WIESENTHAL CENTER URGED PM OLMERT TO PROTEST EGYPTIAN HOLOCAUST DENIAL CONFERENCE DURING MEETING WITH PRESIDENT MUBARAK IN SHARM EL SHEIKH

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced a Holocaust Denial Conference, entitled: The Holocaust Lie which was convened in Cairo on December 27th, 2006 and urged Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to protest the gathering during his meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak earlier this month.

"This event was convened by the Arab Socialist Party and aired live by Al-Alam Iranian TV in Arabic. The keynote speaker was Waheed al Uksory, a well known figure who was one of the candidates permitted to run against Mr. Mubarak in 2005 presidential elections," noted Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the leading Jewish human rights NGO. "Civilized people everywhere were horrified by the spectacle of the extremist Iranian regime's Holocaust denial campaign which culminated with the recent high-profile Holocaust denial conference in Tehran. The Cairo gathering represented another victory for Iranian President Ahmedinejad's campaign to bolster his power and prestige in the Arab and Moslem worlds through the continued demoniziation of Israel, the Jewish people and the denial of the Nazi Holocaust. If this new hateful initiative goes unchallenged in the mainstream of the most important Arab nation, a country that has a peace treaty with Israel, the results could be catastrophic. We urged Prime Minister Olmert to raise this issue directly with President Mubarak and to urge Egypt's leader to denounce Holocaust denial and all those who participated in this conference. Failure to do so will inevitably damage Egypt's continuing important role in the search for peace in the region," Cooper added.

The Wiesenthal Center also urged political figures, opinion makers and the media in the Arab world to spurn the embrace of the 'Big Lie' of Holocaust denial and instead familiarize themselves with history's most documented crime.  "We are prepared to facilitate meetings with survivors of the Shoah, historians and access to the vast records compiled by the perpetrators themselves to anyone interested in learning the truth," 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.

To reach Rabbi Cooper please call 0524-316-448 (Israel) 310-210-9750 (US phone)