CENTRE SIMON WIESENTHAL - SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - CENTRO SIMON WIESENTHAL

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Wiesenthal Centre to Organization of American States: "Ban Hizbollah and Hamas - The Threat of Terrorism to the Americas Demands a Hemispheric Response"

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is participating in the IVth Summit of the Americas as a newly-accredited Civil Society Organization in consultative status to the Organization of American States (OAS).

The Centre's Director for International Liaison, Dr. Shimon Samuels, urged the OAS to:

-declare HIZBOLLAH and HAMAS as terrorist organizations and take measures to prohibit their activities throughout the Hemisphere

-launch an investigation of the financing of terrorism in the OAS 34 member states

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, welcomed cooperation with the Wiesenthal Centre in combatting the scourge of terrorism in the Americas.

Samuels' Call to Action:

"Mr. Secretary-General,

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre calls on the Organization of American States to:

-declare HIZBOLLAH and HAMAS, together with their affiliates, as terrorist organizations

-charge the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE) with investigating these organizations' links to organized crime (in particular, money laundering, drug production and trafficking, arms smuggling, counterfeiting)

-investigate the misappropriation of ostensible 'charitable' fundraising campaigns re-directed to financing global terrorism

-alert member states to prohibit the recruitment and training of Latin American Muslims for the cause of Jihad

-monitor and combat incitement to hate and xenophobia, especially disseminated through Jihadist- related websites and publications

-promote the prosecution of those involved in activities that incite, finance, provide arms or explosives, train, provide cover for terrorists, or glorify acts of terrorism

-characterize suicide terrorism as a crime against humanity

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre is prepared to share with the OAS its research findings related to:

-the increasing danger of HIZBOLLAH as a "terrorist contractor" in the Americas for third parties from outside the region

-HAMAS's hopes to raise funds in Latin America, in support of suicide missions in the Middle East modeled on their "charitable" foundations in Europe

-the potential for AL-Qaeda infiltration and local recruitment on the American continent

Mr. Secretary-General, under the Pan-American security principles of the Act of Chapultepec, the threat of terrorism in the Americas demands a hemispheric response."

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, and the Council of Europe.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels at + 54 91161416808 (in Argentina 011 1561416808)