B’nai B’rith International is appalled by the selection of Navi Pillay for the Nobel Peace Prize, given her record of anti-Israel bias and defense of antisemitic rhetoric within the United Nations. This decision undermines the integrity of a prize meant to honor peace and sends a troubling and damaging message at a time of record-breaking global antisemitism. Read the full statement by B’nai B’rith President Robert Spitzer and CEO Evan R. Bernstein: bnaibrith.org/blasts-nobel-c… #BnaiBrith #NobelPeacePrize #antisemitism

October 7, 2023 Three years later, we remember all those who should still be here: the innocent lives taken that day and the hostages who did not come home alive. We stand with the survivors, with every family and with the entire nation of Israel. Am Yisrael Chai 🇮🇱 עם ישראל חי

Shameful: The Green Party of England and Wales has adopted “Zionism is racism” as official policy, the first major party in Europe to do so. This is a party with pretensions to power—one that came second in vote share in this year’s English local elections. And yet, under the guise of anti-racism, it has resurrected one of the most notorious attempts to delegitimize Jewish self-determination. The equation has a dark history. In 1975, after years of Soviet anti-Zionist propaganda, the U.N. declared Zionism “a form of racism and racial discrimination”—branding the Jewish movement for national self-determination as inherently racist. The resolution was overwhelmingly repealed in 1991. There was a reason this equation was ultimately rejected. Because self-determination does not become racism when the people claiming it are Jews. For a mainstream British political party with ambitions of government to revive this discredited rhetoric is profoundly alarming. More troubling still, the motion calls for a single Palestinian state across all of “historic Palestine”—de facto eliminating Israel—and for the decriminalizing of the terror group Palestine Action. We stand with British Jews who have warned what this decision means for their place in political life. bbc.com/news/articles/c6jdm5…

B’nai B’rith concludes a week of advocacy with world leaders during the U.N. General Assembly in New York. A look at highlights from our meetings with leaders from across the globe as we fight against antisemitism and stand up for Israel on the world stage. #UNGA81 @bernstein_evan @franceinnyc

Thank you to @i24NEWS_EN’s @Mike_Wagenheim for speaking with our CEO Evan R. Bernstein (@bernstein_evan) about B’nai B’rith’s high-level #UNGA meetings in New York and the critical difference between criticism of the Israeli government and antisemitism. Watch the interview here: youtube.com/watch?v=iPCoo8gO…

“Israel is ‘apartheid’ even as Arab citizens vote, sit in the Knesset, and serve on the Supreme Court—while hereditary bondage continues in Mauritania… and a Gaza neighborhood has long been known, locally, as the slaves’ quarter.” Writing in the @dcexaminer, B’nai B’rith CEO Evan R. Bernstein (@bernstein_evan) calls out the persistent—and antisemitic—double standard applied to the world’s only Jewish state: washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed…

On #September11, the Isadore Garsek B’nai B’rith Lodge in Fort Worth, Texas honored the Benbrook Fire Department, remembering their New York firefighter brothers and sisters who were the first to respond on 9/11/2001—many giving their lives while saving others. As a token of appreciation for these first responders, lodge leader Sophia Nason cooked a traditional Eastern European Jewish meal to feed all three shifts, 40 meals in total. Snacks, desserts and fruit were also delivered to the fire station. Representing the Lodge were Board members Michael Kuptsin, Rich Hollander and Alex Nason, along with Lodge member Polina Kuptsin.

Today is the National Memorial Day for the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews, marking 83 years since the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto. May we always remember the more than 90 percent of Lithuania’s Jews who were murdered in the #Holocaust, over 40,000 of whom were confined to the Vilna Ghetto. 🕯️

Before the #Holocaust, Lithuania was home to a vibrant Jewish world, a center of learning, culture and faith with centuries of Jewish life. But that world was shattered as over 90 percent of Lithuanian Jewry was murdered, a destruction that reached one of its final chapters #OnThisDay in 1943, when the Nazis liquidated the Vilna Ghetto. Dovydas Spokauskas, Consul General of Lithuania in New York, joins in remembrance through Unto Every Person There Is A Name, reciting the names of Lithuanian Holocaust victims. @LithuaniaConNY Through our Unto Every Person There Is a Name Diplomatic Reflections series, we work with dignitaries from around the world to honor the memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Shoah. At a time of rising antisemitism, Holocaust denial and distortion, these reflections reaffirm our shared commitment to remembrance. youtube.com/shorts/-HQzT3Bxc… Watch the full series: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL… #HolocaustRemembrance #NeverAgain

B’nai B’rith strongly welcomes President Abelardo de la Espriella’s decision to withdraw Colombia’s intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel before the ICJ. We commend President De la Espriella (@ABDELAESPRIELLA) for his leadership in restoring Colombia’s historic friendship with Israel and reversing a period of unnecessary hostility. The arbitrary and legally baseless accusation of genocide against Israel distorts the meaning of this gravest of crimes. This is an important new chapter for Colombia-Israel relations.

We are horrified by today’s terror ramming attack that seriously wounded Neria Leiter, son of Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. @YechielLeiter. We are praying for Neria’s full recovery and stand with the Leiter family in this painful time. Reports say Neria is in serious condition and doctors are “fighting to save his life.” cbsnews.com/news/israel-amba…

B’nai B’rith, distinguished by its accredited presence across the U.N. since the world body’s founding in 1945 and dedicated Office of U.N. Affairs, has begun its annual marathon of meetings with heads of state and government on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly opening in New York. #UNGA81 Led by B’nai B’rith President Robert Spitzer and CEO Evan R. Bernstein (@bernstein_evan), the organization’s senior U.N. team is advocating for unflinching focus on the totality of the Iranian regime’s threats, combating ongoing threats to Israel, the further promotion of Middle East peace and confronting systemic discrimination against the Jewish state at the U.N. It will also underscore the urgent crisis of metastasizing global antisemitism. Read more about B’nai B’rith’s U.N. advocacy: bnaibrith.org/commences-annu…

Even on the holiest day of the year, Jews have to worry about being able to worship in peace. Last night, as Yom Kippur services began, a gunman opened fire outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue in Ontario, critically wounding a police officer who courageously protected everyone inside. This attack represents a further escalation of antisemitism in Canada, a crisis that the country has yet to properly address. We pray for the officer’s full recovery and stand in solidarity with Belleville’s—and the entire Canadian—Jewish community. jpost.com/diaspora/antisemit…

From all of us at B’nai B’rith, we wish you a meaningful Yom Kippur 5787. May you be inscribed in the book of life. G’mar Chatimah Tova!