Wiesenthal Centre Protests "March of Return" Exhibition at London Somerset House

April 25, 2019

In order to counter the damage in demonizing the Jewish State we offer Somerset House our 'People, Book, Land Exhibition on the Jewish code of ethics contribution to humanity.

Paris

In a letter to Somerset House Director Jonathan Reekie and Chair William Sieghart, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, condemned the current exhibition of the Sony World Photography Awards in Somerset House, entitled "Palestinian Right of Return Protests."

The letter highlighted its one-sided “Series description”: "Since May 30, 2018, Palestinian protesters have protested weekly on the border with Israel in order to demand their right to return. The protests are still continuing along the Gaza Strip area bordering Israel, where around 233 Palestinian protesters have been killed and 21,000 injured by Israeli snipers."

..."This language arguably violates the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of Antisemitism, to which the United Kingdom is a signatory -  in the case of, "Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel} a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

Samuels viewed the exhibition as "propaganda for Hamas terrorism that abuses its rich history, renown and the good name of Somerset House, especially as the repository of all British birth, marriage and other documents, including my own."

The Centre cited "the presentation of British Colonel Richard Kemp to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, as summing up our members’ view of Gazan violence organized by:

- "Hamas [is] a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of Israel and [in its Charter the] murder of Jews everywhere";
 
- "They send thousands of civilians to the front line — as human shields for terrorists trying to break through the border...
[H]ow would you respond if a Jihadist terror group sent thousands to flood your borders, and gunmen to massacre your communities?";
 
- "If Israel had allowed these mobs to break through the fence, the Israel Defence Forces would then have been forced to defend their own civilians from slaughter and many more Palestinians would have been killed."

Samuels noted that, "The exhibition has no mention of the incessant rocket attacks from Gaza, on civilian communities in Israel...

Moreover the exhibition’s title, “The March of Return,” is similarly a propaganda ploy to delegitimize and wipe Israel off the map.


"In order to counter the damage in demonizing the Jewish State, the Centre offered Somerset House its UNESCO co-sponsored exhibition, 'People, Book, Land: the 3500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land'.  These 24 panels focus on the Jewish code of ethics contributed to humanity."

"Displayed, inter alia, at UNESCO in Paris, the UN in New York, the Vatican, the British Parliament, the Council of Europe, etc...  We look forward to organizing its opening at Somerset House in the very near future," concluded Samuels.

For further information, contact Shimon Samuels at +33 147 237 637, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct 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).

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