WIESENTHAL CENTER URGES UKRAINE AUTHORITIES TO CANCEL ACCREDITATION OF UNIVERSITY FOR ENDORSING IRANIAN PRESIDENT’S GENOCIDAL THREAT AGAINST ISRAEL

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling on Ukrainian authorities to publicly denounce and to cancel the accreditation of one of the Ukraine’s largest private universities for issuing a statement in support of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s October pledge to "wipe Israel off the map."

The Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, known by its acronym MAUP, is a private academic institution which has been the leading source of antisemitic publications in the Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian Jewish organization Va’ad, MAUP is responsible for 70% of anti-Jewish publications disseminated in the Ukraine and its newspaper Personnel Plus, is widely available in Kiev. This past summer, MAUP convened a conference, "Zionism as the Greatest Threat to Contemporary Civilization," which was co-chaired by American white supremacist David Duke, a graduate of the academy’s doctoral program.

"By supporting Ahmadinejad’s threat to Israel, MAUP’s consistent Jew-baiting now culminates in an endorsement of genocide," charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. "While such utterances may be free speech in the Ukraine, it is long overdue for the leadership of the Ukraine to exercise their democratic rights and obligations to denounce such statements and censure those who use academic cover to target a minority and to endorse potential mass murder," Cooper continued.

The Wiesenthal Center is also urging U.S. lawmakers to investigate any direct or indirect funds made to MAUP from the U.S.

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.