LEADING JEWISH HUMAN RIGHTS NGO SAYS SENIOR MUSLIM AFFAIRS ADVISOR SHOULD "BE RELIEVED OF HIS DUTIES OR RESIGN"

The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned in the strongest terms statements made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s top advisor on Muslim Affairs for calling on the British government to cancel the country’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, making instead a "Genocide Memorial Day."

"Rather than learning from the lessons of the past, which serves as an antidote to hate, Sir Iqbal Sacranie and his associates want to make the Holocaust an irrelevant footnote rather than a central historic example of man’s inhumanity to man," said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Founder and Dean and Associate Dean of the Wiesenthal Center, respectively. "The people of the United Kingdom were correct in setting aside a day for Holocaust remembrance as a way of inspiring future generations."

"Canceling Holocaust Memorial Day would be like asking the people of the United Kingdom to cancel VE-Day, and through it belittling the memory of the hundreds of thousands of British soldiers and civilians who gave their lives in defense of freedom," Hier and Cooper continued.

"Denying uncomfortable historic truths never foster unity but only spawns divisiveness and cynicism," said the rabbis. "As for the assertion that Holocaust Memorial Day excludes Muslims, History teaches us that among the Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust were of the Muslim faith. Many were recognized by the State of Israel for their courageous deeds. And as well, there were Muslim volunteers who fought for Hitler’s Army," they continued.

"Those who made these insulting and insidious statements should be relieved of their duties or resign. Their disgraceful and shameful belittling of the victims of the Nazi Holocaust ultimately does not serve their community, does not serve their country and does not serve history," Rabbi Hier and Rabbi Cooper concluded.

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, and the Council of Europe.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, or visit www.wiesenthal.com.