Simon Wiesenthal Center Launches 'Top Ten Anti-Israel Lies' Campaign in Response to New Reality in U.S. Israel Relations

NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States and Canada, today announced the launch of a new 2010 Top Ten Anti-Israel Lies Campaign, enlisting the support of citizen activists to confront prevalent lies with the truth about the Jewish State, its history and the conflict in the Middle East. The last time the Center had such a campaign was during the 2001 Intifada.

"It's no secret to anyone that relations between the United States and Israel reflect a new reality and are not what they once were," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "A worldwide frenzy of intimidation and threats directed against Israel has backed her supporters into a corner and so far, only very few have raised their voices," added Rabbi Hier.

The Center charges that recently vicious lies and distortions about the Jewish State, her history, and her commitment to peace are proliferating. These relentless attacks are coming on the heels of the scurrilous UN Goldstone Report and the 100% increase in violent anti-Semitic acts over the last year.

To kick off this effort, the Center produced the 2010 Top Ten Anti-Israel Lies brochure. The brochure, available online at www.wiesenthal.com/toptenlies, provides history, context and debunks rumors about Israel and her people also providing contact information for U.S. and world leaders and key news bureaus.

A sampling of some of the Lies and responses are as follows:

• Israel was created by European guilt over the Nazi Holocaust. Why should Palestinians pay the price?

RESPONSE: Three thousand years before the Holocaust, before there was a Roman Empire, Israel's kings and prophets walked the streets of Jerusalem.  The whole world knows that Isaiah did not speak his prophesies from Portugal, nor Jeremiah his lamentations from France... Throughout its 2,000-year exile there was continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land...

• The only hope for peace is a single, bi-national state, eliminating the Jewish State of Israel.

RESPONSE: The One-State solution is a non-starter because it would eliminate the Jewish homeland. However, the current pressures on Israel are equally dangerous. In effect, the world is demanding that Israel, the size of New Jersey, shrink further by accepting a Three-State solution: a PA state on the West Bank and a Hamas terrorist state controlling 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.

• Nuclear Israel, not Iran, is the greatest threat to peace and stability.

RESPONSE: Even in 1973, when its very survival was imperiled, Israel did not use nuclear weapons. The U.S. and Europe can afford to wait to see what the Iranian regime does with its nuclear ambitions, but Israel cannot. She is on the front lines and remembers every day the price the Jewish people paid for not taking Hitler at his word. Israel is not prepared to sacrifice another six million Jews on the altar of the world's indifference.

The brochure will be distributed to synagogues, churches, schools, universities, libraries and community centers worldwide. Designed as a pocket-resource, the brochure is filled with references for contacting local news outlets and contacting government officials.

About The Simon Wiesenthal Center

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).

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

SOURCE Simon Wiesenthal Center