News Releases 2017
"UNESCO must strip this hypocritical warmonger of his undeserved 'Artist For Peace' Award… The appointment of Naseer Shamma to this prestigious status only diminishes its value and integrity.”
Paris, 7 March 2017
In a letter to UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Francesco Bandarin, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, urged "an investigation into the designation of Iraqi Oud star, Naseer Shammah, as 2017 UNESCO Artist For Peace, in view of his belligerent expressions against the State of Israel."
"If the award was granted based upon an incomplete enquiry to substantiate his merit, UNESCO must strip this hypocritical warmonger of his undeserved 'Artist For Peace' Award", argued the Centre.
Read more: UNESCO Artist For Peace Laureate[ins] Denies he...
“This exhibition... explores the deep, unassailable connection between the Jewish people and the Holy Land... a profound relationship that has helped shape the history of all humanity... It is a response to all those who seek to spread lies to fuel antisemitism, including a persistent delegitimization of Israel and the Jewish people.”
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
London, 2 March 2017
“People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land” is co-sponsored with UNESCO. Nevertheless, its opening in Paris in January 2014 was delayed by several hostile member-states, including the entire Arab bloc.
Opened this week at the House of Commons in the British Parliament, the Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted that, “as the only Jewish organization accredited to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, we have lobbied against Palestinian theft of Jewish and Christian heritage – from the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity in 2012, to the designation of the Tomb of Rachel and the Cave of the Patriarchs as mosques. In 2016, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount were targeted. This year, it may be Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls... This exhibition is a response and a medium for counteraction.”
Youtube link to House of Commons Launch : https://youtube/Ubb6RaDjY6c
Lt to R: Board of Deputies of British Jews President Jonathan Arkush, Deputy Israel Ambassador to UK Sharon Bar-li, Ambassador Ron Adam, Joy Wolfe Zionist Federation, JJ Roboh SWC-Europe, Lord Carey, Lord Polak, Dr. Graciela Samuels UNESCO, David Dangoor Exilarch Foundation and SWC-UK, Lord Palmer, Déborah Lévy Jewish Students Union President Warwick University, Graham Morris Founder of SWC-UK, Dr. Shimon Samuels.
Photo gwp geoffwilsonphotography
Paris, 23 February 2017
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed rage at the Paris suburb of Créteil’s investigating Magistrate ruling to dismiss the antisemitic character of a 2014 attack on a Jewish couple, and the decision to close the case.
Three men had broken into the home of the couple, beating them and tying them up, then raping the young wife. The three, together with a suspected accomplice, were charged with group rape, armed robbery, violence and extortion.
Paris, 20 February 2017
In a letter to SIEL (Salon International de l'Edition et du Livre) Casablanca Book Fair, the Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, commended its Director Dr. Hassan El Ouazzani.
Samuels stated that, "after six years of monitoring the SIEL of Casablanca and its sister Arab Book Fairs, for hate on the display shelves, we were delighted to receive your inspiring response. This was truly in the spirit of Article 5.6 of the SIEL exhibitors’ contract: 'Publications displayed may not violate:
- public decency
- the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco or its religious precepts
- public sensitivity' "
“Launch an enquiry into this matter and order the immediate withdrawal of UN and EU funding to the European Gaza Hospital, pending that institution’s apology, its public condemnation of all forms of Jew-hatred and proof of the dismissal of Yahya Al Nawajha from its staff.”
Paris, 15 February 2017
In letters to Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, and Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage that a hospital would spew hate.
Read more: End UN and EU Funding of EU Gaza HAMAS-managed...