News Releases 2011
"Tantamount to Inviting the Late Osama bin Laden to Celebrate His Freedom of Expression."
Paris, 6 May 2011
In a letter to the Swedish Justice Minister, Beatrice Ask, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, and its Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper, protested "the hosting in Stockholm of notorious Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine airplane hijacker, Leila Khaled, for a 30 April - 4 May lecture tour."
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to Swedish Justice Minister:...
Paris, 29 April 2011
In a letter to Polish President, Bronislaw Komorowski, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, called for a Yom Hashoah Presidential declaration "to reinstate Poland's plan to compensate elderly Holocaust survivors for their property - nationalised by the Communists following World War II."
Samuels noted that "as the Jewish world, next Monday, 2 May, marks 'Yom Hashoah' (Holocaust Commemoration Day), with many solemn events in Poland at the sites of extermination, our Centre urges you to invoke the prestige of your status on the restitution issue."
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to Polish President: "Issue a...
Paris, 13 April 2011
In a letter to Federal Chancellory Minister of State for Culture and Media, Bernd Neuman, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, deplored "a most disturbing video clip":
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DtzMDxjUt_0].
Samuels noted that "this 6 minutes 38 seconds lesson on Islam - in German with English subtitles - was filmed in a German school class and now appears on several blogs. "
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to German Federal Minister of...
Paris, 4 April 2011
In a letter to European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton of Upholland, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels,noted receipt of "a Press Invitation from the 'Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) on Palestinian Refugees of 1948', affiliated to the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands."
Samuels pointed to the event's presentation as a followup,i.e. "After the Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 in which ISS took active part with a series of lectures and other events…”
Paris, 28 March 2011
In a letter to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed its members grave concern at Egypt Air's deletion of Tel Aviv from its online flight map.
<www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4046460,00.html>
Samuels noted that "as a United Nations Specialised Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) sets its prime objective as "the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation", thus highlighting the requirement for respect and cooperation between national airlines."