News Releases 2025
A report by Shimon Samuels and Alex Uberti
Paris, 5 February 2026
As Director for International Relations of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Dr. Shimon Samuels has denounced the ID theft of Jewish and Christian heritage for 15 years... at the World Heritage Committee sessions in Mumbai, Riyadh, Manama, Cracow, Doha, Bonn, Phnom Penh, St. Petersburg or Paris. We are now, in 2026, confronted with a new frenzy of “heritage grabbing”.
As reported by Palestinian and Arab press agencies - including Al-Jazeera - the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a "list of 14 heritage sites" (that de facto include a much larger number of individual sites). Most of these belong to Jewish or Christian heritage in the Holy Land, and are not Arab-Muslim or “Palestinian”.
A Report by Shimon Samuels and Alex Uberti
Paris, 29 January 2026
The Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism (AOCE), a unit of Al Azhar University of Cairo, held a meeting last week at the Anawati Chair of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies, with the apparent support of the EU, to promote “Peace and Dialogue with a focus on problems facing Muslim communities in Italy”.
Among others, the main objective was to denounce “Islamophobia” by focusing on “the European mentality’s distorted image concerning the concept of Jihad”! Therefore, Western wariness towards radical Islam after decades of terrorism meted out in the name of “Holy Jihad”, is purportedly fruit of the victims’ “distorted mentality”, and not sparked by ongoing extremist propaganda against “infidels” and the Jews!?
A Report by Shimon Samuels and Alex Uberti
Paris, 18 December 2025
Over the past two decades, we have been monitoring Arab book fairs – from Casablanca to Cairo, Doha, Riyadh, Sharjah or Muscat – to find publishers who peddle antisemitic texts, thus contributing to the perpetuation of conspiracy theories against the Jews, and animosity towards Israel.
This year’s International Sharjah Book Fair (SIBF) decided to give its Best Arabic Publishing House Award to Jordanian Dar Al Ahlia Bookstore. The award was also reported by the Emirates News Agency WAM, and by Khaleej Times, the UAE's longest-running English language newspaper.
A Report by Shimon Samuels and Alex Uberti
Paris, 29 October 2025
For more than two decades, we have been monitoring several Arab book fairs across the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, as well as the biggest World book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany (FBM – Frankfurter BuchMesse), to identify texts and publishers that peddle hate, especially against the Jews. At the FBM, in compliance with German law and following our alerts, those texts that got through would be checked and confiscated by the local Hessen Police.
This year, we have found several books within the FBM that are to be considered problematic, mostly related to the conflict triggered by the 7 October 2023 terror attack against Israel. Since the responsibilities of Hamas and Palestinian terrorism have been promptly reversed against Israel and the Jews, antisemitism worldwide has skyrocketed, on campus as in the media... It is no surprise that the publishing industry is affected.
“University of Mosul must NOT be a Vector of Jew-Hatred”
Paris, 3 October 2025
Madam Director-General,
UNESCO’s “Global Programmes for Education” have great impact. In one case, however, some good intentions seem to be soiled by fake propaganda.
The University of Mosul (UoM) is the second largest in Iraq. Its library had been destroyed during the period when ISIS ruled the town. Since 2018, under the “Revive the Spirit of Mosul” initiative, UNESCO undertook the worthy restoration of the Mosul University Library, with funds provided by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).