Simon Wiesenthalin keskuksesta tullut artikkeli tänään

April 11, 2013 Vicious attacks on the memory of the Holocaust – from denial, to distortion, to revisionism –are erupting in countries around the world. The Center’s ability to act quickly and decisively in hot spots in every corner of the globe is critical to our efforts to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and fight for the rights of the Jewish people worldwide. The Center has been active in:

Egypt — The senior Egyptian official in charge of appointing editors of all state-run Egyptian newspapers declares, “The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented.” Center leaders called on the U.S. State Department to no longer tolerate the anti-Semitic rants and Holocaust denial emanating from Egypt.

Iran — Led by Iran’s government, Iranian media, schools, books, speeches and religious teachers denying that the Holocaust ever happened while threatening to finish Hitler’s genocidal vision against the Jewish state. Iran uses Holocaust denial as part of its pre-genocidal propaganda assault on Israel, labeling the Jewish people as serial liars and criminals, and depicting the Jewish State as a cancer; the Center recently made a major breakthrough: through the efforts of Iranians opposed to the regime, our Academy Award®-winning Moriah Films documentary Genocide (pictured) was beamed, in Farsi, into Iran, across Europe and the Middle East on two satellites and via the Internet.

UK — Sunday London Times editors publish a cartoon on Holocaust Memorial Day depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall cemented with the blood and bodies of Palestinian men, women and children. Center leaders immediately condemned the cartoon.

Lithuania — Lithuanian authorities are whitewashing their own nation’s Nazi collaborators while claiming Nazi crimes should be commemorated along with the victims of communism – among whom were those who aided and abetted Nazi Germany. Center officials have been protesting this in meetings with Lithuanian officials and have also urged authorities to ban neo-Nazi marches in Kaunas and Vilnius that have incited against the countries minorities, especially the small Jewish community. Pictured: SWC Israel Director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff at a protest against Waffen-SS march in Latvia.

Hungary — An extremist parliamentarian in a far-right party in Hungary calls for the government to create a list of Jews in Hungary who pose threats to national security, eerily reminiscent of Nazi policies during the 1940s; Center officials recently traveled to Hungary and urged action during meetings with political leaders and members of the Jewish community.

Sadly, as the number of Holocaust survivors around the world are dwindling, Holocaust denial, inversion and distortion is alive and well.