Wiesenthal Center Commends Congressman’s Repudiation Of Polish Anti-Semites At US Conference

June 15, 2018

The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) commended US Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s condemnation of the inclusion of anti-Semites at an annual memorial program for the victims of the Smolensk air crash. 

“We commend Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s repudiation and condemnation of the anti-Semitic background of some of the speakers at a recent gathering in Pennsylvania that he attended,” said Mark Weitzman, the SWC’s Director of Government Affairs.

“The gathering was called a memorial for victims of the Smolensk air crash of 2010 that killed then Polish President LechKaczyński. However, this year it also included speakers such as Polish politician Antoni Macierewicz, who had previously asserted that the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion were true. It also featured other Polish speakers who have been linked to anti-Semitism and Holocaust distortion in the past,” Weitzman said. He added that “Congressman Fitzpatrick’s office conveyed that ‘they really had no understanding of his [Macierewicz’s] anti-Semitic past… After reviewing his past, we completely disavow those anti-Semitic remarks.’”

“The Congressman’s clear statement that he finds the work of Ewa Kurek and others to be ‘abhorrent and repulsive’ are also welcomed. We also applaud his older brother, former Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, who had attended earlier events from the same sponsor, and who said that he finds the agenda of some of the speakers ‘repulsive,’” Weitzman concluded.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. Join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

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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