B’nai B’rith International has selected the Boston Red Sox and club President/CEO Larry Lucchino to receive its Community Achievement Award, which recognizes the positive impact of key corporate leaders in their respective communities. 

The award ceremony will take place on Nov. 17, 2015, at historic Fenway Park in Boston.

“The Boston Red Sox ownership group led by John Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, and their partners are known around baseball for winning championships and their successes off the field, positively impacting the greater Boston area. The Boston Red Sox and Lucchino are most deserving recipients of the Community Achievement Award,” B’nai B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. 

Lucchino was instrumental in pulling together the ownership group that joined John Henry and Tom Werner in their successful effort to purchase the Red Sox in December 2001. Among all the potential suitors for the team, Henry, Werner, Lucchino, and their partners were the only ones committed to saving and improving Fenway Park. 

Together, they oversaw a decade-long project of major improvements that have enhanced the fan experience while respecting the integrity of the park and its surrounding neighborhood.

Lucchino has been President/CEO of the Red Sox since February 2002, managing the franchise on a day-to-day basis with the active involvement of, and in collaboration with, Henry and Werner. Lucchino is a 36-year veteran of Major League Baseball and previously occupied the same roles for the San Diego Padres from 1995 to 2001, and the Baltimore Orioles from 1988 to 1993. 

In addition to running championship franchises and setting attendance records, Lucchino has earned a legacy for creating ballparks that have transformed downtown areas and impacted the greater civic community. His vision for Oriole Park at Camden Yards—a traditional, old-fashioned, asymmetrical ballpark with modern amenities—ushered in an era of revolutionary ballpark architecture, while his leadership in building Petco Park saved baseball in San Diego and revitalized an under-utilized 26-block area in the city.

During their time with the Red Sox, the ownership group has established the Red Sox Foundation and distributed more than $77 million. 

Embedded in the fabric of New England’s philanthropic community, the foundation emphasizes five cornerstone programs: the organization’s 62-year relationship with the Jimmy Fund in the fight against pediatric cancer; the Red Sox Scholars program, which gives college scholarships to academically-talented but economically-disadvantaged middle school students from Boston; RBI Youth Baseball and Softball programs; the Home Base Program, which treats veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are facing post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries; and the team’s ongoing relationship with the Dimock Community Center, a leader in opioid treatment and provider of comprehensive health care, shelter, and security.

In November of 2010, the Red Sox Foundation received Major League Baseball’s first-ever Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence.

Since arriving in Boston, Lucchino, a two-time cancer survivor, has been a board member and co-chair of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s $1 billion “Mission Possible” Capital Campaign. He has also served on the board of Special Olympics International.

“As a baseball fan, it’s easy to see how ingrained teams are within their communities. The camaraderie that baseball builds within a fan base is one of the best parts of the game,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “B’nai B’rith is honored to bestow the Community Achievement Award on Boston Red Sox. It’s amazing to find a franchise that is so hands on, so passionate about building up the neighborhood and cities that surrounds this team. The team of Henry, Werner, Lucchino, and their partners are one of those extraordinary teams of executives, and I congratulate them and the entire team on this award.” 

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

B’nai B’rith renews its long-held concern about the feasibility of a nuclear deal with Iran. The latest deadline overrun demonstrates once more Tehran’s inability to commit to some of the most important issues in any deal, including intrusive inspections of all of its nuclear facilities, especially military sites.

We reiterate our long-standing skepticism of Iranian intentions.

B’nai B’rith continues to call on the White House and the P5+1 (United States plus China, France,  Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany) to stand firm on addressing  such issues as plutonium enrichment, intrusive inspections and the possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear program.

It is difficult to overstate the global impact of Iran’s access to nuclear weapons. With Tehran-controlled proxies effectively running so much of the collapsing Middle East, an Iran with nuclear weapons is an alarming prospect.   

As we noted months ago when an initial framework was reached: “Skepticism of Iran’s true nuclear intentions is natural, in light of the regime’s own words and actions.”

At the time of the initial framework, we noted that Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari had recently said: “The range of (our) missiles covers all of Israel today. That means the fall of the Zionist regime, which will certainly come soon.”

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also sharpened his rhetoric, saying in recent months:  “whether a nuclear agreement is achieved or not, Israel will be more insecure each day.”

Is this a regime ready to allow full and unfettered access to its nuclear sites? Is this a regime that has peaceful intentions for its nuclear research? Its history as the largest state-sponsor of global terror would indicate the answers are no.

B’nai B’rith International was responsible for delivering two statements on June 29 at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, both relating to the council’s recent report on the 2014 Hamas-initiated Gaza conflict.

The first, delivered by B’nai B’rith representative to the United Nations in Geneva Klaus Netter, admonished the council for its refusal to even acknowledge the terrorist group Hamas by name in its resolution launching the investigation, let alone fully recognizing its true intentions to destroy Israel. Netter said: “Human rights mechanisms such as this Council often see their role as to name-and-shame human rights abusers. Unless the abuser is Hamas. In that case, the Council will ignore-and-obscure. We must ask: What it will take for this Council to pronounce the name ‘Hamas?’”

Netter noted: “There is no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. As recently confirmed by a group of international military experts, Israel far exceeded the obligations of International Humanitarian Law in its counter-terrorism operations last summer. Hamas, on the other hand, dug tunnels into Israeli territory with the sole aim of carrying out horrendous terrorist attacks against Israeli farming communities near the border.”

In his statement, Netter focused on the lack of acknowledgement that Israel was defending itself against the “ruthless terrorist organization” that is Hamas. 

Click here to read Netter’s intervention: http://bit.ly/1g2xdHs

Separately, in cooperation with JINSA (the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), Geoffrey Corn, a professor of law and the U.S. Army’s former senior expert on the Law of Armed Conflict, spoke under Agenda Item 7 about the flaws inherent in the report on the Gaza conflict.

In his intervention, Corn raised a number of objections to the validity and accuracy of the report. At one point, he focused on how Hamas terrorists hid fighters and weapons among the civilian population of Gaza: “Specifically, it omits assessment of how an enemy’s systemic failure to distinguish himself from civilians, and in fact deliberately exploit the perception of civilian status, impacts the reasonableness of attack judgments.”

Click here to read Corn’s intervention: http://bit.ly/1InXBGL

To watch these interventions, see Chapter 49 (02:03:18, Netter) and Chapter 53 (02:11:55, Corn) here: http://webtv.un.org/watch/item7-general-debate-34th-meeting-29th-regular-session-of-human-rights-council/4328108187001

Nadav Eyal (Channel 10), Sam Sokol (Jerusalem Post) Are Award Winners; Lifetime Achievement Award to Kol Israel

The B’nai B’rith World Center recognized the winners of the Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage at Jerusalem’s Van Leer Jerusalem Institute on June 8 with Harvard University professor emeritus  Alan Dershowitz serving as the ceremony’s keynote speaker.

Dershowitz is a world-renowned jurist and is universally recognized as one of Israel’s most ardent advocates in the court of world opinion. He addressed the award winners and those in attendance by answering tough questions on Israel, American Jewry, the Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and U.S.-Israel relations in a conversation with Liat Collins, editor of the International Jerusalem Post and weekly columnist.

“Whenever I debate BDS, I always throw out the following challenge to my students all over the world,” Dershowitz said. “Name a single country in the history of the world faced with internal and external threats comparable to those faced by Israel that has ever had a better record in human rights; a better record with compliance of the rule of law; a better record of concern for civilians? I have been asking that question now for 20 years, probably to a million people around the world, and I’ve never gotten a single person even to stand up and name a country, because you can’t do it.”

B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Haim V. Katz started off the evening with opening remarks that touched on the big issues facing Israel and the Diaspora.

“There has not been a time when someone somewhere has not been planning to do substantial harm to the Jewish people. We now face the iniquitous, disgraceful big lie of the BDS movement and those who will tarnish Israel with the slur of blood libel,” Katz said. “As the Passover Haggadah says ‘Every generation the Jewish People are threatened with annihilation and God provide salvation.’ In every generation God has emissaries who assist the Jewish people in its distress. One of them is professor Alan Dershowitz who is like a pillar going before the camp, defending Israel and the Jewish people.”

Winners of the award, named for Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf, were Nadav Eyal, Channel 10's chief international correspondent and Sam Sokol, Jewish World correspondent for the Jerusalem Post.

A Lifetime Achievement Award in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky was also presented to Kol Yisrael—The Voice of Israel Radio—for its long-running program “Searching for Missing Relatives” now edited and presented by Izi Mann. A special citation for contribution to Israel-Diaspora Relations through the arts was presented to acclaimed singer David D’Or, who performed for the audience. 

Eyal received the award in the broadcast media category for his hour-long program “Hate,” broadcast on Channel 10 on Oct. 7, 2014. The program deals 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 mini-series during the station’s primetime news program.

“The connection between the Diaspora and Israel is to be found at the mystery and at the source of the relationship between Israel and the Jewish world. I am very grateful that you found my work worthy of this award. ‘Hate’ tried to ask the question: What stands behind the hate? What motivates the hate? Why is the virus of anti-Semitism so immune and what [are] its sources? To understand anti-Semitism you have to go to the instigators of the virus. So we went to the instigators of the virus. We went to the anti-Semites themselves. And the answer that we brought to our viewers are the lies. The lies in the words of the anti-Semites themselves. The small lie and the big lie that they apply [to] groups. The lie is the source of the racism… And we see how the racism is always paranoid; it is paranoid about everyone, not only toward Jews. This virus assumes mysterious assumptions about minorities and knows no bounds.”

The award in the print media category was presented Sokol for a series of nearly 30 articles published in the Jerusalem Post from May to December 2014 focusing on the fast-changing situation of Jews in war-ravaged eastern Ukraine.

“I’m very, very honored,” said Sokol after receiving the award recognizing his reporting in Ukraine. “It’s very humbling and really feels like a vindication that people have appreciated what I’ve done, and that’s really gratifying.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Kol Yisrael for its “Searching for Missing Relatives” program, inaugurated in 1945 to help Holocaust survivors track down missing relatives. The program was broadcast continuously until 1969 and was re-launched in 2000 by Yaron Enosh in a new format that included interviews and investigative reporting. Over the years the program, and its English print iteration “Seeking Kin” by Hillel Kuttler, have brought together hundreds of Jews across the globe, locating and reuniting with long-lost relatives, friends and neighbors. The show is now edited and presented by Mann, who accepted the award on behalf of the show.

“I feel it is a big honor, but primarily a great calling, to hold in my hand this watch of ‘Search for Missing Relatives’ because every day I have the sense that behind the microphone I am touching the fragments of history that were created as a result of the circumstances of the Holocaust,” Mann said. “But it is not only the Holocaust, because with all modesty I feel that in many cases I am able to bind these fragments that connect families and friendships that were shredded. The wounds of the Holocaust are still felt everywhere and especially now, when families are growing, the need to complete the missing past suddenly arises. Now, when the Jewish people have ceased to wander and are building its homeland we suddenly realize to what degree the roots are missing and now we are trying to complete them.”

Since its establishment in 1992, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reportage on contemporary Diaspora-Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations today in the Israeli print and electronic media. The award is widely acknowledged in the media industry as the most prestigious prize in its field in Israel. Its goal is to help shore up the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora by recognizing excellence in Diaspora-related reportage appearing in the Israeli print, broadcast and web-based media. It was established in recognition of the important contribution the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry--so essential for the resilience of both--by encouraging quality reportage on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations.

The distinguished 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; Sara Frenkel, former Diaspora correspondent for Israel Radio and Lifetime Achievement Award winner in 2002; 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.

The B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism is named for the late Wolf Matsdorf and his wife Hilda. Wolf was an editor of the B’nai B’rith World Center Journal “Leadership Briefing” and a journalist in Israel and Australia. Hilda was a pioneer in social work in both Australia and Israel. The Lifetime Achievement Award is named for Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky. The Award is made possible through donations from Daniel Schydlowsky, a professor and a member of the B’nai B’rith World Center International Board of Governors (Lima, Peru and Washington D.C.), and the Matsdorf family. 

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

B’nai B’rith welcomes a new Spanish law that would allow descendants of Sephardic Jews to apply for citizenship.  

This is an important gesture acknowledging not only the expulsion of Jews from 15th Century Spain, but also the importance of Jewish heritage to the country’s history. 

In recent years, the Spanish foreign ministry has established Casa Sefarad to promote Sephardic Jewish culture worldwide. The organization describes itself as “a bridge between Spain and the Jewish world,” and has run important cross-cultural programs.

Citizenship will not be awarded automatically. Applicants will have to certify their Sephardic ancestry during the online application process, and will have to pass language and history proficiency tests. The law will allow applicants to retain their current country of citizenship.

We are pleased that Spain’s Jewish community will be involved in the process of vetting applications, as their participation can be helpful in optimizing the law’s implementation.
 

Click here to read B’nai B’rith’s analysis of this topic from May:
http://www.bnaibrith.org/expert-analysis/five-centuries-later-spain-making-amends-with-jewish-community


Click here to read “The Jews of Spain” from the winter 2014 issue of B’nai B’rith Magazine: http://www.bnaibrith.org/magazine-articles/the-jews-of-spain-once-many-now-few-and-under-the-radar

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

In the wake of the announced framework of a deal between the United States, its five negotiating partners, and Tehran on the Iranian nuclear program, B’nai B’rith International believes there are still many questions surrounding the outcome—questions involving the viability of the deal and whether the notoriously sinister and secretive Iranian government will honor the terms in good faith.

B’nai B’rith is skeptical of the agreement’s ability to increase Iran’s nuclear breakout time from three months to a year, given the regime’s unwavering determination to continue enrichment and its history of evading inspections. The current deal, negotiated by the P5+1 (United States, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom), follows more than 20 years of deception by the regime in Tehran. If it was truly negotiated in good faith, then why did Iran run out the clock as the deadline approached?  

We thank Secretary of State John Kerry and his team for their hard work over many, many months. But we still remain concerned.

Iran’s credibility has already been severely strained by its track record of saying one thing and acting on the complete opposite. Iran has always opposed international “interference” in the Syrian civil war, all the while supporting the Syrian government with troops and supplies. In the current conflict in Yemen, Tehran has taken the same stance, while simultaneously backing one side. These are just a few of many examples of Iran’s deceitful and aggressive behavior, a list which also includes Iran’s many ventures as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.

The framework deal calls for a reduction of Iran’s installed centrifuges by two-thirds of its current capacity, but Iran’s actions during negotiations seemingly offer a clear blueprint for how it would act once a deal is in place. Even under the preliminary agreement, the regime has continued to enrich and stockpile uranium, build centrifuges, defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other inspection requests from the international community, pursue plans to build intercontinental ballistic missiles and hide the military dimensions of its nuclear program. Will Tehran truly allow for the transparency of its nuclear sites with comprehensive inspections by the IAEA? We also question whether the Iranians will actually convert their clandestine enrichment center at Fordow into a center for nuclear physics and technology research, or whether they will downgrade their heavy-water reactor in Arak.

While Iranian double-speak is a legitimate concern, what’s even more disturbing is the regime’s straightforward talk when it comes to Israel. Just a few days ago a commander in the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said that erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable”—a horribly frightening statement as negotiations were in the penultimate stage.

The incendiary remarks, obviously, don’t stop there. Several months ago, Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari said: “The range of (our) missiles covers all of Israel today. That means the fall of the Zionist regime, which will certainly come soon.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even stated that same month: “Whether a nuclear agreement is achieved or not, Israel will be more insecure each day.”

With a June 30 deadline set for a final deal, B’nai B’rith will be monitoring the specifics of the deal that are released in the coming months. B’nai B’rith urges Congress to carefully and stringently review the agreement during that time as well. A nuclear-ready Iran has consequences that would resonate far beyond Israel and the United States. Given the uncertainties of the deal and the enormity of the stakes, we hope that both parties in Congress will make their voices heard, as both the administration and Congress must play an active role in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

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

Well before last week’s attack on a kosher market in Paris that left four Jews dead, 37 countries sent a letter to the president of the United Nations General Assembly expressing concern over “the global outbreak of anti-Semitism” and calling for a session on combating violence and hatred directed toward Jews.

The attack that occurred last week only solidifies the need to have an urgent conversation about anti-Semitism in the world today.

The appeal from countries including the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and all members of the European Union prompted the U.N. General Assembly to schedule a first-time meeting on anti-Semitism on Jan. 22.

B’nai B’rith International commends this effort by participating countries to take a focused approach to tackling the scourge of global anti-Semitism. 

Bringing this issue to the U.N. General Assembly is one notable step in fighting this pernicious form of hatred and B’nai B’rith will look for it to be built upon with concrete, consistent action by governments, international agencies and civil society. 

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

B’nai B’rith International welcomes President Obama’s attention to specific issues, domestic and international, that we view as priorities.

The president noted his commitment to pursuing diplomatic means to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons development program. We must make it starkly clear to Tehran that the expanded deadline for talks must not merely serve as an opportunity for Iran to continue to build its nuclear program and deceive the world about its weapons-making progress. 

B’nai B’rith has consistently called for maintaining pressure on Iran and keeping all options open. We are pleased the president acknowledged that Iran's nuclear program has implications for the security of both the United States and Israel. But we remain concerned that removing sanctions as an option leaves an open door for Iran’s delaying tactics. 

All options must remain on the table. Keeping up pressure on Iran reinforces a strong U.S. negotiating position.

B’nai B’rith commends the president’s vow to fight terrorism. In light of the recent terror attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, we support an intensive and unflagging battle to defeat terrorism worldwide.

B’nai B’rith commends the president for noting the American culture of respect for “human dignity” and we were pleased when he went on to say of this respect: “It’s why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world.”

The president acknowledged the long-standing stumbling block that is immigration reform. He noted: “it’s possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.” B’nai B’rith has long supported comprehensive immigration reform. America is a country of immigrants. As such, we must embrace a reform plan.  The White House and Congress must work together. Real cooperation between the two branches is what will lead to a lasting reform.

Social Security is a top priority for B’nai B’rith and we regret more detail on social security challenges were not included in this speech.

In this, the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we were pleased that the president talked about the most basic of American freedoms. Some of the guarantees contained in that legislation have eroded over time; we need voting rights reform this year to restore full access to the ballot box.

We were pleased to see Alan Gross as an honored guest sitting with the first lady. Gross was freed in December after unjustly spending five years in a Cuban prison.

Of course the State of the Union address merely provides a peek at the president’s top priorities. But it does offer useful insight into where the president, and in turn, Congress, may focus. B’nai B’rith will study details of the president’s plans and will continue to advocate for our top priorities.