Editorials
Article by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Times of Israel
18 May 2022
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/fiba-secretary-general-and-bilbao-mayor-in-wake-of-violence-against-israeli-fans/
In a letter to Andreas Zagklis, Secretary-General of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and Juan Maria Aburto Rique, Mayor of Bilbao, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage in regard to Sunday’s attack on Israeli basketball fans by a so-called ‘pro-Palestinian’ group in Bilbao, Spain. The victims included children with their parents on their way to the stadium. The Hapoel Holon fans had come to Bilbao for an international basketball match against German MHP RiesenLudwigsburg.
The letter stressed: “This is not the first time Israeli fans visiting Spain have been targeted!”
Read more: FIBA Secretary-General and Bilbao Mayor in Wake...
Blog by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Times of Israel
18 April 2022
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-a-le-pen-administration-would-ruin-france-and-beyond/
Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, ran the long-time French harbour of neo-Nazis, the National Front (Front National – FN). Apart from racism, he had manifold lawsuits for Holocaust denial, calling the Nazi gas chambers “just a detail in World War Two!”
His daughter expelled him from the party, then renaming it “National Rally” (Rassemblement National – RN). Yet many members of the party maintain their national-socialist views, likely to receive government sinecures or even membership in the Cabinet, if elected.
Letter by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Jerusalem Post
21 March 2022
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-701949
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet attends a special session
of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Ukraine at the UN in Geneva
earlier this month (photo Denis Balibouse/Reuters).
Madam Michelle Bachelet,
In 2009, you became president of Chile. Around the same date, as the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, I was addressing an NGO preparatory session for the second Durban Review Conference.
Our associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, and I had been at the Durban UN World Conference against Racism in 2001 to combat racism. Indeed, we found every true issue of racial intolerance and discrimination hijacked for a campaign of antisemitic agitation.
Read more: An appeal to the UN human rights commissioner -...
Blog by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Times of Israel
28 January 2022
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/happy-as-a-jew-in-france-what-happened-to-smash-the-dream/
The Wiesenthal Centre chose to open its office in Paris as France had – and still has – the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe. Though religion is not included in state census, it is estimated that there are about 500,000 Jews and over 4 million Muslims.
Despite the 1894 Dreyfus case – the Jewish French army Captain unjustly charged for espionage – that revealed a large retinue of antisemitism in a split country, despite the Vichy collaborationist role in harassing the Jews and deporting over 72,000 to the death camps, the mantra “Happy as a Jew in France!” still persisted.
Read more: ‘Happy as a Jew in France!’ – What happened to...
Article by Dr. Shimon Samuels published in The Times of Israel
22 December 2021
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-intifada-embroideryon-unesco-intangible-cultural-heritage/
An Open Letter to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay
Madam Director-General,
“Palestine” entered UNESCO in November 2011 to launch mayhem and I.D. theft. Since 2012, Jewish and Christian heritage have been trampled and stolen to validate a Palestinian narrative.