Richard L. Benkin,
Ph.D.
Vice President; Gallagher Bassett Services,
Co-Founder & Director, Forcefield, NFP
Founder, Interfaith Strength
US Correspondent; Weekly Blitz,International Correspondent, Amader Shomoy, Dhaka
Columnist, NRI Today
Special Advisor to The
Intelligence
Independent Human Rights Activist
Expert witness in asylum cases and on South Asia
Lecturer and Speaker
Freelance Writer
1987-2000: Consultant; Owner/Operator various health care facilities.
1980-1994: College Lecturer
1980-1987: Community Activist; Manager, Professional Health Care
1974-1980: Assistant Professor, College instructor; Sociology and Social Sciences;
The Social and Cultural Development of Jewish Communities
in Eastern Europe, 1976 Doctoral Dissertation,
Sociology:
The Book of Miriam, 2005 (In editing.)
The
Our Fight for Freedom:
The Story of a Falsely Imprisoned Muslim and one Jews’s Fight
to Free Him (Proposal under consideration)
A Quiet Case of Ethnic
Cleansing (monograph on Bangladeshi Hindus), published in
A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing (currently
being written)
Essays and social commentaries on South Asia, ethnic
cleansing of Hindus, the Middle East, Bangladesh, Islamist terrorism, and other
topics published extensively on several continents; a frequent guest on radio
programs in the US, Canada, and Israel.
Extensive public speaking and speech writer. Dr. Benkin has also testified to the US
Congress, the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus, and the US Commission for
International Religious Freedom about religious oppression in Bangladesh and
South Asia in general, the persecution of anti-Islamist Muslims in Bangladesh,
and the ethnic cleansing of Bangladeshi Hindus.
He has also provided information to various members of the US Congress
and Senate on Bangladeshi human rights violations, anti-Islamist efforts in South Asia, and information that helped successfully stop pending trade legislation.
Dr. Benkin successfully fought for the release of
Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, imprisoned and tortured
after writing articles warning about the rise of Islamic radicals, urging
Dr. Benkin has become one of the world's most effective advocates to stop the ethnic cleansing of Bangladeshi Hindus. He currently is helping Bangladeshi Hindu refugees in
West Bengal and elsewhere in
Dr. Benkin has visited numerous illegal and semi-legal camps in West Bengal and elsewhere in 2008 and 2009 where he interviewed dozens of Hindu victims of Islamist attacks, some who had fled the carnage as recently as 22 days before meeting with him. Depsite the efforts of West Bengal officials to stop him, Benkin was able to gather testimony of the ongoing attacks on the refugees by Islamists on both sides of the India-Bangladesh border. He also received documentary evidence of the attacks while there. Since returning from India, Dr. Benkin has been working to bring this, as he terms it, "quiet case of ethnic cleansing" to officials in Washington and try to move them to take action.
Dr. Benkin's human rights missions to India, as well as his public appearances, have received extensive press coverage; he has been interviewed by large newspapers including The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, other English language papers, as well as several Hindi and Bangla language papers.
Since 2006, Dr. Benkin also has been investigating and exposing the emerging South Asian threat stemming from the cooperation of radical Communists and radical Islamists. He has termed this the "Red-Green Alliance" and continues to speak about the atrocities and strategic advantages it already has carried out, as well as the very real threat it poses to us all.
In January 2009, Dr. Benkin began a process that forced the cancellation of an anti-Israel conference in Australia. The convener of the conference posed as a human rights activist with only noble motives, but Benkin exposed his virulent anti-Semitism as the root of his anti-Israel animus. Several members of Australia's Jewish community--all of whom were critical to our ultimate success--got press attention for it, which ultimately caused backers and participants to pull out, forcing the conference's cancellation. The disingenuous use of human rights language by Israel-bashers has poisoned the atmosphere that could bring peace and justice to the Middle East. It also obscures the real causes of the conflict, one of which is visceral and rationalized Jew hatred. Benkin hopes that this example will spur similarly successful unmasking efforts.
“Special US Congressional Recognition,” 2005
Nominated for 2006 Lorenzo Natali Prize for journalism
Member Islam-Israel Fellowship
Advisory Board Member
Named one of Congressman Mark Kirk's "Ten for the Tenth"
Honoree and Featured Speaker Bangladesh Minorities Lawyers Association, Supreme Court Building, Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 2007
Special Recognition 2007,
Special Recognition 2007,
Featured Speaker at
“Asru” Exhibition of Bangladeshi Minorities in
Rayburn Congressional Building,
Member, Scholars for Peace in the
Owner and Founder: Interfaith Strength
Board of Editors, Stephen Gill Gazette
Expert Analyst, International
Analysts Network
Delivered annual Arvind Ghosh Memorial Lecture, Suburban Chicago, 2008
Featured Speaker, "Jewish Response to Jihad: What India can Learn," Supreme Court Building, New Delhi, India, March 2009
"Stop Shaking your Fists and Do Something!," Delivered to Telugu Association of North America, Suburban Chicago, July 2009
Recognized for "Significant Contributions to Community Service" by Telugu Association of North America, July 2009
Member, South Asia