AT HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL EVENT, WIESENTHAL CENTER BECOMES FIRST JEWISH ORGANIZATION TO HONOR AN ARAB RESCUER OF JEWS DURING WORLD WAR II

Over 500 community activists, students and Holocaust survivors joined Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Councilmember Jack Weiss, Simon Wiesenthal Center officials and members of the diplomatic corps to commemorate Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at the Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance.

This year’s commemoration posthumously honor Khaled Abdelwahhab, a Tunisian citizen who rescued 24 Jews including the family of Jacob and Odette Boukris, Jews who lived in Tunisia during the Holocaust. Mr. Abdelwahhab becomes the first Arab to be named by a Jewish organization as a “Righteous Among the Nations.” At the event, Faiza Abdul Wahab, daughter of Khaled Abdelwahhab met for the first time Nadia Bijaoui, daughter of Anny Boukris.On hand to honor Abdelwahhab was Tunisian Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Mohamed Nejib Hachana, who traveled from Washington, D.C. and Robert Satloff, whose book Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands, first brought this courageous story to light.

The program also included a special tribute to the music of Jewish musicians persecuted by the Nazis, featuring renowned German concert pianist Volker Ahmels and the student winners of the Ostracized Music international competition.

Pictured at the lighting of the Flame of Remembrance are: Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center; Faiza Abdul Wahab; Nadia Bijaoui; Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Center; Robert Satloff; Ambassador Mohamed Nejib Hachana; and Israeli Consul General Ehud Danoch.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.