Paris, 2 June 2022

Madam Ursula von der Leyen,
President of the European Commission,

On behalf of our 400,000 members, we are aghast at the statements of your Representative, Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.

As a German national, he has apparently forgotten his history and responsibility to the Jewish people, by such statement as, “terrorist attacks against Israelis should not be surprising given the depth of Palestinian suffering from the 74 years of conflict with Israel!”

Madam, the 74 years of conflict were begun by the Arabs, in the face of the Zionist leadership who, in 1948, offered peace and citizenship to those who stayed within the Israeli borders.

As an EU Representative to the Palestinian Authority, von Burgsdorff has broken the protocol of diplomacy. With this language he deserves the title of “EU Representative to Hamas.” His audience was a group of diplomats at the site of the former Atarot airfield, in Israel.

Another of his jewels was: “When you are a Palestinian child living next to the separation wall, what do you think this child would grow up with?”

Madam, no mention of the children in Israel, and especially those running on a daily basis to shelter from the rockets launched by Hamas.

Likewise, he charged that thousands of Palestinians had been killed since 2008, without mentioning Hamas criminals and ammunition, hidden in schools and their children used as human shields.

Moreover, it is the Palestinian Authority and Hamas both vying for incitement to the worst antisemitic hate... adding to the horrific joy of parents at their dead children’s rank of “Shaheed Martyrs.”

Of course, none of these realities have touched the EU Representative.

Madam, “von Burgsdorff is a threat to the EU. He must be fired forthwith!”

Most respectfully,

Dr Shimon Samuels
Director for International Relations
Simon Wiesenthal Centre