SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE
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NEWS RELEASE

Wiesenthal Centre Condolences on Desecration of French Muslim Cemetery - Offers Mosque of Paris Joint Project on Sanctity of Human Life

Paris, 20 April 2007

In a letter to the Rector of the Mosque of Paris, Dr Dalil Boubakeur, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed the Centre's sympathy to the families of those whose tombs were desecrated in the Muslim cemetery of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire near Arras in the north of France.

Samuels noted that "Jewish cemeteries are often the target of such hate crimes", adding, "Indeed, those who assault the dead - whether Jewish or Muslim - are part of a culture of death that has victimized both of our communities."

Samuels stressed, "At such moments Jews and Muslims must stand together, for any divisions between us will only serve the forces of hate which target us both."

The letter presented this situation as "an opportunity for the Centre Simon Wiesenthal - France to develop a joint project with the Mosque of Paris on the sanctity of human life as the categorical imperative for our two faiths."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58