Wiesenthal Centre to UN Special Advisor on Sport: "Press IOC President To Resign Forthwith From Chairmanship of German Agency for Boycott of Israel"

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
Tel. : +33-01 47 23 76 37 - Fax : +33-01 47 20 84 01
Email : csweurope@gmail.com

“'Olympic Truce' General Assembly Resolution 48/11 Binds the UN in Sharing the Responsibility for IOC Positions and theirConsequences.”

Paris, 12 September 2013

In a letter to Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP), Wilfried Lemke (pictured), theSimon Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. ShimonSamuels, called for newly elected International Olympic Committee President to be pressed to resign forthwith his Chairmanship of German agency for boycott of Israel.

Samuels quoted "the Olympic Truce, under General Assembly Resolution 48/11 of 25 October 1995 and the Millennium Declaration, wherebythe United Nations together with the Olympic movement (IOC) aspire “to contribute to a peaceful future for humankind, through the educational value of sport … to promote maintenance ofpeace, mutual understanding and goodwill—goals it shares with the United Nations."

The letter noted, "Since 1988, the IOC has flown the UN flag at all competitive sites of the Olympic Games, thereby binding the UN asa partner in sharing responsibility for the positions of the IOC and their consequences."

Samuels argued, "This would arguably, include the conflict of interests of newly elected IOC President, Thomas Bach, who issimultaneously Chairman of GHORFA (a vaulted room in Arabic) that is the acronym for the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Established by the Arab States in the 1980s, thisChamber reputedly continues to issue certificates of negative origin, proclaiming that contractually supplied goods contain no elements of Israeli origin. Such discriminatory certificatescamouflaging the boycott of Israel were banned as illegal by the German government over twenty years ago."

The letter considered, "Even more significant, that as IOC Vice-President, Bach reportedly argued for the denial of a moment ofsilence in honour of the eleven Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Munich, forty years earlier."

Samuels again suggested, "Under the aforementioned resolutions, the UN should have the authority to demand Bach’s resignation from hisGHORFA Boycott of Israel Chairmanship," adding, "His continued maintenance of both positions will result in boycott polluting sport in violation of the declared principles of both the UNand the IOC."

The letter charged, "For Holocaust survivors and sports enthusiasts, Bach’s apparent support for those who would harm the Jewish stateraises the spectres of another Olympics—in Nazi Berlin in 1936."

The letter urged the Special Advisor and the Secretary-General to "Press IOC President Bach to devote himself to sport and notboycott."

"We would sorely lament the impugning of both the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations as a consequence of ThomasBach's Presidency," concluded Samuels.

For further information please contact Dr. Shimon Samuels on 00(33)609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for newsupdates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at internationalagencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).