Wiesenthal Center Denounces Danish Foreign Minster’s Sanctions Threat Against Israel

“His threat is a dangerous Rosh Hashanah ‘gift’ to Hamas that would endanger 8.9 million Israelis,” says Centerofficial

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is denouncing Danish Foreign Minister, Martin Lidegaard, (pictured), for saying that the European Unionshould consider trade sanctions with Israel if indirect talks with Hamas that begin today in Cairofail to end Gaza border restrictions and the building of new settlements. “If nothing happens in the peace talks this time, and if we don’t see a new pattern of response from Israel’s side, thenwe will need to discuss the possibility of taking new steps, including changes to our trade relations with Israel,” Lidegaard said in an interview in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

“What an outrage! Perhaps the Foreign Minister has amnesia about a few thousand missiles and the murder of innocent teenagers emanating fromHamas,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“Apparently, he has chosen to forget that all of tons of cement and other ‘building materials’ that international leaders like him pressuredIsrael to let into Gaza, went to build an underground superhighway of terror tunnels,” he added. He also asked, “Now he wants to pressure Israel to cut another bad deal with the genocidalterrorist entity that Gazans who were used as human shields by Hamas secretly hope against hope will soon be out of their lives?”

“His threat is a dangerous Rosh Hashanah ‘gift’ to Hamas that would endanger 8.9 million Israelis,” Rabbi 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 updatessent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in theUnited 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).