SWC Commends UEFA for Holding Under-21 European Championship in Israel... Blasts Attempts to Cancel/Boycott the Event

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

"May this Championship make the beautiful game a force for peace, rather than bringing the Middle East conflict onto its pitch andterraces."

Paris, 21 May 2013

In a letter to UEFA (Union of European Football Associations),President, Michel Platini, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. ShimonSamuels, slammed the call by ‘electronicintifada.net’ for UEFA to "remove its Under-21 European Championship from Israel, where it is scheduled to play from 5 to 18 June."

Samuels argued, "'electronicintifada.net' is, apparently, an arm towage a boycott of the Jewish State through universities, trade unions, cultural agencies, NGOs and, indeed, sport."

He added, "The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has long been active incombating racism and hate, especially in European and Latin American football."

The letter noted that:

"On the pitch and from its terraces, Jews, Blacks, Muslims and migrants share the taunts of neo-Nazis.

The ideological forebearers of today's racists, in Nazi Germany had 'ethnically cleansed' sports, as blatantly demonstrated in the1936 Berlin Olympics.

Jews especially, were the object of boycott as Hitler Youth stormed their stores to the screams of 'Kaufen nicht bei Juden' (Buy notfrom Jews)!
Anti-Jewish boycott has now returned, in the guise of the so-called 'B.D.S.' (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign todelegitimize the State of Israel.

Its latest emanation will gather on Friday, 24 May, outside the UEFACongress in London, where extreme-left and Islamist radicals will join the extreme-right in anti-Semitic calls to cancel the UEFA Under-21 European Championship and to agitate formember football associations to boycott the event.

Similar intimidation measures attempted to isolate Chelseamidfielder, Yossi Benayoun through Twitter and threats from Malaysian Islamists
Likewise, such incitement resulted in an attack last year against an Austrian Rabbi outside the Vienna stadium."

Samuels pointed out that "the '11 Key Values' of UEFA's mission statement include: 'respect for diversity... tolerance against racismand violence... football unites people and transcends differences."

The letter highlighted "a little known factor inculcating thesevalues, which are the Israeli-Arab football clubs, hailed by fans throughout the Arab world — best known among them, is an Israel State Cup Champion, B’nei Sakhnin. In 2004, they becamethe first Arab team to ever play in Europe—it was the UEFA Cup. Their Doha Stadium in the Galilee was financed by the Emir of Qatar. The acclaimed 2010 documentary, 'After the Cup: Sonsof Sakhnin United', features Arabs from Israel, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, attending the Cup match."

It continued, "Surely they should be feted as a vehicle for peace,rather than voices for conflict such as electronic intifadas. Intifada brought suicide terrorism to the cities and streets of Israel...From the Middle East, the scourge of indiscriminatemurder in the name of Jihad was to spread across the globe, even targeting sports—most recently at the Boston Marathon."

Samuels stressed that; "'Intifada' has become a fig leaf forterrorists, as 'anti-Zionism' is a cover for anti-Semitism; threats and boycotts from electronic intifadas are tantamount to incitement to violence," suggesting, "When these targetEuropean football, UEFA must act to condemn them in the name of its '11 key values'."

"Our Centre congratulates UEFA in selecting Israel for its2013 Under-21 European Championship and wishes the best to all the participating teams. May this Championshipmake the beautiful game a force for peace, rather than bringing the Middle East conflict onto its pitch and terraces," 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 inthe United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).