| The Simon Wiesenthal Center expresses satisfaction after a blatantly anti-Semitic game was removed following a protest by Simon Wiesenthal CenterInternational Relations Director, Dr. Shimon Samuels and an expose in the Jerusalem Post. The board game, "Settlers of Catan", was currently distributedby the Dutch VPRO media corporation. "The historic embedded anti-Semitic stereotypes combined with anti-Israel animus are a toxic mix in much of Europe," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC associate dean. "That it took an expose by the Jerusalem Post and a protest by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to force the removal of this blatantly anti-Semitic "game" is a reflection of abroader reality in 2012 Europe; classic anti-Semitic stereotypes, shunned in polite society after the Shoah are back in mainstream vogue. They create an especially toxicenvironment when combined with an anti-Israel animus. We can only hope that government, social and educational leaders across the full sprectrum of society will begin toconfront resurgent anti-Semitism that finds expression from within the elite to rants at football matches," Cooper concluded. For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobiledevice. 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 atinternational agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino). |