Wiesenthal Centre Shocked at Reported Bulgarian MEP Nazi Salute in European Parliament

February 20, 2022

Paris - The Wiesenthal Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed outrage at an apparent“Sieg Heil” salute by Angel Dzhambazki, member of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group at the European Parliament (EP).

Dzhambazki, who had served in such Parliamentary Committees as Foreign Affairs, Legal Affairs and Disinformation, is also in the Delegation for Relations with the United States.

He had invited Samuels in 2012 to address the EP Education Committee on the Wiesenthal Centre’s monitoring of hate literature at Arab Book Fairs. He there pledged to ensure a campaign .against antisemitism and bigotry in his own country, Bulgaria, and through his own Bulgarian National Movement (IMRO).


"Our session stressed as the most worrying, the English,French,German and Spanish versions of the Arabic texts,for distribution in schools of the Muslim diaspora across Europe... A British MEP seated at my presentation passed the danger on to then Prime Minister,David Cameron, who called for immediate measures," stated Samuels
 
Sadly, over the years, Dzhambazki’s politics seem to have changed.
 
His membership in the EP led to an announcement from his ECR group  that they “remain in fighting against all forms of extremism and totalitarian ideology in Europe and beyond.”

Others claim that cctv shows his 'wave' as a simple departure  following proceedings on Poland and Hungary.
 
“If the enquiry shows it to have been a Nazi salute, he should be divested as MEP....In view of Dzhambazki’s role in the EU’s relations with the United States, he should be banned from entry,” concluded Samuels.

For further information contact Dr. Shimon Samuels at csweurope@gmail.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly 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).