News Releases 2015
The Centre urged Le Monde “to reconsider its relationship with Plantu. [...] Failing this, Le Monde may be viewed as co-responsible for incidents fomented by his provocations.”
Paris, 7 August 2015
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre Paris-based Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, joined his French associate, Sammy Ghozlan, Director of the BNVCA (National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism) in protesting the continual provocations of Plantu, whose notorious attacks on Orthodox Jews and Israelis have crossed a new threshold.
Plantu, a regular political cartoonist for Le Monde, placed his latest outrage, not in France's premier daily, but on his Facebook page. It depicts an Israeli soldier firing at Palestinian civilians, with a bearded stereotypical religious Jew telling him: “Look! Shoot faster! I am in a rush to move in.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre and its French Associate the...
Wiesenthal letter to Panasonic France: “This technology is reportedly manufactured by your company. Why does Air France claim the system can be repaired only in September?”
Paris, 6 August 2015
In a letter to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) newly elected Secretary-General, Dr. Fang Liu, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted that “the Preambule to your Convention stresses civil aviation’s role in creating 'friendship and understanding among the nations and peoples of the world, yet its abuse can become a threat to general security'.”
He also quoted the 191 member-state UN agency’s Article 28 obliging that “the publication of […] maps and charts [be] in accordance with standards […] pursuant to the Convention.”
“Apprehend those who would return us to 1936.”
Paris, 3 August 2015
In a letter to German Federal Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, protested “the Jew-baiting of Maccabi athletes at the Berlin Games.”
Samuels commended the Minister for “welcoming the Maccabi Games to Berlin as a gift that Germany, after the Holocaust, did not deserve,” as also, Federal President Joachim Gauck, who expressed himself “very moved that the Maccabi Games had chosen Berlin.”
Read more: “Wiesenthal Centre to German Justice Minister:...
Paris, 3 August 2015
In a letter to Air France Chairman and CEO, Frédéric Gergy, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, noted that, “French members of our Centre have sent us, reportedly captured shots from English and French language of an Air France flight-path, taken last week between New York and Paris,” adding that “the locations 'Israel' and 'Tel Aviv' are glaringly absent.”
The letter noted that “we are asked whether Air France has succumbed to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State by literally wiping it off the map?”
"These stands become focal points for Imams visiting with their Koranic school classes. These hateful titles can serve as a low-tech instrument for recruitment of youth to Jihad."
Frankfurt, 30 July 2015
At a meeting today with Frankfurt Book Fair Director, Dr.Jurgen Boos, Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, discussed the continuous abuse of the Book Fairs to spread antisemitism.
For twelve years, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre has monitored hate on the shelves of the Frankfurt Book Fair - the largest in the industry - identifying books that incite to hatred and violence, in violation of the exhibitors contractual commitments and the occasional banning of recidivists exhibitors.
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Alerts Frankfurt Book Fair to...