News Releases 2022
Article by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Jerusalem Post
23 May 2022
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-707482
Dieudonné has mutated into a political polemicist and is bent on defaming, denying and deriding the Holocaust and Jews – for which he has been tried in court many times.
We recall how Dieudonné M’bala M’bala began his career as a comedian, together with his Jewish friend, Elie Semoun. After they split, Dieudonné turned antisemitic, expressing friendship towards the late Robert Faurisson, infamous Holocaust denier, and Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the extreme-right party National Front and who had commented “the gas chambers to kill Jews are a mere detail of history.” Jean-Marie is the father of Marine, runner-up in the latest French Presidential elections.
Antisemitism has always permeated Dieudonné’s artistic career. One of the most bizarre of his feature films, The Antisemite, sees his wife begging him to go to a psychologist to treat his Judeophobia, only to discover the psychologist is a Jew, as is his wife.
Paris, 23 May 2022
Mr. Darmanin,
First, permit me to congratulate you on your confirmation to the Interior Ministry in the new Government Cabinet.
You will recall our conversation praising your decision to close those Mosques whose Imams had preached antisemitism. Your position has consistently been in defence of the rule of law and therefore of French Jewry.
Our Centre is now gravely disturbed at the murder in Lyon last week of 90-year old René Hadjadj. This act is reminiscent of the case of Sarah Halimi, thrown from her third floor balcony after being savagely beaten by her neighbour yelling “Allahu Akbar!”
Read more: Wiesenthal Centre Open Letter to French Interior...
Article by Dr Shimon Samuels published in The Times of Israel
18 May 2022
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/fiba-secretary-general-and-bilbao-mayor-in-wake-of-violence-against-israeli-fans/
In a letter to Andreas Zagklis, Secretary-General of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and Juan Maria Aburto Rique, Mayor of Bilbao, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage in regard to Sunday’s attack on Israeli basketball fans by a so-called ‘pro-Palestinian’ group in Bilbao, Spain. The victims included children with their parents on their way to the stadium. The Hapoel Holon fans had come to Bilbao for an international basketball match against German MHP RiesenLudwigsburg.
The letter stressed: “This is not the first time Israeli fans visiting Spain have been targeted!”
Read more: FIBA Secretary-General and Bilbao Mayor in Wake...
Paris, 15 May 2022
In a letter to Andreas Zagklis, Secretary-General of FIBA (International Basketball Federation) and Juan Mari Aburto Rique, Mayor of Bilbao, Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage in regard to last Sunday’s attack on Israeli basketball fans by a so-called “pro-Palestinian” group in Bilbao, Spain. The victims included children with their parents on their way to the stadium. The Hapoel Holon fans had come to Bilbao for an international basketball match against German MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg.
The letter stressed: “This is not the first time Israeli fans visiting Spain have been targeted!”
Paris, 13 May 2022
Samuels with French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
“Antisemitic terrorism in France originated in the 1970s and 1980s with professional killers drawn to Europe from the Middle East, covered by European extreme-left militants trained by the PLO in Lebanon,” stated Dr Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations.