B'nai B'rith

==International affairs==
B'nai B'rith was present at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco and has taken an active role in the world body ever since.<ref name="bnaibrith1"/> In 1947, the organization was granted non-governmental organizational (NGO) status and, for many years, was the only Jewish organization with full-time representation at the United Nations. It is credited with a role in the U.N. reversal of its [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379|1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jta.org/article/1985/11/05/3002598/world-jewry-mobilizing-in-effort-to-repeal-un-zionismracism-resolution |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707132101/http://archive.jta.org/article/1985/11/05/3002598/world-jewry-mobilizing-in-effort-to-repeal-un-zionismracism-resolution |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-07 |title=World Jewry Mobilizing in Effort to Repeal UN Zionism-racism Resolution |publisher=Archive.jta.org |date=1985-11-05 |access-date=2012-07-23 }}</ref>

B'nai B'rith also has worked with US officials in the State Department, in Congress, and with other governments to support the efforts of the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (OSCE) to combat antisemitism. With members in more than 20 Latin American countries, the organization was the first Jewish group to be accorded civil society status at the [[Organization of American States]] (OAS), where it has advocated for democracy and human rights throughout the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bnaibrith.org/world/oas.cfm |title=Organization of American States, B'nai B'rith International – The Global Voice of the Jewish Community |publisher=Bnaibrith.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713031351/http://www.bnaibrith.org/world/oas.cfm |archive-date=2012-07-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civil-society.oas.org/Permanent%20Council/CP-doc-3210-99rev1.htm |title=Civil Society List, English |publisher=Civil-society.oas.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525030708/http://www.civil-society.oas.org/Permanent%20Council/CP-doc-3210-99rev1.htm |archive-date=2013-05-25 }}</ref>

In addition to its advocacy efforts, B'nai B'rith maintains a program of community service throughout Latin America. In 2002, in cooperation with the Brother's Brother Foundation, B'nai B'rith distributed more than $31 million worth of medicine, books and supplies to [[Argentina]], [[Uruguay]], [[Paraguay]] and [[Venezuela]] following the economic disaster that struck much of Latin America. Through 2011 the program had distributed more than $100 million in medicine and supplies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brothersbrother.org/02_argentina.htm |title=Medical Shipment to Argentina |publisher=Brothersbrother.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731122945/http://www.brothersbrother.org/02_argentina.htm |archive-date=2012-07-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://israaid.co.il/Story.aspx?ID=145 |title=IsraAID |publisher=IsraAID |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712110411/http://israaid.co.il/Story.aspx?ID=145 |archive-date=2012-07-12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brothersbrother.org/08_earlymarch.htm |title=Shipments to Kenya, Africa and Paraguay, South America |publisher=Brothersbrother.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731142551/http://www.brothersbrother.org/08_earlymarch.htm |archive-date=2012-07-31 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bnaibrith.org/165/comm_ser.cfm |title=B'nai B'rith International – The Global Voice of the Jewish Community |publisher=Bnaibrith.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226063816/http://www.bnaibrith.org/165/comm_ser.cfm |archive-date=2012-02-26 }}</ref>

=== Europe ===
{{See|B'nai B'rith Europe}}
By the 1920s, B'nai B'rith membership in Europe had grown to 17,500, nearly half of the U.S. membership, and by the next decade, the formation of a lodge in [[Shanghai]] (number 1102) represented the organization's entry into the Far East.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/KhaosOdenslandArchiveDocstheMisanthropicMisogynist/EncyclopaediaJudaicaV.04blu-cof_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Khaos Odensland Archive DOCS (The Misanthropic Misogynist)" |access-date=2012-07-23}}</ref> The Shanghai lodge established the [[Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University|B'nai B'rith Foundation Polyclinic]] in 1934, later renamed the Shanghai Jewish Hospital.<ref name="Malek2017">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oicxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT306|title=From Kaifeng to Shanghai: Jews in China|last=Malek|first=Roman|date=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-56628-5|page=306}}</ref>

B'nai B'rith Europe was re-founded in 1948. Members of the Basel and Zurich lodges and representatives from lodges in France and Netherlands who had survived the Holocaust attended the inaugural meeting. In 2000, the new European B'nai B'rith district merged with the United Kingdom district to become a consolidated B'nai B'rith Europe with active involvement in all institutions of the European Union. By 2005 B'nai B'rith Europe comprised lodges in more than 20 countries including the former Communist Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bnaibritheurope.org/bbeurope/en |title=Welcome to the B'nai B'rith Europe website |publisher=Bnaibritheurope.org |access-date=2012-07-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbuk.org/ |title=Home |publisher=Bbuk.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116114246/https://bbuk.org/ |archive-date=2019-01-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1943, in response to what would later become known as the Holocaust, B'nai B'rith President [[Henry Monsky]] convened a conference in [[Pittsburgh]] of all major Jewish organizations to "find a common platform for the presentation of our case before the civilized nations of the world".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Troen|first1=S Ilan|last2=Pinkus|first2=Benjamin|title=Organizing Rescue: National Jewish Solidarity in the Modern Period|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idY2LUHAjFQC|access-date=10 December 2012|year=1992|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7146-3413-5|page=326}}</ref>

=== Israel and the Middle East ===
{{See|B'nai B'rith Israel}}
Just prior to the creation of the State of [[Israel]], President [[Harry S. Truman]], resisting pressure by various organizations, declined meetings with Jewish leaders. B'nai B'rith President Frank Goldman convinced fellow B'nai B'rith member Eddie Jacobson, long-time friend and business partner of the president, to appeal to Truman for a favor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/granoff.htm |title=A. J. Granoff Papers |publisher=Truman Library |access-date=2012-07-23}}</ref> Jacobson convinced Truman to meet secretly with Zionist leader [[Chaim Weizmann]] in a meeting said to have resulted in turning White House support back in favor of partition, and ultimately to de facto recognition of Israeli statehood.<ref>{{cite book|title=B'nai B'rith: The Story of a Covenant|page=243|publisher=Appleton-Century|year=1966|author=Edward E. Grusd}}</ref>

In addition to founding the Jerusalem Lodge in 1888, life in Israel has been a prime focus for the organization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bnaibrith.org/magazines/winter2008/Israeli_Embassy.cfm |title=BBI Recognizes Israeli Embassy for Public Work, Historical Link – B'nai B'rith International – The Global Voice of the Jewish Community |publisher=Bnaibrith.org |access-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423142003/http://bnaibrith.org/magazines/winter2008/Israeli_Embassy.cfm |archive-date=2012-04-23 }}</ref> Among the Jerusalem lodge's most noted contributions was the city's first free public library, Midrash Abarbanel.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of library and information science, Volume 39|page=222|publisher=Marcel Dekker Inc.|year=1985|author=[[Allen Kent]] and Harold Lancour}}</ref>

In 1959, B'nai B'rith became the first major American Jewish organization to hold a convention in Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bnaibrith.org/unbrokencovenant/5CovntBK_pgs15_22.pdf |title=B'nai Brith Unbroken covenant pages 15 – 22 |publisher=B'nai Brith |access-date=2012-08-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201000208/http://www.bnaibrith.org/unbrokencovenant/5CovntBK_pgs15_22.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-01 }}</ref>

In 1980, nearly all nations removed their embassies from Jerusalem in response to the passage by the Knesset of the Jerusalem Law extending Israeli sovereignty over the entire city. B'nai B'rith responded with the establishment of the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem to serve as "the permanent and official presence of B'nai B'rith in Jerusalem."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/text/knesset_debates/Basic_Law_Jerusalem_Capital.pdf |title=Basic Law: Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel |publisher=Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs |access-date=2012-08-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm |title=Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel |publisher=Knesset.gov.il |access-date=2012-07-23}}</ref>