Wiesenthal Centre to Egyptian Foreign Minister: "Withdraw Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theorist from Egypt's UNESCO Delegation"

November 30, 2015

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE-EUROPE
Tel.: +33(0)1 47 23 76 37
Fax: +33(0)1 47 20 84 01

Email: csweurope@gmail.com

UNESCO responded: "In light of the information provided by the Wiesenthal Centre, we have brought this to the attention of the Permanent Delegation of Egypt...”

Paris

In a letter to Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels expressed shock at the 28 November so-called, "Model of UNESCO Simulation" held at the Conference Centre of Cairo University, where an announced member of your delegation to UNESCO, Dr. Ramy Ashour, reportedly stated, 'Israel was behind the Paris terrorist attacks, to destroy the image of Islam and so that French Jews leave France for Israel'."

The letter noted the following sources:
-youm7 (leading Egyptian newspaper)
http://www.youm7.com/story/
2015/11/28/

-Video Clip Youm7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhj1JnlJHYc

-Dr. Ramy Ashour Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/dr.ramy.a.ashour

-MUS - Model of Unesco Simulation Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/MUS.FEPS

The Centre pointed out, "The original UNESCO Simulation Model (USM) logo includes the organization's mission statement preamble: 'Building Peace in the Minds of both Men and Women'."

Samuels stressed, "This aim has, apparently, been not only removed from the Cairo conference logo, but that Ashour's conspiracy theory presentation may harm both UNESCO and Egypt, while encouraging Jihadist terrorism - of which your country is sadly a notable victim."

The letter added, "Ashour, apparently wished to take advantage of an ostensible simulation scenario in order to echo a personal prejudice - (see his photos of the blue Star of David covering the entire Middle East and North Africa among "religious and political" pictures on his Facebook page) - that only serve to foment Islamist terror."

The Centre urged the Foreign Minister to, "Condemn the absurdity of Ashour's statement and immediately withdraw him from UNESCO and from foreign service as a liability undermining Egyptian foreign policy."

UNESCO has just advised us that Dr. Ramy Ashour appears to be a university Professor at Cairo University and is not associated with UNESCO in any way, adding, "In light of the information provided by the Wiesenthal Centre, we have brought this to the attention of the Permanent Delegation of Egypt..."

For further information contact Shimon Samuels on +33 609 770 158, 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).