(Washington, D.C., Jan. 24, 2022)--In her first major address before an international Jewish audience since starting her new role, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock delivered a keynote speech at B’nai B’rith International’s annual event in conjunction with the United Nations’ Holocaust Remembrance Day. She said that Germany “is firmly committed to preserving the memory of the Holocaust—today and in the future. We will shoulder our responsibilities, and we will keep facing our past,” adding, “For the new German government, the security of Israel is and will remain inherent to our reason of state. We speak out against unfounded criticism and hate against Israel.”
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The virtual B’nai B’rith program, “Holocaust Remembrance: Responsibilities for All Society” also featured live remarks by United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who shared personal memories of his mother’s family’s Holocaust experience. Mayorkas talked about foundational principles that define anti-Semitism and other forms of hate, and said that hate manifests in ways we can see but also lingers below the surface. He added that the prevalence of this bigotry continues to present an existential threat and that we cannot assume the Holocaust could not recur. Finally, he noted, “An attack born of hate against one minority is an attack against all.”  Mayorkas—who, like other speakers, commended B’nai B’rith for its relevant work—said that although International Holocaust Remembrance Day is just one day each year, “We know that remembrance is every day, as is the work that must accompany it.”

In his remarks, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas made the point, “Left unchallenged, Holocaust-distortion nourishes anti-Semitism.” He said, “We need to protect our societies from any attempt to rewrite history, and support open and independent research on all aspects of the Holocaust. At the same time, we must step up our efforts to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms, using the definition of IHRA as our starting point.” IHRA is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental body that has adopted critical working definitions of both anti-Semitism and Holocaust-denial.

In advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, B’nai B’rith’s program focused on collective responsibility to remember and to educate about the systematic murder of six million Jews across Europe during the Shoah.

Opening the program, with a global virtual audience this year due to the pandemic, B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin noted: “As we wrote in a letter to U.N. member states” in support of an Israeli-initiated resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly last week, “Holocaust-denial is fundamentally not just about revisionist histories… it is an attempt to deny the past in order to justify present or future violence against the Jewish people and other vulnerable minorities.”

B’nai B’rith Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels and Director of European Union Affairs Alina Bricman moderated two panels of distinguished figures. Panel I focused on government action across the world and featured:

• Irwin Cotler, Canadian Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism
• Ellen Germain, United States Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues
• Fernando Lottenberg, the Organization of American States Commissioner to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
• Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life

Cotler said, “Anti-Semitism is toxic to democracies. Holocaust distortion is toxic to democracies. We need a global constituency of conscience to combat it.”

Panel II focused on best practices from other diverse fields and featured experts:

• Kathrin Meyer, Secretary General, IHRA
• Daniel Lörcher, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Borussia Dortmund
• Tracey Petersen, Manager of The United Nations and the Holocaust Outreach Programme
• Tibi Galis, Executive Director, Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide
• Omar Al Busaidy, CEO, Sharaka USA

Meyer warned: “Holocaust distortion desensitizes people to anti-Semitic acts… and it’s a disgrace toward the victims and the survivors.” She added, “To remember the Holocaust… is a responsibility of humankind.”

Dani Dayan, Chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, provided a concluding message, introduced by B’nai B’rith U.N. Affairs Chair Millie Magid. Dayan said, “I leave this program encouraged. It’s clear we have an effective, a committed world-wide community of Shoah remembrance.” He stressed the importance of documentation and research. “Documentation is ultimately the testimony of the six million” who were not able to give physical testimony.

B’nai B’rith President Seth Riklin closed the program, thanking the guests for “your insights and your critical work,” and urging support for B’nai B’rith’s ongoing efforts on Holocaust memory, combating anti-Semitism and other key objectives around the world.

The complete program, “Holocaust Remembrance: Responsibilities for All Society” can be found here: https://youtu.be/SsmvSUvii_c.

B’nai B’rith—which has led Jewish communal engagement with the United Nations since the world body was founded in 1945—played an active role in U.N. adoption of International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005, and has held yearly events since then at the U.N.’s world headquarters in New York and online.
 
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.

On August 31, B’nai B’rith Will Lead Communal Response to 20th Anniversary of Event Poisoned by Anti-Semitism

(Washington, D.C., May 3, 2021)—B’nai B’rith President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International, which brought the largest multinational Jewish delegations to the 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, and its follow-up meetings in 2009, strongly commends the United States for having reportedly committed not to take part in a United Nations summit marking the event’s 20th anniversary in September. The 2001 conference was poisoned by manifestations of virulent anti-Zionism and open anti-Semitism.

B’nai B’rith, which has led Jewish engagement at the U.N. since the world body’s founding in 1945, will spearhead the community’s response to the forthcoming summit with a major event on August 31.

Over the past year, B’nai B’rith—which also organized a high-level event in New York upon Durban’s 10th anniversary in 2011—has worked to ensure continued awareness of Durban’s toxic legacy by speaking publicly on the topic at U.N. forums, publishing relevant commentary and privately reminding ambassadors from around the world that the fight against racism must not be undercut by crass politicization and outright bigotry.

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action singled out only one country—the world’s only Jewish state and the Middle East’s only pluralistic democracy, Israel—for obscene implied characterization as racist. The 2001 conference’s NGO Forum went even further, defaming Israel alone as a “racist apartheid state”—and urging discrimination against those engaging with it—while Jewish participants were subjected to shocking physical and verbal abuse. As a result, B’nai B’rith led a Jewish walkout at Durban—joined ultimately by key democratic countries. The subsequent 2009 Durban Review Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, was nonetheless addressed by Holocaust-denying Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

B’nai B’rith salutes the U.S. administration for taking a principled decision, like its predecessors, to deny legitimacy to a U.N. framework that purports to fight prejudice but is fundamentally marred by it.

We urge all countries of goodwill to do similarly—and we will continue to insist that all forms of hate, including those targeting Jews, not be given a platform by foremost international institutions.

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., Dec. 2, 2020)—B’nai B’rith International President Charles O. Kaufman and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

We strongly condemn the five anti-Israel resolutions passed today by the United Nations General Assembly, while we are encouraged at the growing number of countries willing to stand up against anti-Israel entities that waste critical resources and hamper the U.N.'s legitimacy.

These resolutions are a fixture of the 43-year-old “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” – the only U.N. celebration of solidarity with one specific group of people.

The General Assembly resolutions passed today fund the permanent propaganda bodies housed within the U.N. system. The Committee on the Exercise on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) vote count was 91 in favor, 17 against and 54 abstentions. The Division of Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat (DPR) resolution had a vote count of 82 in favor, 25 against and 53 abstentions.

We are particularly disappointed with Argentina and Chile for their ongoing support of CEIRPP.

We sincerely commend the growing number of countries willing to vote against these two anti-Israel U.N. bureaucracies. We also specifically commend the following countries that abstained in 2019 on CEIRPP and this year voted “no” on supporting this institution: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Papua New Guinea.

Similarly, on the DPR resolution, we appreciate the following countries that abstained in 2019 but voted “no” this year: Slovenia, Papua New Guinea and Switzerland.

And we reserve our strongest appreciation for Australia, Canada, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and the United States for voting with Israel against all resolutions today.

The General Assembly votes are preceded each year by speeches demonizing and delegitimizing Israel, the only Jewish state in the world. These sessions do not advance the cause of truth or peace. While we urge the U.N. to stop this annual hate-fest, we are reassured that more and more nations are seeing through the charade.

B’nai B’rith has had a continued presence at the United Nations since its founding and continues to work to ensure the protection of human rights and the promotion of peace and coexistence. B'nai B'rith and AJIRI-BBI are making concerted efforts to speak out against the continued existence of these committees and to urge U.N. member states to vote against them.

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.