"We can only hope this was the act of an antisemitic lone-wolf or a budding Jihadist employee."

"Inaction on this issue will be construed as an AFP endorsement of Iranian declared policy to exterminate the Jewish State and an encouragement to it followers."

Paris, 7 June 2017

In a letter to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Chairman and CEO, Emmanuel Hoog, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed horror at an AFP map of the Middle East deleting Israel on it Twitter and Facebook page.

Samuels stated, "our members are horrified at the AFP map of the Middle East appearing on Twitter and your Facebook page (below)."

He continued, "when Iran first wiped the State of Israel off the map, this was defined by many as 'genocidal intent'".

The letter argued , "that AFP - an important global news agency - appears to sink so low as to commit the same outrage, we can only hope that this was the act of an antisemitic lone-wolf or a budding,Jihadist employee".

The Centre called for "an AFP investigation, condemnation and immediate dismissal of the perpetrator".

"Inaction on this issue will be construed as an AFP endorsement of Iranian declared policy to exterminate the Jewish State and an encouragement to it followers," concluded Samuels.