(Jerusalem, April 14, 2022)--The B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem has announced the winners of its Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage for 2022:

Award Winner: Ariel Kahana, political correspondent, Israel Hayom

Certificate of Merit: Yisrael Katzover, reporter and commentator for Hamodia

Lifetime Achievement Award: Shlomo Nakdimon

Kahana will receive the award in recognition of a series of articles and interviews about anti-Semitism in the United States, Israel-Diaspora relations and the integrity of the relationship in the time of COVID-19.

Katzover will receive a Certificate of Merit for a series of articles on Jewish communities in Arab countries.

Nakdimon will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for his extensive and exceptional body of work, which spans more than six decades and reflects a profound commitment to the essence of the award.

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 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: Ya'akov Ahimeir, former editor and anchor, Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, and Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2016; Dr. Yehudith Auerbach, former head of the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Emeritus Sergio DellaPergola, The Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University; Sallai Meridor, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former chairman of the Zionist Executive and Jewish Agency for Israel; Prof. Gabriela Shalev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations; journalist Yair Sheleg; Asher Weill, publisher and editor of “Ariel,” The Israel Review of Arts and Letters (1981-2003).

The Awards are presented in memory of the late Wolf Matsdorf, editor of the World Center-Jerusalem’s journal “Leadership Briefing” and a journalist in Israel and Australia, and his wife Hilda, a pioneer in social work in both Australia and Israel, and in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky. The award is made possible through donations from the Matsdorf family and B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem board member Daniel Schydlowsky.

For further information, please contact Alan Schneider, Director, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem: 02-6251743; 052-5536441.

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., Feb. 22, 2022)--The B’nai B’rith World Center and B’nai B’rith Argentina helped to solve what has been described as one of the most curious mysteries in Israel—the identity of the artist who created the large bronze menorah that stands today at one of the two main entrances to the Knesset, the first gift presented by any Jewish community to Israel’s parliament. Although it carries an inscription that clearly indicates the origin of the menorah as a gift from B’nai B’rith in Argentina in 1951, the name of the artist had been lost over time.

The search for the creator of the menorah started with Moshe Foxman Shaal, director of the Knesset Museum, who happened upon an old newspaper clipping from the early 1950s on the presentation of the menorah. Working with B’nai B’rith International Vice President Susan Chalon and leader Eva Strauss, B’nai B’rith World Center director Alan Schneider determined that the Knesset menorah and a nearly identical one displayed at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires are the work of David Sevi (1889-1971).
 
Born in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey, Sevi moved to Ottoman Palestine in 1910 and was educated at the famous Mikveh Yisrael agricultural school, where he later became a teacher and also participated in an expedition to the Negev commissioned by the Ottoman Pasha. He left for Argentina in 1922, where he became a founding member of the B’nai B’rith lodge (later renamed Hijos de la Biblia) in Buenos Aires that opened in 1930 and still operates today. Following first Knesset Speaker Yosef Sprinzak's visit to Argentina in the early 1950s, B'nai B'rith Argentina decided to raise funds to create a statue in the likening of the ancient Temple menorah, with the aim of gifting it to the Israeli parliament. Sevi was commissioned to create the menorah. The community rallied en masse, raising enough funds to forge two statues: one for the Knesset and one for the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, where it stood until the 1994 bombing of the embassy. The menorah was the only article to survive intact the collapse of the four-story historic building, where an empty commemorative lot sits today, while the menorah adorns Israel’s new embassy in the Argentinian capital.
 
Sevi came to Mikveh Yisrael during the reign of Yosef Niego as director. Niego, an outstanding agronomist from Adirna in Turkey, later became the president of B’nai B’rith in all the Levant. He was the second principal of the school affiliated with B’nai B’rith, following Ze’ev Hertzberg. Sevi was a member of Congregacion Israelita de la Republic Argentina and enjoyed sculpture as a hobby. He died on Aug. 21, 1971 and is buried in the La Tablada Jewish cemetery.

The Knesset menorah was rededicated on Feb. 22—Sevi’s 133rd birthday—during the annual mission to Israel by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations with the participation of B’nai B’rith International President Seth J. Riklin, CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy. A special plaque recognizing Sevi’s contribution was installed. Levy said, "We are happy that David Sevi is recognized on the 70th anniversary of the menorah's arrival [in Israel] and we are proud of the deep friendships between Israel and Diaspora Jewry."
 
Mariaschin said that, just as the newspaper article reported, the Menorah did in fact arrive to the Knesset’s former location at Beit Froumine on King George Street in downtown Jerusalem, where it was displayed with pride on the roof of the building during successive Hannukah holidays. When the Knesset moved to its new purpose-built building in Givat Ram in 1966, the Menorah was prominently displayed for years until it was moved just outside the new Kedma Wing, drawing attention to the likeness to the Menorah described in the Torah and the bas-relief work on the base representing the twelve tribes.

Mariaschin noted that B’nai B’rith continues to research the events surrounding the decision of the lodge to sponsor these beautiful endorsements of the fledging state of Israel and of the persona of David Sevi.

View the ceremony 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 bnaibrith.org.

 Four Rights Monitors Saluted for Condemning “Zionism-is-Racism” Slur 

(Washington, D.C., Jan. 27, 2022)—B’nai B’rith President Seth Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International welcomes United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s reference, in an address on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to a “common definition” of anti-Jewish hatred. He quoted from a critical working definition of anti-Semitism that encompasses prevalent contemporary forms of the scourge—including the delegitimization and demonization of Israel.

The working definition—which has become the consensus one among multiple democracies, experts on anti-Semitism and Jewish communities most engaged in facing it—is that of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental body.

The remarks come the day after several U.N.-affiliated experts in Geneva issued a landmark statement rejecting the calling into question of Israel’s legitimacy.

On Jan. 26, four U.N.-affiliated rights monitors in Geneva—Ahmed Shaheed, special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Alexandra Xanthaki, special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Fernand de Varennes RP, special rapporteur on minority issues—cited the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism and condemned “assertions that Zionism, the self-determination movement of the Jewish people, is an inherently racist ideology and a form of racial supremacy."

Noting “antisemitic diatribes” even in U.N. settings, they said: “Not only is this narrative false; it has also shown to fuel resentment against Jews and normalise bias against Jewish communities worldwide.”

B’nai B’rith, which has directly encouraged the U.N. chief to further build upon his personal efforts against anti-Semitism, urges him to formally endorse and apply the IHRA working definition. This embrace of a concrete, comprehensive and up-to-date definition of anti-Semitism would be essential at a time when the animus has persisted and even spread, including in violent forms, around the world. In several countries, Jews are the leading target of faith-based hate crimes, and anti-Semitic incitement is widespread both online and otherwise.

B’nai B’rith’s own annual U.N. Holocaust remembrance event on Jan. 24 featured the secretary-general of IHRA and several high-level figures, including the vice president of the European Commission, who urged utilization of her group’s anti-Semitism definition.

The program, viewable online here, saw new German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock affirm Israel’s security as a “reason of state” for her country, which she said fights “unfounded criticism and hate against Israel.” For his part, days after a hostage-taking at a synagogue in Texas, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas—himself the descendant of Holocaust-era refugees—starkly warned that the Holocaust could recur anywhere.

Before the U.N. General Assembly’s passage of an important resolution last week embracing another IHRA working definition—that of Holocaust-denial and distortion—B’nai B’rith International CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs Director David J. Michaels wrote in an op-ed in Newsweek, “We hope member states will join in adopting… an equally vital working definition of antisemitism.”

On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, we commend those defenders of universal human rights standing firmly against anti-Semitism not only in the past but also in the present.

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.

(Costa Rica, Oct. 21, 2021)--Adriana Camisar, B’nai B’rith International’s special advisor on Latin American and U.N. Affairs and deputy director of AJIRI-BBI (the American Jewish International Relations Institute, an affiliate of B’nai B’rith), recently met with Costa Rican government officials and leaders of the Jewish community to discuss issues of concern to B’nai B’rith and the Jewish community at large.  
 
Camisar attended a reception at the residence of Israeli ambassador to Costa Rica Oren Bar-El, in honor of Isaac Assa, the founder of the Israel-Latin American Network (ILAN), an initiative aimed at strengthening ties between Israel and Latin American countries through Israeli innovation and entrepreneurship. The reception marked the beginning of ILAN’s work in Costa Rica, something B’nai B’rith fully supports. 
 
In a meeting with First Lady Claudia Vanessa Dobles Camargo and Deputy Foreign Minister Christian Guillermet, Camisar discussed issues of mutual concern for the Costa Rican government and B’nai B’rith, including Costa Rica’s role at the United Nations. 
 
Camisar also met with the president of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, Justice Elizabeth Odio Benito, and discussed several issues of concern to B’nai B’rith, including the AMIA bombing case—the terrorist attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina building in 1994 that killed 85 and wounded more than 300, which is currently under the consideration of the court. 
 
Finally, Camisar met with leaders of the local Jewish community, including President of B’nai B’rith Costa Rica Joseph Gabriel and B’nai B’rith members Silvana Botbol Gabriel and Kiko Lang, to inform them about B’nai B’rith’s activities and to learn more about the wonderful work they do in Costa Rica. 
 
Accompanying Camisar in the meetings were Monica Nagel, former minister of justice of Costa Rica and a longtime B’nai B’rith member; Tobias Schifter, member of the board of AJIRI-BBI and a native of Costa Rica; and Renee and Yosi Sofer, prominent members of the Panamanian Jewish community. ​

(Washington, D.C., Oct. 15, 2021)--B'nai B’rith International is pleased to have taken part in the historic Malmö Remember-React International Forum, to promote Holocaust Remembrance and combat anti-Semitism.
​
Twenty years after the Stockholm Declaration that founded the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the Forum brought together Heads of State and government representatives from nearly 50 countries, researchers, experts, civil society and social media companies.

Among participating dignitaries—virtually and in-person—were the Royal Court of Sweden, U.N. Secretary- General António Guterres; President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog; French President Emmanuel Macron; Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; European Council President Charles Michel; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Ahead of the Forum, delegations were encouraged to submit concrete pledges.

The event addressed themes such as fighting distortion and trivialization, expanding educational reach to new target groups, fighting anti-Semitism and hate speech online and implementing national and international strategies.

B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin participated virtually and conveyed B'nai B’rith's pledge: sponsorship of the None Shall Be Afraid program, which provides a way for individuals and local communities to foster tolerance and responsibility. President Charles O. Kaufman and Deputy Director of the B’nai B’rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy Eric Fusfield also took part virtually, along with EU Affairs Officer Caterina Cognini.

Director of EU Affairs Alina Bricman represented B'nai B'rith at the Forum in Malmö and met on the sidelines with key partners in the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the OSCE/ODIHR (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/ Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), and the IHRA.

We welcome important commitments made by states, international organizations and technology platforms, increased financial assistance for Holocaust museums and the protection of sites, support for civil society, the drafting and implementation of national action plans and adoption of the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism among others.

Herzog acknowledged accomplishments since the establishment of the IHRA, drew attention to the growing threat of anti-Semitism stemming from hatred and demonization of Israel, encouraged all states to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and made an impassioned call on government representatives to take legislative action against the proliferation of hate online.

High Representative for the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Moratinos announced the U.N. will develop an action plan on anti-Semitism, insisting that the body must eradicate anti-Semitism both externally and internally—within the U.N. itself—including in the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Blinken announced the allocation in the coming year of $1 million to counter hate speech online in the Middle East and North Africa and an additional $1 million allocated, together with the U.S. Congress to Central Europe, in support of efforts against denial and distortion of the Holocaust.

Michel and von der Leyen committed to the thorough implementation of the new EU Strategy on Combating anti-Semitism and Fostering Jewish Life, developed by Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and Coordinator Katharina von Schnurbein.

Trudeau announced that the role of Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating anti-Semitism will be made permanent and supplemented by increased resources.

Macron stressed the need for collective action on an international level. He announced a new national strategy for combating anti-Semitism by the end of the year as well as an increase in budget for memorial institutions and noted national legislation against hate speech.

We are encouraged by these and other pledges by governments as well as companies.

We are grateful to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for convening this event. As the Forum concludes, we must work together to move the pledges into effect. Sweden will resume the IHRA chairmanship in March of 2022—an important moment to take stock of progress made.

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., Sept. 24, 2021)--B’nai B’rith leaders, led by President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin, have concluded meetings with dozens of world leaders on the sidelines of the opening of the United Nations General Assembly session.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, B’nai B’rith has continued its longtime leadership of Jewish communal engagement at the U.N., arranging direct discussions with heads of state and government, foreign ministers and other senior officials from countries including Greece, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Russia, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Austria, Colombia, Italy, Spain and Romania, among an array of others.

In the consultations, organized by B’nai B’rith’s Office of United Nations Affairs, among the issues discussed were Iran’s destabilizing policies, Arab-Israeli ties, U.N. treatment of Israel, transatlantic relations and global anti-Semitism. Countries were urged to decline participation in the U.N.’s commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the notorious Durban conference on racism—held on Sept. 22—or commended for doing so.

B’nai B’rith has been exceptionally active at the U.N. since the body’s very founding in 1945, holding official status at multiple U.N. arms since soon after then.

​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.

(Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 2021)--B’nai B’rith condemns the resolution adopted on the occasion of the “high-level meeting” of the United Nations General Assembly commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA). The DDPA, which was the official outcome document of the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa—notorious for its scenes of shocking anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate—singled out only Palestinians for mention as supposed victims of “racism,” by Israel.

The resolution predictably claimed that the DDPA offered “a comprehensive United Nations framework and solid foundation for combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” and reaffirmed commitment to its “full and effective implementation.”

After a year of advocacy by B’nai B’rith and others, we salute at least 35 countries that declined to participate in the Durban commemoration. They are Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay. Additionally, Spain’s foreign minister informed B’nai B’rith that he too instructed his diplomats not to attend.

Most of the countries announced their non-participation in advance, citing Durban’s anti-Jewish bigotry. This public disassociation by a substantial moral minority at the U.N. represents a meaningful victory against efforts to hijack the world body and the critical fight against racism—specifically racism against people of African descent—for the purposes of delegitimizing Israel by obscenely equating only it and Jews’ national liberation movement, Zionism, with racism.

Over recent weeks, B’nai B’rith has organized televised programming in partnership with the Jewish Broadcasting Service (JBS) on Durban, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism featuring luminaries including onetime Soviet prisoner of conscience Natan Sharansky, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, former United States national security advisor John Bolton, former Maldivian foreign minister Ahmed Shaheed, Canadian human rights icon Irwin Cotler, British Baroness Ruth Deech and French public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy.

The series—with a special message by B’nai B’rith President Charles O. Kaufman, and moderation by our CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels--culminated in an hourlong interview Sept. 22, at the conclusion of the U.N. Durban commemoration, with B’nai B’rith Honorary President Richard D. Heideman, who led the Jewish delegation at Durban, and his wife, International March of the Living President Phyllis G. Heideman.

B’nai B’rith mobilized the largest Jewish delegation at the 2001 conference and at the 2009 Durban Review Conference.

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.