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THUMBS UP!
Thumbs Up
to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles for
successfully convincing YouTube to remove a series of ten animated anti-Semitic
and Holocaust Denial clips for violation of the site's policy prohibiting hate
speech.
The videos are animated versions of a notorious Iranian book from 2008
that in its preface, seeks to "denounce the conspicuous lie of the 'planed [sic]
murder of 6 million Jews during the Second World War' allegedly called
'Holocaust' ."
CLICK HERE to view the cartoon
Thumbs
Up
to
Jewish organizations across North America for their unanimous denunciation of
the editor of the Atlanta Times for suggesting that Israel may want to
assassinate President Obama over his failure to deal with Iran.
"I am
proud to note this repugnant statement has been rightly condemned by leaders
of all Jewish communities here at home and, following the example of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles, in the United States," said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of Friends
of Simon Wiesenthal Center. "Violence is not a Jewish value."
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DID YOU KNOW. . .
. . . that
Spirit of Hope panelist James Carville is not only a respected democratic
campaign strategist in the United
 States but around
the world as well?
The
"Ragin' Cajun" has served as a political consultant for Tony Blair in the United
Kingdom, Ehud Barak in Israel and for the Liberal Party of Canada.
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NEWS FEATURES OF THE WEEK
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THE COST OF HATE
By Melissa Mikel
Director, FSWC Education Dept.
On January 27, the International Day of
Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, we are reminded of the
importance of memory. As our survivor community continues to diminish, the
responsibility is passed on to each of us. We are each responsible for
carrying on the testimony of the men, women and children who so courageously
share this horrific and incomprehensible piece of their past.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau's International Summer
Academy in June 2011, FSWC had the opportunity to hear Polish survivor Wilhelm
Brasse's story. He recounted his experience as prisoner #3446 on the first
transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June of 1940. He was greeted by the
commandant who declared, "Jews won't live one week, priests won't live two
weeks and all other prisoners won't live three months." Brasse remembered
the guards proved the commandant's point by immediately beating a dozen
Jews to death; true to his word, all the Jews on
this first transport were murdered within two days of their arrival.
As the camp photographer Brasse witnessed and documented firsthand the
atrocities of the Nazi regime, as he was ordered by his SS supervisors to
photograph "prisoners'work, criminal medical experiments, [and] portraits of the
prisoners for the files." Brasse estimated that he took 40,000 to 50,000
photographs from 1940 until 1945. His photographs document this
hell-on-earth, the cost of hatred left unchecked.
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Acclaimed play
coming to Toronto courtesy of the FSWC Education Department
Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter,
 Dugan, is the
critically acclaimed one-man show about the life of Simon
Wiesenthal..
The
FSWC Education
on April 19 at 77 pm.
The play will be open to the
public. Look for further details on tickets in future issues of
FastForward.
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HATEMONGERS SPEAK AT McMASTER UNIVERSITY AND
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
Hate directed against Israel and the Jewish
students and communities supporting the Jewish state continues to proliferate on
campuses. Two recent instances are telling examples of the free reign accorded
antisemites to spread their intolerant and, in many cases violent views.
In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator a
McMaster University spokesperson said there are no plans to cancel a planned
talk by Zagar Bangash, a proponent of violent Iranian-style revolution and a
rabid anti-Israeli extremist who was captured on video at a Queens Park rally
this summer shouting, "Inshallah I see that day when we, the Muslims, will
march on Palestine and liberate Palestine . . . under Islamic
law."
Earlier this week
David Heap, a language instructor at the University of Western Ontario, spoke on
Western's campus about his experience as part of the illegal Canadian flotilla
to Gaza, whose goal was to support Hamas
terrorists by attempting to break Israel's legal blockade.
"By
hosting these events on campus the perception is that the universities support
even the most extreme speech, and this illusion ultimately puts the university's
credibility at stake," said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. "It's time
for university administrations to realize this is not a question of free speech,
but one of discrimination against a minority group. Rather than turning a blind
eye, I would expect the universities to demonstrate compassion and sensitivity
to a segment of the student body that feels increasingly marginalized on
campus," he added.
CLICK HERE to read FSWC's letter to McMaster University
CLICK HERE to read FSWC's letter to the University of Western
Ontario
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EXCLUSIVE SCREENING OF
ANGELINA JOLIE FILM FOR SPIRIT OF HOPE SUPPORTERS!
FSWC invites Spirit of Hope supporters
to an exclusive screening of Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie's directorial
debut, In the Land of Blood and
Honey, a film that explores the
relationship between two Bosnians from different sides of the ethnic conflict set against
the backdrop of the Balkan War in the 1990's.
Spirit of Hope
registrants are invited to join FSWC on Monday, March 26th at 7 p.m. at the
Cineplex Odeon Varsity Theatre at 55 Bloor St. West in Toronto.
For more information
contact Melissa Mikel at 416.864.9735 x 24 or mmikel@fswc.ca
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FSWC welcomes Ontario MPP Mike
Colle, sponsor of the province's tri-party initiative to designate
May as Jewish Heritage Month, to the Spirit of Hope Honourary Tribute
Committee.
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SILENCE MOCKS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
By Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Harold Bra
ckman in the
Las Vegas Sun
Jan. 27, the anniversary of the day Soviet
soldiers entered the gates of Auschwitz death camp in 1945, has been designated
as the annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the
Holocaust. The United Nations, which will convene a solemn ceremony at its world
 headquarters, features on its website this
statement by Holocaust survivor and scholar Professor Nechama Tec: "The
Holocaust teaches us that no matter how oppressive life is, some people are able
to rise above the cruelty of their times by extending helping hands to one
another. It is this ability to risk one's life on behalf of others which ought
to give us hope."
In our own troubled times - when conditions,
though bad, are nowhere near as bad as the Holocaust - it is time for the
international community to go beyond the annual moment of silence on behalf of
Hitler's victims by unambiguously speaking out against the multiplying global
anti-Semitism - including Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism masquerading as
"anti-Zionism" - that is becoming more and more prevalent. Some examples:
READ MORE . . .
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WIESENTHAL IN IRAQ!
WIESENTHAL CENTER
PAYS TRIBUTE TO KURDISH VICTIMS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN POISON GAS
"Supplier Companies Must be Held Accountable for Genocidal Complicity"
Erbil, Iraq (Kurdistan), 25 January 2012 - On a field-mission
to the newly-elected Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, the Simon
Wiesenthal Centre's Director
for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels - pictured addressing the
conference, and the founder of human rights MM law agency, Chicago based Gavriel
Maironne, met with Foreign Minister, Falah Mustafa Bakir, and Martyrs Minister,
Aram Ahmed Muhammad.
READ MORE. . .
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RADICALIZATION 101: A
BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE
In response to the increasing challenges faced by Canada's law enforcement
community as it deals with growing radicalization and hate motivated crimes
across the country, FSWC has launched Radicalization 101: Roots of Hate and
Strategies for Change.
Halton Regional Police Service Chief Gary Crowell, who presented a powerful
overview of Halton's efforts to provide diversity training to the
representatives of 11 Ontario police forces attending FSWC's day-long program,
believes this type of training is key to the effort to increase tolerance and
decrease the risks of radicalization among youth.
"Police Services need to provide training to their members at all levels
because it is not only an investment in the organization, it is also an
investment in the individuals. . . Training employees to understand different
cultures, faiths, ethnicity and by providing information on our changing
demographics we make an investment in our communities and the public that we
serve," he explained.
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FSWC PRAISE FOR DEPORTATION OF ALLEGED
RWANDAN WAR CRIMINAL
"As we learned from the efforts of Nazi
war criminals who hoped to find safe haven in Canada, there is and should never
be a place in this country for people who are responsible for heinous crimes."
- Avi Benlolo, President & CEO, FSWC
Leon Mugesera, an ethnic Hutu and former Rwandan
politician, has been deported from Canada almost twenty years after arriving. He
will face charges related to inciting the Rwandan genocide after a speech in
1992 in which he called the Tutsi's cockroaches and
encouraged their extermination. Although the catalyst of the genocide is still
debated, deporting Mugesera to Rwanda to face persecution provides some comfort
to those affected by the genocide as the trials for war criminals will take
place in the country where their crimes were committed.
"The Canadian government is to be commended on
deporting Mugesera. Canada should not become a haven for war criminals and mass
murderers," Benlolo emphasized.
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LAWYERS4WIESENTHAL PRESENTS
"Canada - US Relations"
with DAVID JACOBSON
US AMBASSADOR TO CANADA
FSWC is delighted to invite you to
a special luncheon with US Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson on ;Friday, February 17th at 12 noon.
The event, to take place at Heenan, Blaikie
333 Bay Street #2900
is free for members of Lawyers4Wiesenthal.
To rsvp for this exclusive briefing or to receive further information please
contact Tracey Steyn at tsteyn@fswc.ca or call 416.864.9735 x 21
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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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