Paris, 6 December 2022

In a letter to Paris-based International Automobile Federation (FIA) President, Mohammed Ahmad Sultan Ben Sulayem, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, noted: “Since its birth, the automobile world has not been free of hate rhetoric and antisemitism.”

“As a matter of fact, one of the first pioneers in the car industry sector, Henry Ford, is also infamously known for his violently antisemitic book ‘The International Jew’ – that is still a reference among Jew-haters worldwide. The Centre’s annual monitoring of Book Fairs in Arab countries and in Europe has revealed on several occasions the presence on the shelves of this book together with other antisemitic classics, such as Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ and the Tsarist secret police forgery ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’.”

Read more: Wiesenthal Centre to FIA President: “Adopt IHRA...

Paris, 27 November 2022

In the year preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, the streets of France saw a multitude of rallies – regularly held on Saturdays – by the so-called “Gilets-jaunes” movement (Yellow Jackets). Organized through social media, the movement accused the French Government of not addressing rising poverty – seen as a globalization effect – of lower and middle classes in a context of economic stagnation.

After several chaotic Saturday rallies, as early as January 2019, the Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, warned that, “Lacking any recognized leadership, the once spontaneous ‘movement’ was being hijacked by extremes of right and left, inciting conspiracy theories, antisemitism and other forms of hatred.”
https://www.wiesenthal-europe.com/en/news-releases-menu/37-news-releases-2019/477-wiesenthal-centre-demands-repudiation-of-antisemitism-and-other-hate-from-those-who-stand-to-gain-from-yellow-jackets-chaos

Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Alert on Upcoming Rallies in...

Paris, 22 November 2022

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre - Europe has the immense sadness to announce the passing, this Sunday, November 20th, of Dr Graciela Vaserman Samuels, spouse of Dr Shimon Samuels, Director for International Relations of the Centre.

Born in Argentina to a prominent family in the Jewish community, Graciela moved to Israel and studied Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Holding a Ph.D. in Literature from Temple University in Philadelphia, she founded the Hadassah Medical Relief Association, travelling worldwide to establish partnerships with other university hospitals.

Read more: In Blessed Memory of Graciela Vaserman Samuels z”l

Paris, 14 November 2022

“Some animal protection rights groups have been active across Europe especially regarding ritual slaughter, focussing more on banning ‘Jewish Shechita’ rather than ‘Muslim Hallal’',” declared Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels.

Raising the stakes are those child rights groups who switch their focus on Judaism, claiming “Medically Unnecessary Genital Cutting.” The campaign is led by a group of scholars and NGOs pooled into the “Brussels Collaboration on Bodily Integrity.”

Read more: Attack on Judaism Claims that “Circumcision of...

30 October 2022

The Frankfurt Book Fair (FBM - Frankfurter Buchmesse) has deeply evolved over the past years, its 2022 edition not only affected by the post-Covid environment, but also concerned with the risk of the Russian war on Ukraine expanding towards the rest of Europe.

The Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, explained that the Centre has annually monitored antisemitic books on the shelves of six Arab Book Fairs. The names of books’ and publishers’ fomenting hate were then sent to the “Fair of Fairs” of Frankfurt, always held in autumn, suggesting that these – mostly recidivists – be denied access, in the spirit of the Fair’s rules.

Read more: Wiesenthal Centre’s 20th Year of Hate Discovery...