AHMADINEJAD TO ATTEND DURBAN II; WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES GERMANY TO LEAD BOYCOTT

April 14, 2009

AHMADINEJAD TO ATTEND DURBAN II; WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES GERMANY TO LEAD BOYCOTT

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel to lead an 11th-hour boycott of next week's controversial Durban II conference in Geneva; this after Iran confirmed its President will attend the antiracism conference.

“Monday marks the beginning of Durban II and that evening we will gather around the world to commemorate Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day and remember six million Jews murdered by the Nazis. It is inconceivable to stand in silent tribute to six million dead Jews, while simultaneously giving the podium of Human Rights to a Holocaust denier who seeks to eradicate six million live Jews in Israel,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “Today’s democratic Germany has a moral obligation and opportunity to lead the walkout against a man who mocks the dead and threatens the living,” Cooper concluded.

Representatives of the Simon Wiesenthal Center attended the contentious and hate-filled Durban World Conference on Racism held in South Africa in 2001, and will be monitoring the Durban II conference from Geneva.

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 international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).


For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.