Club Med Cancels Lebanon Stop on Mediterranean Cruise After Wiesenthal Center Protest

Club Med, reacting to a strong protest from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (see SWC protesthere) cancelled its scheduled stop in Lebanon because the Lebanese government would not accept any passenger on the ship carrying an Israeli passport or passengers whose passport carrieda stamp indicating they had visited Israel.

“We applaud the decision of Club Med to confront this outrageous bigotry displayed by the government of Lebanon. There is only one way to confront hatred and that is to stand up and repudiate it.We urge all cruise lines to adopt the same policy and refuse to stop in Lebanon until the government changes this anti-Semitic policy,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the SimonWiesenthal Center.

The original protest was sent by the Center’s Director for International affairs, Dr. Shimon Samuels to Club Med President, Henri Giscard d’Estaing after Club Med had advised its passengers, “TheBodrum-Valletta cruise of 16-28 September 2010 will be stopping in Lebanon. The Lebanese authorities will not admit on their territory, or on the ‘Club Med II’, passport holders with a visa orIsraeli stamp. These will be prohibited to board the ‘Club Med II’. Failure to follow these provisions is the responsibility of the client, who will be denied access to the boat on the day of itsembarkment from Bodrum on 16 September, and will bear the subsequent costs. Club Med will not incur any liability for any omission, fault or negligence by the passport holder".

The SimonWiesenthal 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 international agencies includingthe United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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