News Releases 2012
A Report by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels
St. Petersburg, Russia, 1st July 2012
Today, by a two-third majority of 13 to 6 member states voting and 2 abstentions,the UNESCO World Heritage Committee(WHC) has inscribed "the Birthplace of Jesus, Church of the Nativity,the Pilgrimage Route,Bethlehem" as a Palestinian Heritage site.
St. Petersburg, Russia, 27 June 2012
As the only Jewish organization accredited to the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre focussed its proposal on "the role of heritage as a powerful tool in tolerance-building".
The Centre's Delegate and Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, emphasized its institutional imperative as "the transmission of memory to draw its lessons to contemporary issues of prejudice", adding "each ethnic and faith community in both domestic and national jurisdictions deserves respect for its narrative as a contribution to its host country and to universal heritage.Our Centre thus encourages the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention to celebrate the cultural sites of their minorities".
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to World Heritage Committee:...
St. Petersburg, Russia, 27 June 2012
In a letter to French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, expressed "outraged to learn that France is the only European State-Party to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee(WHC) that will vote in support of Palestinian heritage status over 'The Birthplace of Jesus, the Church of the Nativity and the Bethlehem pilgrimage route'".
The Centre noted that "never in the history of the WHC, has a purely religious site been inscribed on its list".
Samuels stressed that "france will find itself in direct conflict with the expressed position of the three custodian churches of the Nativity site; the Vatican, the Armenians and the Greek Orthodox".(according to a 11 June letter picked up in an Associated Press despatch released on 23 June in the Daily Star of Lebanon).
Paris, 25 June 2012
In a letter to World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, "urged an investigation into the meeting in Gaza, reported last week, of Inger Andersen - his Vice-President for Middle East and North Africa - with Hamas political leaders."
The letter noted that "both the EU and US have designated the political and military wings of Hamas as terrorist organizations,which are at this time daily firing missiles into Israel."
Samuels considered that "Ms. Andersen's statement that Gaza has a fiscal crisis 'could only be facetious'.
"School, police and government's inaction is tantamount to complicity."
Paris, 13 June 2012
In a letter to Norwegian Minister of Justice, Grete Faremo, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels expressed shock "at the firebanding of a Jewish boy at an Oslo secondary school barbecue on Monday.
The letter pointed out that "apparently, this child has been the subject of antisemitic bullying and violence for the past two years, reportedly, because his father is Israeli", continuing "what is even more astonishing is that, despite the mother's report of assaults on her son to NRK radio evening news in 2010, there has been no reaction by the school, the police or governmental authorities."
Samuels noted that "the boy has stated that he must stay clear of Norwegian and Muslim children and hide his parentage to avoid continued
antisemitic attacks", adding that "these young school hatemongers point to a new generation of Breivik-style racists for Norway's future. You
have a responsability to protect every threatened child and, especially, this victim targetted simply for being Jewish."
The Centre stressed that "the silence of the school, the police and your government is too reminiscent of another Norway, under the WWII Nazi collaborator, Quisling."
"Our Centre urges your immediate investigation of this case and protective and judicial action, as continued silence is tantamount to complicity" concluded Samuels.