News Releases 2015
Blog by Dr. Shimon Samuels published in The Algemeiner
29 May 2015
https://www.algemeiner.com/2015/05/29/fifa-federation-international-for-football-antisemitism-or-football-international-felony-association/
The SWC presented a counter-protest to a pro-Palestinian
demonstration outside the FIFA Congress Hall in Zurich
(photo Shimon Samuels).
Facing a pro-Palestinian demonstration of some 150 outside the FIFA Congress Hall in Zurich, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre was the only Jewish organization to present a counter-protest.
“Palestinian Football Association President, Jibril Rajoub, on the other hand, has no concern for racism or discrimination nor the values of football. He has recruited one more arm against Israel, abusing FIFA as collateral damage and vilifying the beautiful game.”'
Paris, 19 May 2015
In a letter to FIFA President, Joseph Sepp Blatter, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, stated, “We are appalled at the temerity of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) demand that FIFA suspend Israel at your forthcoming Congress in Zurich.”
The letter viewed this as “one more front waged in the context of the Palestinian BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign, so redolent of the ‘Kaufen nicht bei Juden’ boycott of Jewish stores across Nazi Germany in the 1930's,” adding, “As political football, BDS is the direct antithesis of sport being the arena of fair play.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to FIFA: “Suspension of Israel...
"These are an offence to all Allied veterans and victims of World War II and encourage today's neo-Nazi activists and Skinhead youth."
Moscow, 18 May 2015
In a letter to the Russian Prosecutor-General, Mr. Yuri Yakovlev Chaika, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, condemned Neo-Nazi and antisemitic imagery on sale in Moscow hotel gift shops.
Samuels observed that "born in London, I have always acknowledged the role of the Red Army on the Eastern Front in preventing a Nazi invasion of Great Britain. Thereby, your people's sacrifice contributed to the survival of British Jews from destruction in the Holocaust – only 50 kilometers away on the European continent", adding, "I am presently in Moscow for an international conference on 'The Lessons of Victory in the Second World War/The Great Patriotic War - Seventy Years Later'.”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to Russian Prosecutor-General:...
Blog by Dr. Shimon Samuels published in The Jerusalem Post
11 May 2015
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Will-anti-Semitic-literature-at-Arab-book-fairs-aid-recruitment-to-terrorism-402755
Arab book fairs give us a unique insight into the obsessive-compulsive nature of anti-Semitism.
This is particularly the case for the Saudi and Gulf State fairs of the past weeks, as these governments find themselves in a tactical “engagement” with Israel against the common threats from Iranian nuclear designs, Tehran-sponsored Shi’ite mayhem, and Sunni radicals.
Read more: Will anti-Semitic literature at Arab book fairs...
“Goal.com's on-line Terms of Message Contract Use forbids threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, offensive, pornographic, profane, sexually explicit or indecent [language] ... promotes violence, ... discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age... likely to harass, upset, embarrass or alarm any other person.”
“Keep politics and religion out of the beautiful game.”
Paris, 4 May 2015
In a letter to the UEFA (Union of European Football Association) President, Michel Platini, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, drew attention to “the constant incitement and offence against the State of Israel on the Arabic site of Goal.com, a web site that prides itself in having a global constituency of over 64 million fans.”