Wiesenthal Centre to Danish Prime Minister : "Commit to Jewish Sovereignty and Prevent Repetition of Palestinian Hatefest"

CENTRE SIMON WIESENTHAL - EUROPE
66, rue Laugier
75017 Paris-France
Tel:+33(0)1 47 23 76 37
Fax:+33(0)1 47 20 84 01

Paris, 30 April, 2012

In a letter to Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt , the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed deep concern that,"For the second time in five years, Copenhagen last Saturday 28 April hosted the - on the surface innocuous - 'Conference of Palestinians in Europe'."

The letter pointed out however that, "The Conference's official logo is in the form of the exterminationist 'map of Palestine', overlaying and entirely wiping out the entireterritory of the State of Israel."

Samuels also noted, "Online slogans and invitations to Palestinian residents across Europe and political figures - such as the former British MP Clare Short, notorious for herreported offences to the Jewish community - included such incendiary canards as: Israel's "ethnic cleansing", "invasion of the Al-Aqsa mosque", "Israel=racism", "Christiansuffering under the Zionists", "existance is resistance" etc..

The appeal continued, "Indeed, the patronage of Tunisian President Mohammed Monsif al-Marzouki and last year's revolution in his country, were diminished in the context of theCopenhagen conference mission statement: 'Our Spring Blossoms Our Return'. Its subtext dashes the liberal-democratic hopes for the Arab Spring, now sadly an episode abused foragitation, incitement to hatred and the old obsessive/compulsive conspiracy theories scapegoating the State of Israel, to avoid peacemaking and confronting responsability forexistential problems."

Samuels added, "The conference coordinator attributed the choice of locale to the number of Palestinians in Denmark, reportedly the largest in Europe," which predicated a questionto the Prime Minister as to "whether these demographics might influence Danish policy regarding the conference campaign for the demonization, boycott and delegitimization of theJewish State?"

The Centre insisted, "If Denmark, as current President of of the European Union, is committed to conflict resolution, the two-state solution and to the right and validity ofJewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, it behooves your government to promptly and publicly condemn this Conference's abuse of Danish sovereignty."

"We call on you to denounce the organizors of this hatefest and to ban their return to Copenhagen," concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels at +33609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthalfor news updates 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 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).