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HOLD THE DATE!
SENATOR LINDA FRUM AND HOWARD SOKOLOWSKI PRESENT AN HONOURARY LUNCHEON
FOR LAUREEN HARPER
SEPTEMBER 16, 2011
12:00- 2:00 P.M.
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Mrs. Laureen Harper
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Join FSWC as we present the Award of Valour to Mrs. Laureen Harper, a stauch
support of tolerance, social justice and human rights.
Keynote speaker at the
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Aayan Hirsi Ali
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Luncheon will be bestselling author, former Dutch parliamentarian, human rights
activist and world renowned speaker Aayan Hirsi Ali.
For registration and information contact FSWC Office Manager Tracey Steyn at
416.864.9735 x 21 or tsteyn@fswc.ca |
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 THUMBS UP!
Thumbs up to the Canadian
government for taking an ethical stand in holding two rogue countries to
account.
This week Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Canada will boycott the
UN Conference on Disarmament as long as North Korea is President of the
organization; he also announced increased restrictions on Iranian human rights
offenders or individuals connected with the Iranian nuclear program from
entering Canada.
THUMBS DOWN!
Thumbs down this week to
cosmetics company LUSH UK for joining the campaign to demonize Israel. Through its website's
support of the song 'Freedom for Palestine', the company is complicit in the
delegitimization of Israel and ignores the terrorist acts committed against
Israeli citizens.
The Wiesenthal Center has
approached the leadership of LUSH North America to distance itself from its
European counterpart, suggesting LUSH NA could support organizations in Israel
such as Hadassah Hospital which provides humanitarian services to all Israelis
without prejudice.
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POLL QUESTION
Do you
believe the Palestinian campaign to attain statehood at the UN in September is
beginning to falter?
CLICK HERE to
vote
PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS
Do you believe the Dutch
Parliament's vote to ban ritual slaughter of animals is the beginning of a new
phase of European anti-Semitism?
Yes: 81%
No: 18%
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NEWS FEATURES OF THE WEEK
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News Corner
SPOTLIGHT ON
12 HOURS OF POWER
FSWC Mission to Washington
September 22, 2011
It's the most important city in the western world and the seat of its greatest
power.
Join FSWC as we head to Washington for 12 hours of meetings and briefings with
the Washington political, diplomatic and media elite.
"As we encounter ever greater signs of a terrible and resurgent anti-Semitism,
it is crucial that we forge relationships with those people who have the power
to understand its dangers and to effect positive change," said FSWC President
and CEO Avi Benlolo. "The 12 Hours of Power trip to Washington is an effort to
create those relationships and bring about the necessary changes; we hope as
many FSWC members as possible will join us to make sure that the voices of
reason and tolerance are heard"
For registration and information contact FSWC Relationship Coordinator Macey
Markowitz at 416.864.9735 x 29 or
mmarkowitz@fswc.ca
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MEDIA CONTACT
Stacey Starkman
Communications Manager
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies
416.864.9735 x 32
sstarkman@fswc.ca
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TORONTO GAY
PRIDE LARGELY HATE-FREE
After two years of letter-writing
campaigns, meetings with provincial politicians, grassroots organizers, leaders of the gay
community, City Councillors and the Mayor, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center
for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) and other concerned groups and individuals were
successful in keeping the Toronto Gay Pride parade largely hate-free. The only
sour note was the dropping of a 40 foot banner off the roof of a builiding on
the parade route by the hate group Queers against Israeli apartheid(Quaia): the
banner called for a boycott of
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Anti-Israel participant in the Pride Dyke March
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Israeli tourism.
"It is difficult to comprehend
why Quaia would risk a stunt that would aggravate the city and jeopardize
funding for Pride,"
said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. "However, Pride organizers and the City of
Toronto should be commended for making every effort to stem the tide of
anti-Israel rhetoric at the parade," he added.
The Dyke March, a smaller event which
took place the day before the parade, seemed to be the new venue in which a
segment of Toronto's gay community felt welcome to vent anti-Israel propaganda.
Toronto City Councillor George Mammoliti, who attended the March and filmed
anti-Israel hate messaging, plans to use the footage in an effort to defund
Pride.
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WHY LIBYA TREMBLES WHILE THE WORLD IGNORES SYRIAN SLAUGHTER
Perhaps the most significant question about the Holocaust is why the West and
Russia did not act sooner to prevent the horrific genocide they knew was
happening across Europe. Why did they not bomb the railways leading to
Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibor and hundreds of other camps? In
the end, it took Pearl Harbour to drag the United States into the Second World
War and stop Hitler in his tracks.
Right to Protect (R2P) is a brilliant policy of the West that arose from the
ashes of the Holocaust. Alongside many other human rights initiatives including
the establishment of the United Nations
(UN) and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the more recent Rome Statute
which led to the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) - itself an
echo of the trials at Nuremberg and subsequent Nazi war crimes trials, these
efforts were designed to help nations around the world take action to avert
future slaughter.
R2P allows nation states - primarily the western alliance through NATO - to
take unilateral action to protect civilians against tyrants. With
genocidal maniacs running amok, it is absolutely necessary to police the world
in order to advance human rights and protect the innocent. However, the
world's action against some atrocities (most of which are not genocides) must
move beyond politics and national interest. The differing global reaction
to Libya and Syria is a good case and point.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of the article
by Avi Benlolo
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FSWC CONDEMNS "ENDURING" ANTI-SEMITISM IN FRANCE
A report on anti-Semitic activity in France recently released by the French
Jewish Community Protection Service (SPCJ) says that anti-Semitic acts in that
country are at "a worrisome level of nearly 500 acts per year since the start of
the 2000s."
According to Eric de Rothschild, President of the SPCJ, "More than ten years
after this resurgence of anti-Semitism at levels no one would have
anticipated, we must acknowledge that it has become an enduring attribute of our
society despite an effective response by the police and the justice system in
prosecuting the perpetrators."
"Thirty years after the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue bombing not only
have those responsible not been brought to justice, but the Jews of France face
ongoing hostility and threats," said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. "It
is an unbelievable situation and a sad comment on the reality faced by one of
the largest Jewish communities in the world."
CLICK HERE to read the 2010 Annual Report on
anti-Semitism in France
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SWC PROTESTS SWASTIKAS ON PROMINENT DISPLAY AT TOKYO EXTREMIST DEMO
July 12, 2011 -
Swastikas were on prominent display Saturday in Tokyo during a march and
demonstration by a few dozen members of xenophobic groups in the trendy Shibuya
neighborhood of Japan's capital city. "In this instance, the main targets of hate appear to be Chinese and Koreans," noted Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading
human rights NGO. "While the language and targets of racism may be different
than those of Nazis in Europe, the hatred and dehumanization of 'the enemy' fits
the ideology behind the Nazi swastika," he added.
CLICK HERE to read the full release
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HOLLYWOOD SCRAPS FILMING AFTER MALMÖ JEWS ALERT
A Hollywood film company was planning to set a movie with a Jewish theme
in Skåne in southern Sweden but changed its mind due to concerns over
anti-Semitism in Malmö.
12 July 2011 - The
Öresund Film Commission, a Swedish-Danish cooperation helping foreign film
companies seeking to film in the Öresund region, received an email from the
Hollywood firm in February which raised concerns over the safety of the Jewish
community, according to a report in the local Sydsvenskan daily.
"Only problem I see with this project... is the huge problem that this being a
Jewish story and that the Simon Wiesenthal center in the USA called the south of
Sweden a VERY unsafe place for the Jewish community," the email read.
CLICK HERE to read the full release
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FREEDOM DAY
with L. Gen. Romeo Dallaire
September 20, 2011
12 noon - 1.30 p.m.
Join FSWC leadership and more than 1000 students from across the GTA as we
celebrate the life and legacy of Simon Wiesenthal at the first annual FREEDOM
DAY celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto.
Spend an incredible afternoon with our keynote speaker, Canadian author and
Senator, Lieutenant General Romeo
Dallaire and emcee Rick Campanelli of ET Canada as they highlight the Canadian
values of Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights.
For information and registration contact Education Director Melissa Mikel at
416.864.9735 x 24
CLICK HERE to visit the FREEDOM DAY website
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