News Releases 2023
By Dr Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations
Paris, 3 August 2023
In the years following the terrorist bombing of the Paris Copernic Synagogue, the French Jewish community was galvanized to create Jewish radio stations and training courses for the protection of Jewish religious and cultural institutions.
On Succoth, 30 October 1980, I accompanied Aliza Shagrir, who had just arrived from Israel, to the corner of rue Copernic. While I continued walking straight ahead, she turned to meet her death outside the synagogue at the hands of a terrorist who has since been identified and is still at large.
In those days, attacks on Jews were imported from the Middle East conflict.
Open letter to Madam Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Paris
From Dr Shimon Samuels, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations
Paris, 2 August 2023
Madam Director-General,
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is delighted to inform you of our work concerning World Heritage:
- With Argentina for Moises Ville, the village founded in 1889 by Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and Eastern Europe;
Open letter to Madam Elisabeth Borne, Prime Minister of France
from Dr Shimon Samuels, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations
Paris, 30 July 2023
Madam Prime Minister,
We met last February, when we discussed your four-year plan against racism and antisemitism, in particular focused on youth education.
Our Centre saluted the intention to issue arrest warrants for those guilty of incitement to antisemitism under the mask of “freedom of expression”.
Article by Dr. Shimon Samuels published in The Jerusalem Post
23 July 2023
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-752033?dicbo=v2-ykWE9Ra
After twenty-nine years since the AMIA atrocity, striving to achieve justice is crucial.
Then-Argentinian President Mauricio Macri speaks at an event in Buenos Aires in memory
of the victims of the 1994 bombing at the AMIA community center, marking the 25th anniversary
of the attack, in 2019 (photo Agustin Marcarian/Reuters).
At 9:53 a.m. on July 18, 1994, a car bomb demolished the AMIA Jewish Centre, leaving 85 dead and over 300 wounded.
In this July of 2023, the wounded and the families of the victims are again demanding that the perpetrators, Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors, be brought to justice.
Read more: Seeking justice for the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing...
By Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels
Geneva, 13 July 2023
On 10 July, during its 53rd session, the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, performed one of its favourite and infamous exercises - discussing Item 7 “human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),” i.e. the singling out, demonization, defamation, delegitimation and application of double standards towards Israel.
The Special Rapporteur is Francesca Albanese, a lawyer, who professes “dedication, rigour and impartiality.”
Her report on Item 7 is a litany of inaccuracies and inconsistencies, that are tantamount to incitement to hatred. Ms. Albanese might be dedicated, but lacks rigour and is by no means impartial.
Some examples: