Daniel S. Mariaschin Part of Panel at Global Coalition for Israel Forum

(Washington, D.C., June 19, 2019)--B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin participated on a plenary panel entitled “BDS and Anti-Semitism: When Delegitimizing Israel Puts World Jewry at Risk” at the Global Coalition for Israel Forum (GC4I), a conference organized by the Israeli Ministry for Strategic Affairs.
 
In remarks prepared for delivery, Mariaschin emphasized that the aim of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is to seek the delegitimization of Israel, not to achieve justice for Palestinians. He also warned of the mainstreaming of BDS in different arenas, including within social justice movements such as the Women’s March. Mariaschin’s remarks advocated for several strategies to combat BDS domestically and internationally, including promoting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism (which includes anti-Zionism), passing domestic anti-BDS legislation such as the Combating BDS Act and highlighting links between pro-BDS entities and terrorist groups.
 
The GC4I conference brings Jewish professionals and lay leaders from around the world together and focuses primarily on strategies to fight BDS. This year, it is taking place through June 20th in Jerusalem.
 
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 has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns The Los Angeles Times for publishing a full-page ad that ran on Feb. 24. The ad advocates boycotting a free trip to Israel that is being included in this year’s Oscars “swag bags” for host Chris Rock and 25 Academy Award nominees. The ad is sponsored by the Jewish Voice for Peace and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
 
B’nai B’rith commends Variety for rejecting the same pro-Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement ad in its latest edition, and The Los Angeles Times should follow Variety in rejecting it. Promoting BDS is another way of endorsing delegitimization against Israel.
 
We urge The Los Angeles Times to reject such blatantly anti-Israel ads in the future and encourage other news organizations not to publish these types of intolerant pro-BDS ads, which do nothing to advance peace between Israel and Palestinians. 

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith International condemns the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s (SeaMAC) latest ad, which promotes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel movement. A billboard sponsored by the group, located near O’Hare Airport in Chicago, is calling for a boycott against Israel. Similar ads like this one, paid for by SeaMAC, have been showing up across the nation.
 
SeaMAC’s accusations against Israel are unwarranted and despicable and further BDS’ goal to delegitimize the Jewish State, which is the only democratic country in the Middle East.
 
According to its website SeaMAC works with other local pro-BDS organizations that help finance the ads the group runs. Some of these other organizations are the Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Tree of Life Educational Fund-West Coast and the D.C. Riders for Peace.
 
The ad’s funders endorse anti-Israel hatred, and the advertisers are giving hatred a platform. B’nai B’rith strongly advocates for these appalling ads to be taken down. 

Yair Lapid Rejects Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem

In an address before B’nai B’rith International President Gary P. Saltzman and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin and more than 100 Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations delegates on the second day of its 42nd consecutive annual Leadership Mission to Israel, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said that Israel will not intervene in the Syrian civil war, though Israel is supplying humanitarian support.
 
“Syria will leave us with two bad options: we will have either Daesh or Iran on our border,” Yaalondeclared, and he also said that Israel will not tolerate the delivery of chemical agents to any combatants, nor will Israel tolerate disturbances on its borders. He told the audience that in the last two years there have been 20 attacks on Israel’s borders by Iran and its proxies, which is why Israel strongly rejects the current political process led by Russia.
 
Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Yaalon detailed the incitement and manipulation that emanates from the Palestinian Authority. He said they continue to educate their children that Tel Aviv has been occupied since 1948, and it is Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who rejects the two- state solution and denies that Israel is a Jewish state for the Jewish people.
 
The defense minister also said that Israel is grateful for its close relationship with the United States and that he expects the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) discussions around the next decade of U.S. – Israel cooperation to be completed this spring. “We know what we want, the U.S. knows what it is willing to share with us,” he said.
 
Yaalon was one of three high-ranking Israeli government officials to address the delegation on Feb. 15 today. Gilad Erdan, who is simultaneously Israel’s minister of public security, minister of strategic affairs and minister of information, and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid were the other two.
 
Erdan focused on the fight against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). “Both BDS and what some are calling ‘lone wolf’ attacks stem from the same foundation: the de-legitimization of Israel and the denial of the Jewish people to have a state,” he said. Demanding that social media take responsibility for their part in allowing people to use them for terror, he explained that the technological capability and basic willingness on the part of Facebook and Twitter is there, but it is taking time for them to understand how severe the situation is.
 
Erdan praised the conference’s anti-delegitimization efforts, noting its programs such as America’s Voices, which organizes week-long missions to Israel for prominent headline makers with widespread credibility from various fields; its lawfare initiative; and Grapevine, a pro-Israel website geared toward the younger generation.
 
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid told the delegation that even though some consider the recent Iran deal an Israeli loss, “I fought shoulder to shoulder with the government against this deal. I don’t think Israel has lost, I think the world has lost.”
 
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict he said that Israel must maintain the security situation, and that there would not be a second disengagement—no more unilateral withdrawal. “We left 3000 greenhouses in Gaza to help build the Palestinian economy; instead they shot 25,000 missiles and built tunnels.” On Jerusalem, he said the majority of Israelis will not agree to divide the city, “so that is off the table and we will have to compromise somewhere else.” When pressed as to why he rejects the possibility of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, he declared, “because it’s ours.”
 
Lapid, critical of previous negotiations, doesn’t think the two-state solution is dead, but said he would not pre-negotiate a settlement in the media.
 
Extensive, wide ranging expert panels and discussions on Iran post-Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Mideast Regional situation and dynamics, anti-Semitism and BDS, and Israel’s social fabric were also conducted throughout the day.
  
The proven and effective voice of organized American Jewry for six decades, the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations, of which B’nai B’rith is a member, advances the interests of the American Jewish Community, promotes broad-based support for Israel, and addresses critical concerns facing Israel and world Jewry.
 
The delegation will be in Israel through Feb. 18 and will be meeting with high-level Israeli leaders, academics, diplomats and opinion makers across the political spectrum. 
(This statement is being shared, with permission, from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.)

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.
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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 has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith condemns the United Methodist Church’s Pension Board for deciding on political grounds to single out five prominent banks in Israel for discontinued investment. The Protestant denomination pulled its finances from these reputable, mainstream institutions because some church leaders actively identify with Palestinians’ position in their ongoing conflict with Israel. The step is being regarded as a victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes hostile campaigns against Israel alone rather than efforts for genuine peace, compromise and reconciliation.
 
The United Methodist Church’s Pension Board has made an unjust and ill-informed decision by effectively supporting BDS. The blacklist includes the following banks: First International Bank of Israel, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, Bank Hapoalim, Israel Discount Bank and Bank Leumi.
                                                                                                                       
B’nai B’rith urges the church to reconsider its damaging choice, which is inconsistent with past Methodist disavowal of economic warfare. The BDS movement is another unwarranted assault on Israel, the world’s only Jewish state and the Middle East’s only pluralistic democracy. This type of bias must not be ignored. 

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
 
B’nai B’rith applauds the American Historical Association (AHA) for renouncing an anti-Israel motion claiming that Israel limits Palestinian academic opportunities. This resolution was proposed at the AHA annual summit in Atlanta, and was beaten by a vote of 111 to 50.
 
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) proposal unfairly tags Israel with biased, one-sided accusations. This is the second time AHA voted down this dangerous resolution against Israel.
 
B’nai B’rith praises AHA for understanding that monitoring Israel in this capacity would be a perilous decision, as BDS targets Israel’s cultural and economic sectors in order to eventually isolate the country from the world. This BDS measure represents another unjust attack on Israel, even as human rights violations committed by other countries go largely ignored.

Professor’s Acceptance of BDS Movement Part of a Deeply Troubling Trend

B’nai B’rith is outraged that a university professor refused to help a 13-year-old Israeli student with a research project, hiding behind the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for her decision.
 
Shachar Rabinovitch, 13, wrote to Professor Marsha Levine, a British-American researcher, requesting information about early horse species, Levine’s area of expertise. According to the girl’s mother, Levine replied: “I’ll answer your questions when there is peace and justice for Palestinians in Palestine.”
 
The goal of BDS is to isolate Israel to the point of dissolution.   
 
This BDS episode illustrates the senselessness and degree to which BDS followers will go to follow the Palestinian narrative. Levine’s refusal to help a student demonstrates an extreme absurdity, with its total lack of proportion in its response to a student. 
 
B’nai B’rith has long fought the BDS campaign to isolate Israel and its myopic focus on Israel, even as real human rights abusers, like Iran and Syria, escape unscathed.

Divisive Move Only Serves to Impede Peace

B’nai B’rith International strongly condemns the newly announced academic boycott of Israel by a group of scholars from the United Kingdom.
 
In a full page ad in the Guardian newspaper called “A Commitment by UK Scholars to the Rights of Palestinians,” more than 300 professors say they are boycotting Israeli universities to call attention to “the intolerable human rights violations” it says Israel perpetrates against the Palestinians.
 
To be sure, with more than 194,000 academics in the United Kingdom, the 343 signers represent a tiny minority. But such public calls bring disproportionate attention to their misguided view.
 
It is astonishing to think how these university professors are intentionally ignoring the situation in the region and focusing instead on Israel, while disregarding such realities as the current terror campaign against Jews in Israel, who have been shot, stabbed and rammed with cars by young Palestinians.
 
The approach a week ago by 150 British artists announcing opposition to a cultural boycott of Israel notes engagement is how to understand others. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, joined those opposing a boycott.
 
Academic freedom is a hallmark of the Israeli university system. It is astonishing that these British academics have their eyes trained only on Israel, rather than on the numerous nations which inhibit academic freedom and systematically abuse human rights of their citizens.