News Releases 2023
Paris, 2 May 2023
Madam Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Madam President,
On behalf of its 440,000 members, the Wiesenthal Centre commends you for celebrating Israel’s 75 years of independence and friendship with the European Union.
In your words: “Today, we celebrate 75 years of vibrant democracy in the heart of the Middle East... Seventy-five years of dynamism, ingenuity, and ground-breaking innovations. You have literally made the desert bloom.”
Warsaw, 19 April 2023
The Polish Jews who left their country in 1968 annually meet in Israel, on occasion addressed by the Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels.
This year, they met on the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, by invitation of Poland’s Presidential Chancellery.
(top, left to right) the daffodil/stars; Polish youth with daffodils; Samuels laying the wreath.
(below, left to right) Samuels with Head of Polish Presidential Chancellery; the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’swreath;
Samuels with Rabbi Carlebach and New Jersey State Police officers; Samuels with wreath of the State of Israel.
Read more: Sunflowers and Daffodils: from the 1943 Warsaw...
Paris, 29 March 2023
“Two Pakistanis, aged 27 and 29, were arrested last night in Athens, following investigative cooperation between Israeli Mossad and Greek security forces,” stated Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels.
“According to sources, the two men were part of a terror network connected to Iran. They had already planned and were ready to carry out a murderous attack on Jews in Athens through the Passover.”
We recall some of the past attacks on Jews by Pakistani terrorists:
Paris, 24 March 2023
Dr Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, recalled his conversation with French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, regarding her father’s Jewish family and her plan to fight antisemitism and all forms of hate.
Dear Madam,
We call on you to take measures against the so-called “Freeze Corleone”, whose appearance at last week’s rap festival in Rennes was applauded by thousands of young spectators.
Paris, 21 March 2023
The 20th Anniversary Conference of the BNVCA (French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism) at the National Assembly saw the Chief Rabbi of France, several political representatives, philosophers, experts and journalists discuss the evolution of antisemitism in France.
Shimon Samuels (right) speaking on panel with philosopher Shmuel Trigano (left). Photo Alain Azria