REPORT FOR 2004 

The Centre’s campus arm, ARARE held a seminar in Venice under UNESCO auspices on “The Centennial of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion:  A Paradigm for Contemporary Hate Literature”.  Ironically, at the same time, the Centre protested at the display of this notorious Czarist forgery alongside the Torah as “the holy books of the Jews” at the UNESCO renovated Alexandria Library.  UNESCO’s Director General, Koichiro Matsuura, saved the day by demanding that “the Library [prove that it] has in no way left itself open to any accusation of racism in general or antisemitism in particular”.  The Egyptian management withdrew the book from display.   

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Belgium invited the Centre’s testimony at the Seminar for Western States on “Implementation of the Durban Programme of Action”.  After describing the horrific experience of Durban for the Jewish people, the Centre displayed its “Tools for Tolerance” programme as a model for anti-racist action. 

As the only Jewish organisation present at the anti-globalisation meeting of the World Social Forum in Bombay, the Centre exposed the Palestinian hijacking of this movement as a propaganda platform and recruitment market for antisemitism.  The Centre was thus able to identify the calendar of coordinated international campaigns against the Israeli separation barrier, for a one-state Palestinian solution, to disrupt U.S./ Israeli and India/Israeli relations, to broaden anti-Israel boycotts and campus embargoes and “to create confusion in Israeli and Jewish diaspora opinion”. 

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre: 

1.     Protested to German Chancellor Schroeder at the funding by his SDP party’s Ebert Foundation of a Beirut conference on “The Islamic World and Europe: From Dialogue Towards Understanding”, addressed by leaders from Hizbollah and Hamas. 

2.     Protested to the Holy See at the campaign poster of its charity Caritas, entitled “Put an End to the Occupation”, showing, against the background of a wall and barbed wire, a stylised map of the State of Israel, chaining to itself padlocked Palestinian territories and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. 

3.     Co-sponsored the 25,000-person “March Against Antisemitism” in Paris in April together with the Bureau de Vigilance Centre d’Antisemitisme, the hotline for victims of antisemitic incidents in the Greater Paris area, which is funded by the Centre Simon Wiesenthal – France. 

4.     Wrote to newly-elected Greek Prime Minister Karamanlis regarding the epidemic of Easter, pogrom-style, “Burning of the Judas” promoted on government tourism websites.  The persistent cemetery and Holocaust memorial desecrations were also raised. 

5.     Exposed the Nazi connections of the founders of the Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ireland, urging Irish President Mary McAleese to suspend her award of the “Irish Museum of the Year” to Hunt, pending an investigation of the provenance of the objects in the Museum’s collection.  Also requested that these items be put on the Internet to seek claimants of possibly Nazi-looted art.  This enquiry has led to a national media debate on Ireland’s World War Two neutrality and its moral obligation to transparency and full disclosure. 

6.     Appealed to Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi on behalf of the families of the Ardeatine Massacre victims, to reject calls for the liberation of convicted Nazi murderer Erich Priebke. 

7.     Condemned the desecration of a French Moslem cemetery, and all other acts of Islamophobia in Europe. 

8.     Denounced the expulsions, home demolitions and wall of prejudice against Greek Roma (Gypsies) by the Athens Municipality in the lead-up to the Olympics.  The Mayor responded by inviting our Centre to work with her against discrimination. 

9.     Alerted Britain’s Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to a 9/11 celebration of Al-Quaeda planned for London. 

10.    Warned the German Interior Minister of the danger that a “First Arab Islamic European Convention”, scheduled to take place in Berlin would be a potential recruitment market for Jihadi terrorism.  The Authorities expelled the organiser and banned the Convention. 

11.     Exposed antisemitic books displayed by Arab publishers at the Frankfurt Book Fair. 

12.     Met with the French Judges Union on penalties for perpetrators of antisemitic hate crimes and, also, requested the French Justice Minister to provide a course on “The Jews of France” in the training curriculum for judges, to match the current programme on “Islam and French Society”. 

13.     Protested London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s discriminatory poster entitled “Belief” for its exclusion of Judaism from Britain’s faith communities. 

14.     Presented a statement to the UNESCO World Forum on Human Rights held in Nantes protesting the “Durbanisation” of the meeting. 

15.     Was invited, together with World Muslim Congress President Sheikh Naseeb of Saudi Arabia, to jointly address Islamophobia and antisemitism at the World Economic Forum European Region, held in Warsaw for the ten states acceding to the European Union. 

16.      Pointed out to Jose Manuel Barroso, newly-appointed President of the European Commission, that “Arafat’s widow’s $30 million annual ‘pension’ was an indicator of the Palestine Authority’s corruption”.  Dr Samuels noted that “the Palestinian people are the most highly-subsidised in the world:  from the European Union, the United States, the Arab World and a host of United Nations agencies.  How then can it be explained that the average Palestinian, reportedly, lives on only $2 per day?”  A thorough investigation of the discrepancy has yet to be undertaken. 

17.      Urged the European Commission to enter accession negotiations with Turkey, declaring that “When the then German Chancellor Kohl had described Turkey as unfitting for membership in the European club, the Centre reminded him that, while the Iberian monarchies expelled their Jews, the refugees were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire”.  When former French President Giscard d’Estaing last year repeated the same canard, the Centre noted that “while Vichy France was deporting its Jews to Auschwitz, a Turkish identity document served as a visa for life”, adding that “should Turkey take up this commitment, it would set an example to both Europe and the Middle East, thereby demonstrating more impeccable credentials than many of the current EU membership”. 

18.      Protested to Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis an epidemic of antisemitic and other racist graffiti on public structures along seventy kilometres of the main highway into Athens. 

19.      Called on the French Higher Audiovisual Council to cancel Al-Manar/Hizbollah television’s new licence to kill through its promotion of hatred programmes transmitted to Europe via France’s EUTELSAT network.  The Centre’s campaign was successful and the licence was revoked. 

20.      Expressed horror to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for awarding its anti-smoking and nutrition prizes to Al-Manar/Hizbollah television, stating that “the WHO has demeaned itself by this perverse normalisation of murderers as health providers”. 

21.      Expressed outrage to the Danish Prime Minister at the donation of 50,000 Danish Kroner by the Copenhagen-based NGO “Rebellion” to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine just before their proud claim to have perpetrated the suicide attack in a Tel Aviv market, resulting in three deaths and thirty-five wounded.   

22.      Called on United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy “to denounce the recruitment of juveniles for acts of terrorism, and to galvanise child advocacy groups worldwide to act against those who incite, entrap or otherwise abuse children as their agents of death for any cause, anywhere around the world”.  Ms Bellamy responded with a full denunciation. 

23.      Urged European Central Bank (ECB) President, Jean-Claude Trichet, to call for the closure of six bank accounts, exposed by the Centre as conduits for HAMAS, a terrorist organisation whose operations in Europe were banned by the European Union.  The organisations behind these accounts, through their antisemitic websites, glorify Jihad attacks in the West.  The ECB President responded that he had requested immediate measures by the Central banks of the countries concerned. 

24.      Was present at the Third European Social Forum in London.  This regional anti-globalisation gathering of over 20,000 and the related Peace March of some 50,000, was hijacked as a propaganda platform for the Palestinian cause and antisemitism in preparation for the Fifth World Social Forum scheduled for January 2005 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. 

25.      Was invited to organise and moderate a special session, entitled “Lest We Forget the Lessons of World War II” at the World Economic Forum 2005 in Davos.  Participants included Lord Carey of Clifton, the Prime Ministers of Poland and Croatia and the Grand Mufti of Bosnia Herzogovina.

 
AND A LOT MORE SADLY NEEDED TO FIGHT PREJUDICE