“We are outraged at the German amalgam drawn between 6 million murdered Jews of Europe and the ‘Palestinians’.”
 
Cracow, Poland, 8 July 2017

In a letter to German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage at German participation in “an amalgam drawn between the 6 million murdered Jews of Europe and the ‘Palestinians’.”

Samuels wrote “as the only Jewish Non-Governmental Organization accredited to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC), I write to you on behalf of our 400,000 members, but also for concerned Jews and Christians worldwide,” explaining that, “since November 2011, the Palestinian entry into UNESCO, with a voracious appetite for the Judeo-Christian heritage, has turned the WHC into a battlefield.”

The letter continued: “When the identity theft of Jerusalem and the Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs now occured in Cracow, Poland - 65 kilometers from Auschwitz-Birkenau - tensions ran even higher,” adding, “on 4 July, following the passage of an egregious resolution to obliterate Jewish sovereignty or even affinity to Jerusalem, the Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama HaCohen, requested a moment of silence to the memory of the victims of Nazi Germany, the German Ambassador, Stefan Krawielicki, correctly stood among most others in the hall.”

The Centre explained, “When, at the bidding of the Cuban Ambassador, a second moment of silence was held in support of ‘the Palestinians’. Ambassador Krawielicki stood once again.”

Samuels lamented, “we are horrified at this amalgam between the millions of defenceless Jews gassed and shot – among them 1.5 million children - by the Nazis and their associates across Europe on the one hand. On the other, Palestinians, who rejoice when their terrorists murder Jews - among them children.”

He argued, “Now that Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs were voted Palestinian heritage, it is revealing that they had invited the Mayor of Hebron. This “Lord Mayor” reportedly has the blood of six teenage rabbinical students on his hands… Would representatives of The Federal Republic shake that hand?”

He advised the Chancellor: “I explained to the Ambassador the degree of anger among Jewish opinion, but received no comment… I fear that in the absence of an apology, the Jewish world will construe this behaviour as reflecting the policy of today’s Germany.”

The Centre explained that “to link the Holocaust, in any way, to so-called “Palestinian victims”, thus casting Israelis as Nazis is a form of Holocaust revisionism illegal under German law. It also violates the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) and now European Parliament's “Working Definition of Antisemitism”, to which Germany is a signatory.”

“Madam Chancellor, we count on you to resolve this painful matter.”

The letter was also shared with Bundestag (Parliament) Vice-President Petra Pau.

See the last ten minutes of the live broadcast of WHC session on <https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0wX6Hbg0LHE>