News Releases 2011
Paris, 21 October 2011
In a letter to Hungarian Prime Minister Vikter Orban, the Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, reported that, according to Hungary's ATV television, "the outlawed 'Magyar Guada', (Hungarian Guard) movement, on 16 October visited the Auschwitz - Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi uniforms, performing 'Sieg Heil' salutes and lauding Adolf Hitler."
Samuels added that "they reportedly posed against the backdrop of the notorious "Arbeit Macht Frei" entrance to the extermination camp with swastika scarves and World War II Hungarian fascist banners."
The letter suggested that "Hungary's neo-Nazis are seeking a higher profile beyond threats against Jews and the persecution of Roma at home. At the site in Poland, where over 400,000 deported Hungarian Jews were murdered in 1944, they have desecrated contemporary Hungary's good name."
The Centre urged the Prime Minister "to launch an immediate investigation, arrest and prosecute the perpetrators and to vociferously condemn their acts."
"Turn this disgraceful episode into an opportunity to crackdown on the hatemongers and institute a policy of zero-tolerance for hate in Hungary" concluded Samuels.
Membership will be determined by 193 Member States at the end of October.
Paris, 6 October 2011
Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels commended the 4 votes against and the 14 abstentions.
"All of them were States - particularly in Europe and Latin America - with which the Centre has been intensely working on this issue over the last months."
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre laments UNESCO Executive Board...
"The purpose is to avoid peace talks and continue conflict by terrorism diplomacy."
Paris and Buenos Aires, 5 October 2011
Following the Palestinian unilateral independence initiative at the United Nations Security Council in New York last week, today in Paris, a draft resolution will be submitted demanding membership of UNESCO(United Nations Education,Science and Culture Organization).
Paragraph 3 of that resolution admits that "the status of Palestine is the subject of the ongoing deliberations at the United Nations in New York."
"Prosecute Apple for I-Phone 'Jew/Non-Jew' Application."
Paris, 17 September 2011
"A new weapon in the war against the Jews is the mobile telephone", stated Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations.
"On the heels of last month's Orange-France service provider's, 'Welcome to the Palestinian Territories', SMS to clients arriving at Tel Aviv airport, now Apple-France has launched an arguably antisemitic application on its I-Phone", continued Samuels.
Paris, 6 September 2011
In a letter to Nivea - Beiersdorf Chairman,Thomas Quaas, at his Hamburg headquarters, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, conveyed the outrage of several of its members at "Nivea havingapparently removed the State of Israel from the list of its lientcountries in the Middle East replacing it with "Palestine territories".
Samuels expressed amazement "that a German company would, allegedly, implement a genocidal policy recommendation of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to '"wipe the Jewish state off the map'".
The Centre demanded "an immediate investigation into the attached images of '"Boycott Israel" slogans scrawled across Nivea posters, the prompt punishment and dismissal of the perpetrators, the reinstatement of Israel and an apology for this offence to the Jewish people".
"Mr. Chairman just as hate speech presages hate crime, so virtual Holocaust aspires to its recurrence. This is one cosmetic that Nivea should not be selling", concluded Samuels.