News Releases 2023
Paris, 9 June 2023
The Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, noted that the Centre’s report – regarding the President of the PSOE (Socialist Party) in Seville, Amparo Rubiales – was picked up in Europa Press and other media outlets.
Rubiales had attacked PP (Centrist Party) National Coordinator, Sen. Elias Bendodo, calling him a “Nazi Jew”. After a sort of rectification, she called Bendodo, who is a Sephardi Jew, only a “Nazi”.
The Wiesenthal Centre, together with Spanish Jews, “are delighted that our action has led to Rubiales’ resignation. May this serve as a lesson for others involved in the political arena.”
“The PP is presenting a complaint against her for ‘hate crime’ in a Seville Court, which we support,” concluded Samuels.
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Paris, 8 June 2023
The Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, was disgusted to read the Tweet of a personality of high office, former Vice President of the Spanish Congress, Amparo Rubiales.
In a Tweet, she had written: “It is really the speech of a Nazi Jew!”, referring to opposition PP (Partido Popular) Coordinator, Elias Bendodo, on Government decisions regarding Spain’s next general elections.
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Disgusted at “Jew=Nazi” Mix Up...
Paris, 7 June 2023
“ReconnaisSENS”, a dialogue on how to assist Holocaust survivors and their children, was held on June 7, at the Espace Rachi, in Paris – organized by Passerelles, the department of the FSJU (Fonds social juif unifié) dedicated to Holocaust survivors and their children.
Richard Odier spoke on the theme “Between stupor, guilt and recognition: the emergence of a ‘role’ for survivors in our societies.” His interlocutor on stage was François Rachline, writer, economist and vice-president of LICRA.
This was also the occasion to recall Simon Wiesenthal’s dedication, as a survivor, expressed so clearly in his words:
“Survival is a privilege entailing responsibility. I have always asked myself what I could do for those who did not survive. The answer that I found for myself (and which by no means must be the answer for every survivor) is: I want to be their mouthpiece, I want to keep their memory alive, so that the dead can live on in this memory.”
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Paris, 5 June 2023
Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, has followed the content of seven annual Arabic book fairs and media in the Arab world.
In a webinar of the Middle East Forum (MEFORUM), its Financial Fellow, Jordan Cope, presented a remarkable classification of Sunni and Shia state-sponsored media.
Qatar’s Al-Jazeera and Turkey’s TRT are both widely considered as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamic political movement.
Strasbourg, 1 June 2023
A symposium entitled “Et pourtant” (“And yet”), was organized in Strasbourg on 1 June by the Israelite Consistory of Bas-Rhin (the lower Rhine Department in Eastern France).
This symposium – which saw the participation of Richard Odier, together with the Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg Harold Weil, Professor Gabriel Attias and the former Minister of Education, Vincent Peillon – was devoted to a contemporary reading of the experience and journey of André and Rina Neher.
André Neher was one of the most important thinkers of post-Holocaust Judaism in France. His masterpiece is “The Exile of the Word” – where he explains the silence in the Bible and during the Shoah as a divine revelation, an appeal to human responsibility in obtaining freedom or redemption.
From left to right: Richard Odier, Rabbi Weil, Gabriel Attias and Vincent Peillon.
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