Friends Of Simon Wiesenthal Center Outraged Over CUPE Ontario Position Against Israel

May 31, 2006

NEWS RELEASE          

FRIENDS OF SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER OUTRAGED OVER CUPE ONTARIO POSITION AGAINST ISRAEL

TORONTO, May 29, 2006 --  Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, a Toronto – based NGO and human rights organization and its 40,000 Canadian members of all denominations, has requested a meeting with CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan “to rationally discuss and resolve the union’s outrageous position on Israel.”

Responding to Ontario's largest public sector union's vote to support an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center's National Affairs Director Leo Adler said, "CUPE Ontario has been sadly deluded. To pass a resolution that equates Israeli policies with apartheid-era South Africa is a slap in the face to Arab and other non-Jewish Israelis, as well as the thousands of Jews who were compelled to leave their homes in Africa and the Middle East.

“To endorse this resolution, reflects Israeli / Palestinian Authority economics, but is also synonymous with the discredited Arab League boycott policies dating back to the first United Nations resolution which called for the creation of two independent States (Israel and Palestine). This resolution was accepted by Israel and rejected by all Arab States.”
 
Supporting a resolution that calls “for the immediate dismantling of the wall without a single comment about the terrorism that begat the security fence and without anything being said about the lawlessness raging within the terrorist-led PA, is to turn a blind eye to the very same concerns and fate that Canadians are combating in Afghanistan and here at home," Adler added.

Contact:  
David Eisenstadt
The Communications Group Inc.
416-696-9900 ext 36
deisenstadt@tcgpr.com  

ABOUT FRIENDS OF SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER FOR HOLOCAUST STUDIES 

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies is a Canadian human rights organization dedicated to fostering tolerance and understanding through community involvement, educational outreach and social action. With over 40,000 members of all faiths, it confronts important contemporary issues including racism, anti-Semitism, terrorism and genocide. Friends is affiliated with the world-wide, Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, an accredited Non-Government Organization with status at international agencies, including the United Nations, UNESCO, OSCE and the Council of Europe, with offices in New York, Miami, Paris, Jerusalem, BuenosAires, and Toronto.  Simon Wiesenthal died in 2005 after devoting his life to preserving the memories of the victims of the Holocaust, while simultaneously seeking justice for the war criminals.