June 10 2018

RESPONDING TO FSWC STATEMENT

PREMIER-ELECT DOUG FORD CONDEMNS "AL QUDS DAY"

In a sharp tweet today, Ontario's Premier Elect stated "Our government will take action to ensure that events like Al Quds Day, which calls for the killing of an entire civilian population in Israel, are no longer part of the landscape in Ontario.  Blatantly racist or anti-Semitic ideology should never be permitted on the grounds of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, or anywhere else in our province". 

"Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) thanks Premier Elect Ford for taking this important stand and for his willingness to change the existing hateful paradigm in our province" said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO.  "FSWC is willing to lend its educational resources and knowledge to assisting the Ford team in eradicating all forms of hate in Ontario, including Al Quds Day", Benlolo added. 

Last night Benlolo released the following statement about the event which occurred earlier in the day near Queens Park:

"Profound Antisemitism on Toronto Streets - The Iran Sponsored anti-Jewish Rally held near Ontario’s Queens Park called for the elimination of the State of Israel, the genocide of the Jewish people and equated Zionism with racism. The organizers used children to foment hatred while at least one participant was draped with the Hezbollah flag, a terrorist organization. In a posted video - organizers failed to recognize the oppression of Gaza by known terror group, Hamas. An image on the stage mural showed a Jewish Star of David with a Holocaust-era image of barbed wire - while organizers chanted “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” - a call for the destruction of Israel. Certainly, many of the images and speeches may contravene hate speech laws, if not the peaceful fabric of co-existence in our province. In the next few days, we will be evaluating footage and photographs while relating them to authorities".

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is a leading Jewish human rights foundation in Canada’s organized Jewish community.  It is the winner of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation Best Practices Award. FSWC directly impacts over 100,000 people each year and 500,000+ peripherally.  FSWC is committed to countering racism and antisemitism and to promoting the principles of tolerance, social justice and Canadian democratic values through advocacy and educational programs including workshops, Freedom Day, Compassion to Action, Speakers Idol, Spirit of Hope Benefit, Tools for Tolerance and the widely acclaimed Tour for Humanity. FSWC is affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization headquartered in Los Angeles which has won two Academy Awards, has built two Museums of Tolerance (with a third being built in Jerusalem) and is an NGO at the United Nations, UNESCO, OAS, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament. Visit us at www.fswc.ca.