Statement by Simon Wiesenthal Center(SWC) by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Actionand Michael Cohen, Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is outraged by anti-Semitic postings on theFacebook page of Edison City Council President Joyce Ship-Freeman.
Whatever the circumstances of how they got on her page, why has it taken her one month to remove theincendiary tropes about Jews and Israel.
In addition, we were also disturbed by the re-posting of a message calling onAfrican Americans “not to eat Chinese food anymore”, with a backdrop of skulls.
Jews and Asian Americans are well aware ofthe impact of negative stereotyping. It should have no place in the lexicon of any American politician. As we struggle todefeat the Coronavirus, no one in a position of responsibility in American life should be validating any form of hate – especially history’s oldest virus –anti-Semitism.
We urge City Council President Ship-Freeman to prove to all her constituents that she is part of the solution, not the problem. A clearpublic apology would be a good place to start.
For more information, please contact the Center'sCommunications Department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largestinternational Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, theOSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
