News Releases 2020
Paris and Malmö, 31 October 2020
“The reason is that the association that organizes the book fair has violated the cooperation agreement with Ibn Rushd.”
The Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, commended this decision.
The Swedish-based Ibn Rushd Study Association for Adult Education, that focuses on faith, rights and diversity – based on the work of 12th Century Cordoba Muslim jurist, physician and philosopher, also known as Averroes – sent to the Wiesenthal Centre a copy of the following letter:
Paris, 29 October 2020
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre-Europe, in partnership with ECCAR – the 158 municipality-member European Coalition of Cities Against Racism – held a zoom meeting entitled “How Can Cities Respond to the Rise of Antisemitism?”.
The Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, thanked ECCAR President Benedetto Zacchiroli for bringing together Bologna, Brussels, Heidelberg and Wroclaw to discuss this subject, even more pernicious in the age of COVID-19. Samuels looked forward to continued projects with ECCAR.
The Centre thanked its expert invitees, all champions of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Definition of Antisemitism: Lord Mann, MP Sylvain Maillard, Prof. David Meghnagi and Mayor Uwe Becker.
“Malmö municipality must investigate those behind the original support and take appropriate measures to ensure that sponsorship for any form of hatred is never repeated.”
Paris, 28 October 2020
Based on the letter by Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, to the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, and the Jewish community, revealing antisemitic texts promoted through the Arab Book Fair, the City of Malmö has suspended its collaboration with the Fair and is seeking to close it down definitively. [see Malmö official statement in attachment]
Read more: UPDATE: Based on Wiesenthal Centre Antisemitic...
“The Fair’s official website offers a link to purchase at the online bookstore (Safahat Publishers of Syria) ‘The Synagogue of Satan: The Secret History of Jewish World Domination’.”
This outrage was sent by the Wiesenthal Centre to Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, demanding immediate action.
Paris, 27 October 2020
The following outrage was shared with the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, demanding immediate action.
Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, today opened a zoom meeting on combating antisemitism in partnership with ECCAR, the over 150 municipality-member European Coalition of Cities Against Racism.
Read more: Breaking News: Antisemitica at Arab Book Fair in...
An Open Letter to French Ministers of Interior and Justice
Paris, 18 October 2020
Mr. Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, and Mr. Justice Minister, Éric Dupont-Moretti,
Following the September 2000 2nd Intifada and peak of global terrorism, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre sponsored a “Convention Against Suicide Terrorism,” composed by then Legal Counsellor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Alan Baker.
The Convention penalizes those complicit in the chain of terror, from those who incite, to those who recruit, train, arm, grant refuge, finance and glorify the actual perpetuator.
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Judicial Answer to the Chains...