News Releases 2017
“Next time it could be explosives... The Centre must consider reactivating its Travel Warning Advisory on visiting Greece.”
Paris, 28 December 2017
In a letter to Greek Prime MInister, Alexis Tsipras, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed “outrage at a hatemongering headline in the online edition of MAKELEIO newspaper. Its reputation as a yellow press scandal rag does not excuse it for fomenting to hatred and violence against the small Jewish community of Greece,” referring to “the Makeleio article attacking MInos Moissis, President of KIS (the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece) as a ’cruel Jew at the head of a company of crows that has been assigned to liquidate the red loans (past due debts) of poor Greeks. President of the Jewish community, he pretends to be friendly and takes [our money] from the back door.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to Greek Prime Minister: “Take...
Blog by Shimon Samuels posted in The Jerusalem Post
19 December 2017
‘Watching the Moon at Night’ is a powerful wake-up call.
It is Christmas season in Stockholm. But all is not well... (photo Reuters)
A New York Times op-ed last week, by an eminent Swedish journalist, Pauline Neuding, exposed “An Uncomfortable Truth about Sweden,” focusing on the “serial harassment” and threats against its 18,000 Jewish citizens. She mentions in this context the Wiesenthal Center’s “travel warning in 2010, advising extreme caution when visiting southern Sweden.”
Read more: Sweden, a dangerous country for Jews, can become...
“The Netherlands is not that of Anne Frank, but minus the Arab Keffiye the Assailant and the Police Bystanders brought back images of the Storm Trooper”
Brussels, 8 December 2017
At a meeting of the European Parliament, the Assembly of the European Jewish Parliament (EJP) met to celebrate the United States’ “Jerusalem Declaration” acknowledging the 3,000 year capital of Israel and the Jewish people.
Left to right: Marco Katz, Romanian Antisemitism Monitoring Centre; Shimon Samuels; Cefi Kamhi, Turkish MP and Deputy Chair of the EJP.
MEJPs (Members of the European Jewish Parliament) - most of which represent the member-states of the European Union - commended the EU’s move to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism.
Cordoba, Argentina, 30 November 2017
Based upon the existing partnership between Benedetto Zacchiroli, President of the European Coalition of Cities against Racism (ECCAR) and Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations, the Wiesenthal Center was invited to attend the LAC Coalition meeting in Cordoba.
Zacchiroli stressed “the danger of increasingly recurrent antisemitism. This is a door we must close.” He highlighted the work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its international network as a significant alliance in the objectives of the UNESCO-related “Cities against Racism.”
Present were Samuels and Dr. Ariel Gelblung, the Center`s Latin American Representative, who made presentations on its joint programmes with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO) on “Racism in Sport.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre at the 90 Member Cities Latin...
“What began in Europe as a campaign against racism in football was adapted in Latin America to include all sport.”
Panamá City, 24 November 2017
Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, and Latin American Representative, Dr. Ariel Gelblung, attended the unanimous endorsement of its “11 Point Program against Racism in Sport” by the 23 member states´ Congresses at the 34th Assembly of the PARLATINO (Latin American and Caribbean Parliament) in Panama City.
L-R: Shimon Samuels, Parlatino President Elias Castillo, Ariel Gelblung.