News Releases 2011
Paris, 27 June 2011
In a letter to Peter Hartman, Chairman and Tony Tyler, Director-General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, urged an enquiry into the ramifications of a Delta Airlines - Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) partnership for Christian and Jewish passengers.
Samuels stressed the Centre's concern "at diverse media reports regarding the announced air services agreement between Delta Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA). Contradictory claims regarding the ramifications of the accord for Christian and Jewish passengers require an enquiry by a reputable professional arbiter."
"We Await Diab's Arrival in Paris as a Blow Against Global Terrorism and Antisemitism."
Paris, 6 June 2011
Here follows a statement from Dr. Shimon Samuels, Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, based in Paris :
"Ontario Supreme Court Justice, Robert Maranger, today committed Hassan Diab for extradition to France on grounds of responsability in the October 1980 Paris Copernic Synagogue bombing.
This all but concludes over two years of legal proceedings and technical stratagems of the defense and now requires only the endorsement of the Canadian Justice Minister.
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Commends Canadian Justice System
"Neo-Nazis and Radical Islamists Call for 12 June Day of Rage at Sweden-Israel Match in Karlskrona - SWC Urges Corporate Sponsors Intervention and Maintains Travel Advisory."
Paris, 23 May 2011
In a letter to the International Handball Federation (IHF) President, Dr. Hassan Moustafa, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, recalled how "your sister organization,the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in 2009, fined Malmo, Sweden and banned further Davis Cup heats in that city for a period of five years. This followed the municipality's ghettoization of a Sweden-Israel match in a locked and empty stadium.
As a result, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre had imposed a Travel Advisory on Malmo."
Paris, 17 May 2011
In a letter to Belgium Acting Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, charged that "in the absence of a government, your caretaker cabinet is hardly taking care when your 'Justice' Minister, Stefan De Clerck, reportedly calls to amnesty World War II Belgium Nazi collaborators."
Samuels added, "no wonder antisemitism and other hate-crimes grow unchecked in Brussels - "The Capital of Europe" - and across Belgium, when your chief lawman allegedly advocates on national television 'to forget Nazi crimes as they lie in the past'".
The Centre urged the Prime Minister "to caucus all parties, in and out of the coalition, French and Flemish, to investigate and condemn De Clerck for his apparent betrayal of history, his obfuscation of its lessons and his contempt for the very concept of justice", adding that "such an appointee must be promptly removed from his Ministry, his party and shunned from the political arena."
"To remain silent would be perceived as complicit in De Clerk's apparent endorsement of genocide," concluded Samuels.
"Anti-Gay pogroms in both Uganda and Iran must be stopped now to prevent further spread throughout Africa and the Middle East."
Paris 12 May 2011
In a letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanetham Pillay, Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted that "in September this year, ironically on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist atrocities, you are due to open the third session of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance(WCAR) at the the United Nations in New York."