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OSCE Urged To Ban Organizations that Preach Jew-Hatred and Jihad from Cordoba Conference on Antisemitism

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has learned that the "Union of Islamic Organizations of France" (UOIF) is to participate in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Conference on "Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance", to be held in Cordoba on 8 and 9 June 2005.

In letters to the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, and the Foreign Ministers of Spain and France, the Centre's Director for International Liaison, Dr Shimon Samuels, urged that "the OSCE ban the UOIF and ensure that a careful scrutiny exclude any organization that preaches hatred and violence."

Samuels called the UOIF "the very antithesis of the anti-racist Non-Governmental Organization profile for attendance at this conference."

The letter noted that "through its website, the UOIF endorses Jihad, insurgent violence in Iraq and Jew-hatred generally", adding that "at its annual rally, the last held in Le Bourget in March 2005, the UOIF encouraged fundraising for programmes related to HAMAS, an organization proscribed by the terrorist black lists of the European Union and the United States".

The Centre's report of October 2004, entitled "The True Face of UOIF: Antisemitism, Advocacy and Financing of Terrorism and the Call to Jihad", was attached to the letters.

Samuels added: "The UOIF's official mentor is Sheikh Qaradawi, notorious for his praise for suicide missions, especially by women. Indeed, in view of these radical positions, the UOIF is no longer a member of the CFCM umbrella body for Islamic organizations in France."

The Centre urged Dimitrij Rupel, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and current Foreign Minister of Slovenia, "to ban the UOIF and ensure that a careful scrutiny exclude any organization that preaches hatred and violence."

In related letters, the Centre called on Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, "as the host country, to deny entry of such organizations to the Cordoba conference, and to the preliminary NGO seminar to be held by the

Tres Culturas Foundation in Sevilla on 7 June".  French Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier, was asked "to ensure that France will be represented by NGO's active in containing antisemitism and xenophobia and, thereby, to advise the OSCE to exclude from its meetings the UOIF, its members, and related organizations."

Samuels concluded, "the Cordoba conference was to have carried forward the valuable recommendations of the OSCE Berlin Conference on Antisemitism of April 2004. To draw the lessons of antisemitism as a paradigm for other forms of intolerance is justifiable. To open the Cordoba conference to agents of antisemitism would be a travesty."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33 6 09 77 0158.