Wiesenthal Centre Applauds Paris Suburb Prefect's Efforts to Cancel City Mayor's Decree Recognising "State of Palestine"

March 1, 2018

"Our European Office is now working with ECCAR (European Coalition of 148 Cities Against Racism) to push back antisemitism at the municipal level"

Paris

The Wiesenthal Centre, together with its counterpart, BNVCA (National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism), congratulated the Hauts de Seine Regional Prefect, Pierre Soubelet, for his efforts to obtain the cancellation of the 21 January 2018 unilateral decree recognising the "State of Palestine", promoted by the Communist Mayor of the Paris suburb, Gennevillers, Patrice Leclerc.

Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels noted that, "the suburban municipalities surrounding Paris are known as 'the red belt' due to a traditional Communist leadership. Today, many of these precincts, once Jewish, are predominantly Islamist-festering, impoverished slums."

"Recognising 'Palestine' may be an easy gesture to retain a voting constituency, but also acts as a call to more antisemitic violence... Hence the current move of most Jewish residents to safer neighbourhoods in central Paris. May the Gennevillers Mayor's retraction be a welcome precedent," argued Samuels.

"Our European office is now working with ECCAR (The European Coalition of 148 Cities Against Racism) to push back antisemitism at the municipal level...With the support of the Snider Foundation, we are cooperating with Israeli municipalities, who will join ECCAR to rid the cities of Europe of incitement to all forms of hatred and violence", concluded Samuels.

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels on +33 609 77 01 58, 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).