FSWC September 2006

September 1, 2006

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center
FOR HOLOCAUST STUDIES

NEWS RELEASE

                                                WIESENTHAL CENTER  TO PRESENT NORTHERN ISRAEL’S CASE TO UN


JERUSALEM  – Senior delegates of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an accredited NGO at the United Nations, are in Israel this week collecting evidence with regard to targeting of Northern Israel’s civilian population and infrastructure be fully investigated and acted upon. a senior delegation to Geneva on September 18-19, to coincide with the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s meeting to demand that the

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s Associate Dean of the leading Jewish Human Rights group, is in Israel this week to collect evidence of such attacks. “It is unacceptable that the most senior international human rights body has thus far treated the vicious war against Israel’s civilians launched by Hezbollah as an attack by the Jewish state. We will present the evidence the world wants to forget,” stated Cooper.  “The Wiesenthal Center is proud that the mayor of Ma’alot and a senior official of the Nahariya hospital will join our meetings with Human Rights Council chief Louise Arbor and ambassadors of members of the Council to demand that the targeting of Israel’s civilians be investigated for violations of the Geneva Convention,” he added.

Shortly after hosting a solidarity mission during the recent war during which they distributed $650,000 to front-line charities and relief agencies offering immediate aid to battle torn communities and facilities in Israel’s North and Shderot areas, the Wiesenthal Center officials are back in Israel this week touring medical facilities, schools, synagogues and other communal institutions damaged by some 4,000 rockets during the 32-day attack by Hezbollah.  “We are inspired by the resiliency of Israelis and committed to ensuring that their suffering will not be swept aside by a largely apathetic or hostile international climate,” said Cooper, who indicated that the Geneva-bound delegation will be headed by Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Center’s Founder and Dean, together with its Director for International Liaison, Dr. Shimon Samuels, and National Director of the Canadian Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Leo Adler.

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 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.