News Releases 2024
by Shimon Samuels
Paris, 27 April 2024
Each January, I attended the World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to discover the forthcoming trends in antisemitism and hate against Israel.
In 2010, the WSF was entering its 10th year of activity, with the main theme being “Palestine” and the preparation of “Flotilla and Flytilla campaigns to Gaza”. The discussion on the Flytilla (an “invasion” of pro-Palestinian militants through airlines) was a failure.
The Flotilla campaign held a session to find an “appropriate and evocative” name. Finally, the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” was chosen, allegedly to bring humanitarian aid to the Strip.
Paris, 15 March 2024
Since the 7-October terror assault on Israel, the Friends of the Wiesenthal Centre, in cooperation with the Mouvement pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme (MPCT - Movement for Peace and Against Terrorism), are active in countering antisemitism and hate on the streets of Paris. Over the past week, we have been participating in the following initiatives:
1) On 8 March, while “Score a Goal for Women” was the focus event for UNESCO, “in the streets of Paris, the International Women’s Day rally for universal rights and equality saw a group of Jewish women, expressing solidarity with the female victims held captive by Hamas, heckled and targeted by insults, threats, eggs and soda cans, thrown by ‘pro-Palestinian militants’, stated Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels.
Social grievances have often been parasited recently, by militants hiding behind masks, keffiyehs and flags, and screaming slogans such as “from the river to the sea!” and “Khaybar, Khaybar!” – code-words for their antisemitic genocidal intent. The Centre co-signed an MPCT appeal to defend the dignity of Jewish women after this grotesque aggression.
Samuels at UNESCO (photo csweurope); Remembering 7 October victims at the rally (photo AFP).
Read more: Friends of the Wiesenthal Centre Campaigning in...
Paris, 14 March 2024
A French extreme-left group has demanded to ban the Israeli flag from the next Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Palestinian “sports” groups have called on all Arab and other countries to prevent Israel’s participation.
The International Olympic Committee’s President, Thomas Bach, has so far “made clear that there was no issue regarding Israel participating in the 2024 Summer Olympics,” cautioning others against discrimination in Paris.
Bach had apologized for the many years it took the IOC to commemorate the murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich 1972 Games as “the darkest days in Olympic history... an attack on the Olympics and its values.”
Wiesenthal Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, recalled that Bach had also held a moment of silence at the opening of the Tokyo 2020 Games to remember “the Munich 1972 terror murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian Black September.”
Samuels called on French President, Emmanuel Macron, “to ensure that Israel be present in these Paris Games and to prevent any BDS campaign (the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign targeting Israel), that would be reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s antisemitism, and not befitting the host country, France, nor the spirit of sport and of the Olympics.”
* * *
FREE THE HOSTAGES!
For further information, contact csweurope@gmail.com
Paris, 16 February 2024
One week ago, France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, had defined Hamas’ 7 October attack on Southern Israel as “the largest anti-Semitic massacre of our century.” The unwarranted response by UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, who claims to be impartial, was: “No, Mr. Macron. The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression.”
The French Foreign Ministry promptly responded to the UN Rapporteur, underlining that “October 7 was indeed the largest anti-Semitic massacre of the 21st century and defining the situation otherwise is a mistake.” According to the Quai d’Orsay, “these comments [by Albanese] are all the more scandalous given that the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of racism is at the heart of the foundation of the UN.”
The Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, noted that “again, Ms. Albanese reverts the responsibility of murder, rape and kidnapping onto the victims, implying that it is Israel’s fault if others have repeatedly waged war and killed Jews for decades.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Europe Calls for the Dismissal of UN...
Strasbourg, 15 February 2024
A solemn commemoration was held in Strasbourg last Sunday, to remember the victims of the 7 October massacre, and call for the liberation of all hostages still kept in Hamas’ terror tunnels under Gaza.
The poster and photo of the commemoration rally for the victims and the kidnapped (photo CSW-Europe).
The city of Strasbourg, disputed between France and Germany over the past two centuries, has one of the most vibrant yet tormented Jewish communities in Western Europe. Today, the city is the headquarters of the Council of Europe and hosts the European Parliament.
The Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, stated that “this event in Strasbourg is essential to mobilize the European institutions against antisemitism, hate and violence.”
* * *
FREE ALL THE HOSTAGES!
For further information, contact csweurope@gmail.com