Paris, 21 February 2019

H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Marcon
Président de la République
Palais de l’Elysée
Paris

Monsieur le Président,

It was a pleasure to speak briefly with you last night at the CRIF dinner.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s over 400,000 worldwide membership is greatly moved by your speech at the dinner, especially your remarks acknowledging anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism, your strong position against BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) against the State of Israel, your revulsion at the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and your focus on Islamist antisemitism, “requiring a reconquest of our lost territories in the struggle against radicalism.”

We especially appreciate your emphasis on Holocaust education and outrage at Holocaust denial, but above all your commitment that France will be signing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Definition of Antisemitism.

Dr. Shimon Samuels with President Emmanuel Macron at the CRIF dinner.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre played a seminal role in the forging of that document, through my colleague, our Director for Government Affairs, Mark Weitzman.

That definition, as you stressed in your speech, Mr. President, defines anti-Zionism - the denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination - as a form of Jew-hatred.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Dr. Shimon Samuels
Director for International Relations
Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Paris