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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wiesenthal Centre Calls on Belgium, Channel Islands and Book Distributors to Ban "Protocols of Zion" Novel Portraying 9/11, London and Madrid Bombings as Jewish Conspiracy

Paris, 28 February 2007

In a letter to Belgian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Patrick Dewael, the Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, protested the distribution in Belgium of a novelized version of the Tsarist forgery, The Protocols of Zion, considered the warrant for genocide that inspired the Nazi Holocaust.

Samuels noted that "the Protocols have been banned in most European Union member-states for incitement to hate and violence. This new edition by Patrick Henderickx and Patrice de Bruyne, in attributing responsibility for the New York, London and Madrid bombings to the Jews, is an act of group defamation in violation of Belgian anti-discrimination legislation."

In a letter to the book and press sales network, Relay - Press Shop (Belgium), the Centre added that, "according to neo-Nazi Internet forums, Relay Belgium was apparently selected as a test to overcome the prohibition in neighbouring France and Germany."

The letter urged the company, with a copy to its corporate headquarters, Relay - France (Hachette DS), "to immediately remove this antisemitic and racist manifesto from the shelves of your shops", suggesting that "to do otherwise would make Relay co-responsible for any violence fomented by purveying hatred."

Samuels stressed to the Interior Minister that his French counterpart had "prohibited the publishing and distribution of the Protocols", calling on his Belgian Ministry "to do no less by taking this occasion for Belgium to lead an EU-wide ban on hate literature."

In a related letter to Jersey Chief Minister, Frank Harrison Walker, Samuels pointed out the book's publishing address: P&P c/o Agram Ltd, 496 Hill Street, St. Helier, Jersey, Channel-Islands.

The Centre sadly suggested that "the brave resistance of the citizens of Jersey to the Nazi Occupation would be betrayed if the island is today abused for the dissemination of antisemitic conspiracies." The Centre requested "a full enquiry and the closure of this operation."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.