The SWC slammed remarks today by NYC Councilman Charles Barron that compared Gaza to concentration camps. Mark Weitzman, the Center's Director of Government Affairs stated, "Councilman Barron's ignorant remarks betray a blind prejudice to the reality of decades of Arab terrorist attacks on Israel, many of which originated in Gaza, as well as to the over 60 years of Arab refusal to even recognize the existence of the State of Israel."
Weitzman added, "By comparing Israeli actions to the Holocaust he has joined the obscene anti-Semitic chorus that in a cynical manipulative twist, tries to portray the victims of the Nazis and their descendants, as the new Nazis of today. Remarks such as these must be condemned by all who hope for a true peace in the Middle East. Councilman Barron should be censured by all concerned communal, political and religious leaders."
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).
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