SWC Denounces Amnesty UK Report on Israel

January 31, 2022

At a time of raging anti-Semitism, apartheid ‘Big Lie‘ legitimizes mainstream hatred of Israel and Zionists

The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) denounced a slanderous report by Amnesty International to be issued tomorrow, February 1, 2022, that falsely accuses Israel of apartheid and outrageously questions the only Jewish state in the world its very right to exist.

 

“Amnesty accuses Israel as guilty of crimes against humanity for the crime of existing. In fact, it is Amnesty whose behavior borders on the criminal by knowingly and willfully playing a central role in the international campaign to cast the Jewish State as an illegitimate state,” declared Rabbi Abraham Cooper Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action for the SWC, a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO.

 

SWC witnessed when the big lie of Israel=Apartheid was first introduced at the ill-fated UN World Conference Against Racism in 2001 in Durban, South Africa. “Twenty years later, at a time of raging anti-Semitism in the UK and beyond, Amnesty UK continues to legitimize this dangerous screed, demonizing the only Jewish state and legitimizing assaults against Zionism and Zionist supporters of the State of Israel. Amnesty’s false report fulfills the 3Ds of 21st Century anti-Semitism: D double standard, D delegitimization, and D demonization of the Jewish state.

 

“For the record, apartheid in South Africa gave all power to a white minority. In Israel, a liberal democracy, several Arab political parties participate fully in running the government, and Israeli Arabs work side by side with Jewish Israelis in hospitals, science and tech centers.  Any Israeli citizen can grow up to become Prime Minister - Arab or Jew. White or Black. This is not apartheid,” noted Eric J. Greenberg, SWC’s Director of United Nations Relations and Strategic Partnerships. 

 

“Unlike the goals of the movement against South African apartheid, which sought the dismantling of an evil racist system, Amnesty International and its distorted report seeks to destroy the only Jewish nation in the world,” he added.

 

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center urges people of goodwill everywhere to reject this report and join us in working to expand the circle of peace between Israel and her Arab and Muslim neighbors,” Cooper and Greenberg concluded.

For further information contact the Center’s Communications department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

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, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).