B'nai B'rith
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The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith (Hebrew: בני ברית, "Sons of the Covenant") is the oldest continually-operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was founded in New York City by Henry Jones and 11 others on October 13, 1843. The organization is engaged in a wide variety of community service and welfare activities, including the promotion of Jewish rights, assisting hospitals and victims of natural disasters, awarding scholarships to Jewish college students, and opposing racism and anti-semitism through its Anti-Defamation League.
The Charity Navigator website compared B'nai B'rith to other charitable groups and gave the organization an overall score of one star on their 0-to-5 scale. The Better Business Bureau's Charity Report on B'nai B'rith International states that the organization met 18 out of its 19 standards, but did not spend at least 65% of its total expenses on program service activities.
Besides its welfare activities, B'nai B'rith is also a vocal supporter of Israel. Together with AIPAC, it created in 2002 an initiative called 'BBYO 4 Israel'.
Also, until 2001, B'nai B'rith sponsored the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO), which is now BBYO, Inc. BBYO, an organization for high school-age Jewish teens, was founded in 1923, and is comprised of the boys' order, Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA), and the girls' order, B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG).
B'nai Brith Canada
The Canadian section of B'nai Brith (the Canadian organization uses no apostrophe in "Brith") was founded in 1875 and is the country's oldest Jewish service organization. In recent years it has been a rival to the Canadian Jewish Congress as "the voice" of Canada's Jewish community and is considered to be the more outspokenly conservative body of the two, particularly in its publication the Jewish Tribune (compared to the more moderate Canadian Jewish News). B'nai Brith Canada (BBC) is also considered to be closer to the Likud in its views of Israel and Zionism than the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) which is officially non-partisan as to Israeli politics. In Canadian politics, although both groups are officially non-partisan, several former senior officials in the CJC, such as former President Irwin Cotler, have run as candidates for the Liberal Party of Canada, while Frank Dimant, executive director of B'nai Brith, considered running as a candidate of the conservative Canadian Alliance in the 2000 federal election.
Criticism of B'nai Brith Canada
Adam Aptowitzer, the Ontario chairman of B’nai Brith Canada’s Institute for International Affairs, was widely criticized by Canadian Arab and Muslim groups after he made statements on the October 19, 2004 Michael Coren Show (a television talk show airing in Canada) defending the use of "terror" tactics by Israel against Palestinians. Aptowitzer argued that such actions were permissible when used to prevent deaths, saying "When Israel uses terror . . . to destroy a home and convince people to be terrified of what the possible consequences are, I'd say that's acceptable use to terrify someone." Aptowitzer later explained that in light of the definition the panelists on the show had adopted for the purposes of their discussion, "deterrence could be classified as a terrorist action," and said he had meant only that destruction of property “to save innocent lives may be justified.” [1] In the wake of the controversy, Aptowitzer immediately resigned his B'nai Brith position. B’nai Brith Canada issued a statement disavowing Aptowitzer’s remarks (saying that they did not represent “the position of B’nai Brith Canada”) and stating the organization's belief that Israel's actions against Palestinian terrorist attacks "constitute legitimate self defence and not 'state terrorism.'" Some critics of B'nai Brith Canada, in particular some Muslim groups, felt that statement did not go far enough.
In the same program, Canadian Islamic Congress president Dr. Mohamed Elmasry insisted that all Israeli citizens over 18 years old were legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide bombers because they might join the Israeli army. [2] He criticized the recent bombing of hotels in Taba, Egypt on the grounds that some of the victims there were not Jews. [3]. Dr. Elmasry was widely denounced for his comments by Jewish and Muslim organizations and the press; he later denied having said what he was recorded saying on-air. Later, he claimed that he offered his resignation but that it was rejected; he kept his position as president of the Canadian Islamic Congress.