SWC & British Architect Friends of Israel to International
Union of Architects: "Suspend Your UK Affiliate Until It Disassociates
Itself from Political Campaign against Israeli Architects"

Paris - Last week, a campaign was launched in the United Kingdom against Israeli architects. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre together with the British Architect Friends of Israel (BAFI) responded by an appeal to the Paris-based Union Internationale des Architectes (International
Union of Architects - UIA), the umbrella for 102 national member organizations and over 1,300,000 architects worldwide.

In a letter to the UIA's President Gaétan Siew and Secretary-General Jordi Farrando, the Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, together with BAFI Chairman Daniel Leon expressed their respective membership's concern at  "the so-called 'Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine' campaign against your Israeli member organization, the Israel Association of United Architects (IAUA)."

Samuels continued, "This group has, outrageously, sought the implication of your UK affiliate, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in vaunting the endorsement of their petition by RIBA's outgoing President, Jack Pringle, and President-Elect Sunand Prasad."

The letter noted that "Its website mission states that 'RIBA exists to advance architecture and promote excellence in the profession... For its 30,000 strong membership in the UK and abroad, the RIBA provides specialist information and advice, practice promotion (via) professional support, commercial products (via RIBA enterprises) and many social and cultural
events.'"

Leon contended that "political campaigns not only do not promote architectural excellence nor good practical or socio-cultural harmony, they clearly obstruct these objectives. Indeed, the specifically anti-Israeli focus of this campaign directly violates the European Union's Article 13 of
the Amsterdam Treaty that prohibits 'national discrimination.'"

Samuels and Leon also cited the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, which, in 2004, defined antisemitism, inter alia, as: "Applying double standards by requiring of it [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

The letter pointed to the UIA's masthead representing "architects worldwide, 'without regard to nationality, race, religion or architectural doctrine...'", urging the Union "to condemn this petition, and to inquire into the implications of its public support by Presidents Pringle and
Prasad. If RIBA's institutional status has thereby been impugned, the Institute's membership in the UIA should be suspended until it publicly disassociates itself from a campaign that can only encourage the most extreme rejectionists in destroying all efforts for peace in the Middle
East."

The appeal was shared with both the Presidents, respectively, Jean-François Susini and R.K. Stewart, of the Architects Council of Europe (ACE), and the UIA United States member, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), in order to alert them to possible international repercussions.

Samuels concluded, "Inaction on this matter would be to the detriment of architectural professional integrity and would encourage its hijacking for political agendas."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58