' entitled "Jewish Arguments Then and Now" on Dec.13. The event will be led by B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Chairman Haim V. Katz and concluding remarks will be made by Charles O. Kaufman, president of B'nai B'rith International. Yoel Rappel, historian, author and editor of Schama's acclaimed "The Story of the Jews" in Hebrew will present a literary introduction of his work.

Schama is university professor of art history and history at Columbia University, a fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature and contributing editor at the Financial Times.

The event will take place on Thursday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Konrad Adenauer Conference Center, Mishkenot Sh'ananim, Jerusalem. The media are invited.

The ‘Jerusalem Address’ was established by the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem in 1985 as its most prestigious forum for addressing fundamental challenges facing Israel and the Jewish people. It has consistently hosted some of the most outstanding minds of our times, including Abba Eban, Professor George Steiner, Professor Shlomo Avineri, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, Bernard-Henri Levy, Professor Bernard Lewis, Ambassador Max M. Kampelman, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Melanie Phillips  and Howard Jacobson.
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Schama is the author of 18 books, which have been translated into 16 languages, and is the writer-presenter of 50 documentaries on art, history and literature for BBC2 and PBS. He was art critic for the New Yorker in the 1990s and won a National Magazine Award for his art criticism in 1996, published as “Hang-Ups, Essays on Painting (Mostly).” His film on Bernini from the “Power of Art” series won an Emmy and his series “A History of Britain and The American Future. A History” won Broadcast Critics Guild awards. His art history work also includes “Rembrandt's Eyes,” (1999) “The Power of Art,”(2006) and “The Face of Britain.” (2015)
 
He has published a work of fiction, “Dead Certainties: (Unwarranted Speculations)” and his work for the theater  includes the stage adaptation of “Rough Crossings” (with Caryl Phillips) for Headlong Theatre,  and in 2011, a short play for Headlong's site-specific production about 9/11, Decade.
 
 Schama won the NCR nonfiction prize for “Citizens. A Chronicle of the French Revolution,” the WH Smith Literary Award for “Landscape and Memory,” and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the United States for “Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution.”
 
His latest book, “The Story of the Jews Volume 2: Belonging”was short-listed for the Baillie-Gifford Prize and was among The Economist Magazine's  Best Books of 2017. In 2011, he received the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement and in 2015 the Premio Antonelli Feltrinelli in historical sciences from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome .
 
He delivered the Andrew W. Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. in 2006 entitled "Really Old Masters: Infirmity and Reinvention," the Anthony Hecht Lectures in the humanities at Bard College on memory in contemporary art and most recently, the Jerusalem Lectures for the Israel Historical Society. He curated the Government Art Collection exhibition "Travelling Light" at the Whitechapel Gallery and "The Face of Britain" exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 2015, at the time of a television series and book on British portraiture.  He has collaborated with Anselm Kiefer, John Virtue, Cecile B. Evans and Damien Hirst on exhibitions and catalogue essays. His latest work for the BBC/PBS was a series on world art history, “Civilisations,” broadcasted in the spring of 2018. In November 2017 he delivered a lecture entitled "The Anglo-Jewish Community and the Balfour Declaration" at a Knesset conference organized by the B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem on behalf of the Balfour Centenary Committee entitled "Centenary of the Balfour Declaration: Historical Context, Contemporary Implications."
 
To register, please write to worldcenter@012.net.il or call +972-2-6253743
 
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. Nov. 14, 2018)--Acclaimed international violinist and composer Federico Nathan, winner of the B’nai B’rith Uruguay “Fraternidad Award” for 2017, is visiting Israel this week as a guest of the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem on his first visit to the country. As part of his extensive itinerary, Nathan will present master classes at the Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and at the School of Music at Tel Aviv University.
 
He will give one performance as part of the Federico Nathan Project, where he will be accompanied by Israeli musicians Assaf Hakimi on bass, Katia Tubul on piano and Roy Oliel on drums.. The performance will take place in the presence of Uruguayan Ambassador Bernardo Greiver and will include some of Nathan´s original compositions and jazz standards.
 
The “Fraternidad Award” is a signature project of B’nai B’rith Uruguay that has brought Uruguayan performing and visual artists to Israel for 35 consecutive years and takes place alongside a bi-annual project that brings Uruguayan scientists to Israel.
 
Nathan, born in 1986 in Montevideo, is one of the greatest improvisational violinists of our time. He performs as a soloist in ensembles and orchestras around the world. As a versatile musician, he participates in projects of a wide range of musical genres and leads his own project, which serves as an outlet for his fervent creative curiosity. Nathan calls his work “music for the inner child.” While the focus of the project is on contemporary jazz and improvisational music, Nathan eagerly embraces a wide variety of aesthetics and styles.
 
His project started in Montevideo in 2008, when Nathan and his brother Maximiliano, who plays the vibraphone, began playing their own musical compositions. In his music, Federico Nathan proposes a journey through different sound universes, erasing the barrier between classical music and popular music by creating a profoundly imaginative sound, free of prejudices.
 
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., Nov. 13, 2018)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:   
 
B’nai B’rith is outraged by the more than 460 rockets, intended to kill Israeli civilians, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have launched from Gaza since Monday. Although Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system has intercepted more than 100 projectiles, ordinary Israeli civilians remain under attack.
 
The latest news reflects the possibility of a ceasefire.
 
Make no mistake: terrorists have been firing missiles at Israel indiscriminately, with no regard for the human cost involved. Illustrating the random aim of their weapons, terrorists launched a missile that killed a Palestinian man who happened to be in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. It was reported that more than 70 Israeli civilians have been wounded by the rockets, two of them seriously.
 
Israel has responded by destroying more than 100 terrorist-linked targets in Gaza. Unlike Hamas, which targets civilians and glorifies murder, Israel deliberately attempted to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties through advance warning of incoming fire.
 
Together, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are estimated to have stocked more than 20,000 rockets and mortars to attack Israel.
 
Israel has the right to defend itself and its people from the terrorists who control Gaza. This recent display of rocket fire from Gaza is yet another indication of the terrorists’ sworn objective to seek Israel’s destruction.
 
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

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

B'nai B'rith International recently completed a nearly week-long visit to Israel with 11 senior international diplomats — six from Africa, three from Europe, one from South America and one from the Caribbean. The diplomats represent their countries at United Nations institutions in New York, the world body's headquarters; in Geneva, home of the Human Rights Council; and in Paris, base of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

B’nai B’rith brought the diplomats to Israel to encounter first-hand the acute security and political challenges the country faces, as well as its vibrant democracy, cultural dynamism, technological innovation, humanitarian contributions globally and demographic diversity. The participants were also given the opportunity to become further acquainted with the singular history of the Jewish state, examining important archaeological discoveries and key biblical sites. 

During their visit, the diplomats – who originate from Argentina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Greece, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zambia, and were joined at points by ambassadors to Israel from many of their own countries – met with officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Knesset members representing both the government coalition and the opposition in Parliament. In Jerusalem, they also visited foremost holy places and the Tower of David, paid tribute to the victims of Nazi genocide in a special ceremony at Yad Vashem – the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, and spoke with Israeli, Palestinian and foreign medical personnel at cutting-edge units of Hadassah University Hospital. 

Additionally, they met with Christian, Druze and Baha'i leaders, reviewed anti-Jewish incitement in Palestinian school textbooks, toured an industrial area employing both Israelis and Palestinians and received a strategic briefing near Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon. On the eve of this week's intensification of violence emanating from the Gaza Strip, they traveled to Israeli communities bordering that Hamas-controlled territory, learning about the terrorizing of residents with ongoing Palestinian rocket and aerial arson attacks, and met with the parents of Lt. Hadar Goldin, a young Israeli serviceman whose remains have been held hostage in Gaza since his death at the hands of Palestinians four years ago.
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B'nai B'rith World Center-Jerusalem Director Alan Schneider and B'nai B'rith Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels accompanied the diplomatic group.

​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., Nov. 8, 2018)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:   
 
We are gratified that France will not include Marshal Philippe Pétain, who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, in its Armistice commemoration this weekend.

For days, there seemed to be confusion within the French government about the status of an honor for Pétain. It is important that the choice was made not to recognize him as a war hero for his World War I service. The confusion points out the continued need to educate future generations about the Holocaust and the events that led up to this horror against the Jewish people and so many others.
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While he was the prime minister of the collaborationist government Vichy France, Pétain’s government and police force deported more than 75,000 French Jews to concentration camps. More than 72,000 of them were killed.
 
Pétain was convicted of treason for his crimes during the war and ultimately sentenced to death. His complicity in the murders of French citizens and collaboration with the genocidal Nazi regime cannot be whitewashed.
 
Israel has recognized almost 4,000 French citizens as Righteous Among the Nations. These men and women bravely risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. They are the true heroes, not Pétain.
 
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