SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE

Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401

E-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

"Wiesenthal Centre commends Belgian Interior Minister, urging her to now block hatefest organizer's candidacy in 25 May European Parliament elections" 

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre's call for a ban on today's extreme right hatefest was followed up by Minister of Interior Joelle Millequet and Mayor Eric Thomas of the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht, as a threat to public order.

The ban was supported by the 18 other municipalities of the capital to

ensure that the venue could not be changed at the last minute and endorsed by the Conseil d'Etat (Constitutional Court).

Photo: TV5/Le Soir.be	Photo: Centre Simon Wiesenthal

The Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, stated, "This victory for Belgian democracy is a defeat for French anti-Semites, Dieudonnee and Alain Soral, who had presented their "Anti-Zionist Party" for the last European Parliament (EP) elections in 2009."

He pointed out that," 'Debout les Belges!' (Stand Up Belgians!) – the organizers of today's provocation - are standing for the current EP elections on 25 May, although Its leader, Laurent Louis had been stripped of his Belgian Parliamentary immunity while making a 'quenelle inverted Hitler salute in the Chamber. He had likewise, mocked the Holocaust as 'set up and financed by the pioneers of Zionism' and posed for photos outside the Parliament standing on an Israeli flag."

Samuels, congratulating the Interior Minister for imposing the ban, urged her now "to block 'Debout les Belges' candidacy for the May European elections."

"Unmitigated racists elected to a European Union institution headquartered in Brussels would not only shame Belgium and stain the European Parliament. It would provide a multiplier effect for neo-Nazi hate and violence across the Continent," charged Samuels.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels on +33609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

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).

Anti-Semitic Hatefest Reminiscent of 1920's Weimar Republic Scheduled for Sunday, 4 May in Brussels

As a Board Member of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism (LBCA), the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, supported the LBCA's demand for an injunction against the so-called "European Dissidents Congress", due to take place in Brussels this Sunday 4 May.

The gathering is led by condemned anti-Semites such as French hatemongers; Dieudonné, his self-declared "national-socialist sympathizer" comrade Alain Soral and Kemi Seba. Seba has several convictions for incitement to racial violence leading to the 2006 ban on his "Tribu-K" (K-Tribe) for its terrorizing of the Rue des Rosiers Paris Jewish Quarter.

These will be joined by known extreme right and anti-Semitic militants from Belgium and across Europe.

First exposed by LBCA President, Joel Rubinfeld, the Wiesenthal Centre has ascertained that the gathering has now been presented as a "private event", whose whereabouts will only be revealed four hours before opening to those preregistered through the Xsime bookshop in Brussels. The Xsime bookshop website is replete with photos of the aforementioned and several others exhibiting the "quenelle " inverted
Hitler saluted invented by Dieudonné.

The site is apparently linked to the "Congress" meeting through its convenor,"Debout les Belges" (Stand Up Belgians), which is, reportedly, registered as a candidate for the European Parliament elections, to be held on 25 May. Though they announce in their Congress invitation that Nazi salutes will result in physical removal, they sign themselves "maitres quenelleurs" (master quenellers)!

http://www.deboutlesbelges.be/urgent-1er-congres-europeen-de-la-dissidence/

The Wiesenthal Centre called on newly appointed Mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, to "investigate Xisme bookshop and Debout les Belges for incitement to hatred, thereby violating Belgium's obligations to the anti-racism provisions of the European Institutions in its midst."

"The fact that this hatefest is to be held in Brussels, the capital of Europe, the seat of its Parliament - in the name of dissidence and freedom of expression - is a threat to democracy reminiscent of the 1920's Weimar Republic, which brought Europe to the Nazi abyss," concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels on +33609770158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

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).