Wiesenthal Centre to Institut Français: “Cancel the Exhibition Sponsorship with Cairopolitan Call for Murder.”

May 23, 2021

PARIS—In a letter to Erol Ok, President ad Interim of the Institut Français, the Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, expressed "outrage at the language of Cairopolitan, in partnership with the Institut Français of Egypt (IFE)." See Cairopolitan Instagram page and Website:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3vEtcHOlT/

 

https://www.cairopolitan.com/

 

 

The text in Arabic reads: 

"Teach your children that Palestine is occupied"
"And the Al Aqsa Mosque is a prisoner"
"And the Zionist entity is an enemy"
"And resistance is an honor"
"And there is no country called Israel"

 

“Mr. President ad Interim, this is an example of art abused in the service of hate,” argued Samuels, “The Cairopolitan exhibition will open in the Institut Français Egypt Centre from 31 May to 17 June (a delay from the original date of 17-30 May).”

 

The Centre recalled, “a December 2018 correspondence with then IF President, Pierre Buhler, regarding the Institut Français in Egypt prominent award to the creator of the antisemitic television series, ‘Horseman Without a Horse,’ based on the Russian Tsarist forgery, ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ and a warrant for murder.”

 

The letter now urged the President ad Interim, “to guard the good name of the Institut Français, by canceling this contract with Cairopolitan and denying its right to use the IFE premises, on grounds of incitement to hate and violence,”... "We suggest that the IF follow the Assemblée Nationale and other French institutions, in adopting the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Definition of Antisemitism. This would educate those who consider Cairopolitan language as an acceptable form of 'anti-Zionism'. The definition clearly explains its antisemitic character.”

 

“The Copernic Synagogue bombing in 1980, the attack on Goldenberg restaurant in 1982, the kidnapping and torture to death of Ilan Halimi in 2006, the Toulouse massacre of children in 2012, the Hyper Cacher terrorist attack in 2015, the vicious murders of Sarah Halimi in 2017 and of Mireille Knoll in 2018... were cases in which French Jews were killed by Islamist anti-Zionists, turned on by the language of the sort used by Cairopolitan, seemingly endorsed by the Institut Français in Egypt,” 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).