BB Annual Report 2009 : Page 6

Reaching Out to World Leaders and Institutions to Protect Jewish Interests Worldwide

REACHING OUT TO WORLD LEADERS AND INSTITUTIONS TO PROTECT JEWISH INTERESTS WORLDWIDE

One of our overriding missions is to combat bias, hate, and intolerance—particularly anti-Semitism— both domestically and abroad. Our relationships with governments worldwide enable us to educate them on anti-Semitism and help advance the interests of their Jewish communities. We are proud to be the Jewish nongovernmental organization (NGO) most intensely involved in the Organization of American States (OAS) on a continuing basis. This year—as we have for the last five years—we worked closely with the OAS committee drafting a convention on discrimination and intolerance, a regional treaty that specifically includes anti-Semitism in the definition. The convention—at the time of publication of this report, it is expected to pass overwhelmingly—will mandate that all member nations adopt anti-discrimination laws that explicitly refer to anti-Semitism. There is a very narrow distinction between anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel. Because there has been a continuous B’nai B’rith presence in the Jewish state since 1888, we are uniquely equipped to understand Israel and use our influence when she is maligned or attacked in world bodies. Our B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem—B’nai B’rith’s permanent and official presence in Israel—serves as a critical listening post in the Jewish state and regularly meets with Israeli government officials and others to help B’nai B’rith continue to be a critical force in Israel. Additionally, the World Center serves as an effective resource for speaking to and representing the interests of the Diaspora in Israel and serves as host for B’nai B’rith missions to Israel. Among its many activities is an annual poll of Israeli attitudes towards the Diaspora, widely cited as an important barometer for better understanding the relationship between Israelis and Diaspora Jews. While many in the Jewish community may feel that the United Nations and its agencies are irretrievably biased against Israel, we continue to believe that it is critical there be a powerful voice at the world body speaking out for Israel. We have been that voice since the U.N. was founded in 1945 in San Francisco, and we continue to speak out both publicly and privately in meetings with dignitaries and representatives. With the largest Jewish non-governmental delegation—50 members from around the world—at the United Nations Durban Review Conference (“Durban II”), we were there to deliver a scorching statement condemning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views. B’nai B’rith also held extensive meetings with other delegations to mitigate the vitriol which might otherwise have come from the meetings. When Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke to our Global Roundtable, a group of more than 300 young professionals who focus on diplomatic and United Nations affairs, we were fortunate to be able to hold a private meeting with the secretary general during which we explained our position on vital issues. Similarly, when the General Assembly convened in September, B’nai B’rith delegates met with numerous U.N. delegations to help them better understand the importance of a safe and independent Israel to world peace. When the Goldstone “fact-finding” mission of the U.N. Human Rights Council held hearings to determine blame for casualties in the war in Gaza, B’nai B’rith submitted in-depth testimony defending Israel. When the anti-Israel biased report was issued, B’nai B’rith was one of the first, and most vocal, Jewish groups to speak out against it. We were among a very small group to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his Washington, D.C. visit in August, 2009. We impressed on him the importance of more moderate Arab countries normalizing relations with Israel. In Europe, we are aided in our efforts to combat anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic-laden views in the increasingly important OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and through our NGO status at UNESCO, at the U.N. Human Rights Council, in the European Union, and at our Brussels-based Office of European Union Affairs. Most recently, at our E.U. Affairs office, we have been working steadfastly to have Hezbollah designated a terrorist organization. As the only Jewish organization officially represented at this year’s Summit of the Americas, we spoke out forcefully at the failure of the group to focus on combating rampant poverty, corruption, and discrimination in the region. Through our Latin American Affairs offices in Uruguay and Washington, D. C., we continue to monitor and combat anti-Semitism and the threat to the region posed by the increasing penetration of Iran, a regime that exports terror, and whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to “wipe Israel off the map.” B’nai B’rith was instrumental in the passage of congressional legislation that affirms the rights of Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries. As the peace process moves forward, and the United States looks at basic guiding principles (rights and treatment of refugees being among them), this legislation encourages the United States to look at all refugee groups, including Jews. In addition, this past year we: • Played a leadership role in a conference on restoration of Holocaust assets. • Helped pen a Senate resolution acknowledging the M.S. St. Louis tragedy, where a boat full of Jews fleeing the Holocaust was denied entry to the U.S. and most of its passengers perished at the hands of the Nazis. • Continued to press the U.N. for urgent action on Darfur.

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