**UPDATE** Response of President of Kosova, H.E. Hashim Thaçi "Kosova can not claim to combat Islamist radicalism while exposing itself to Jihadist hate. Paris, 15 November 2016 In a letter to Kosova President, Hashim Thaçi, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, protested "the sale of antisemitic hate literature -not a hundred metres from the Presidential Palace - during an Organisation for Security and Cooperation Conference (OSCE) on "Combatting Terrorism and Radicalism." The letter added that, "these books were all translated into Albanian - Kosovo’s native language and several are published in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood." Samuels recalled that "two years ago, he had the honour of inaugurating the 'White Hat's Exhibition' in Pristina - dedicated to the memory of those Kosovars who smuggled Jewish fugitivesfrom the Nazis into Albania, where most survived the Holocaust." The letter stressed that, "Kosova can not, on the one hand claim to combat Islamist radicalism and, at the same time, expose itself to a very evident example of Jihadist penetration into ahitherto moderate Muslim country." The Centre urged the President "to investigate, condemn and punish the importers and distributors of this hate literature", adding that, "a complaint was made to your Ministry of InternalSecurity over a week ago. There has been no reply." "We are sharing this letter with the OSCE Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, and await your response to this urgent matter", concluded Samuels. 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). |