The Simon Wiesenthal Center today expressed outrage at CIMADE, a French Protestant group that helped Jewish refugees escape the Nazis during WWII, who refused an invitation to a Holocaust commemoration in Marseilles because they deemed the commemoration’s sponsor, CRIF - the prominent Jewish organization-to be too supportive of Israel.

“This is a triumph for the worldwide campaign to demonize Israel,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, adding, “The situation in Europe has deteriorated so profoundly that far too many Europeans have swallowed whole the big lie that Israel is an evil colonialist occupier.”

“This latest outrage is an insult to the memory of the victims of the Shoah whose fate was sealed by an overwhelmingly uncaring European continent and whose lives would have been saved if there had actually been a State of Israel in 1938 instead of 1948. Frankly, we don’t need those who are only prepared to have a moment of silence for 6 million dead Jews, but who are unwilling to show respect and solidarity for the 6 million living Jews who today are citizens of the State of Israel,” Rabbi Cooper continued.

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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).