The Impact of the Gaza War on the Commemoration

August 4, 2014

Tuesday, August 5, Tisha B’av, is one of the saddest days in the Jewish calendar. For Jews around the world, it commemorates both the destruction of the first and the second Temples in Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 B.C.E.) and the Romans (70 C.E.). This year, as Jews fast and gather in their synagogues, the Gaza War will be foremost on their minds at a time when anti-Semitism has reached unprecedented levels around the world.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, is available for comment on the current events in Gaza, the rise of anti-Semitism around the world, the double standard being applied to the State of Israel, and the recently IDF-captured Hamas soldiers’ training manual which discusses the importance of drawing fire on civilian populated areas.

To set up an interview and/or for more information, contact the Center’s Public Relations department, 310-553-9036.

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).