Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 6, 2009) -

Attn: News/National/Education/Assignment

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center today called upon CUPE Ontario to abandon its proposed boycott of Israeli academics from Ontario universities calling the action an affront to civil liberty and academic freedom. CUPE Ontario recently announced that it was calling for the boycott in response to the December 29th bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza.

"Non-discrimination is one of the inalienable tenets of universal academic freedom and must be vigorously defended," says Avi Benlolo, president of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. "The proposed CUPE Ontario boycott based solely on Israeli citizenship is a clear violation of this principle and flies in the face of free academic debate and tolerance for differing cultures and opinion. Sid Ryan's relentless discrimination against the Jewish state calls his leadership of CUPE Ontario into question."

A similar proposed boycott by the University and College Union in England was withdrawn in response to a legal challenge from a group of its members that it was discriminatory.

Adds Benlolo, "Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center continues to assert its solidarity with the state of Israel in its efforts to counter acts of terrorism against its citizens."

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center is actively involved in the university community in Canada through its Campus Affairs Committee. The committee's primary objectives are to: expose the culture of hate and intolerance on university campuses; initiate direct campaigns of protest to university administrations; and end Week Against the Wall and Israeli Apartheid Week on university campuses.

About Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies is a Canadian human rights organization dedicated to fostering tolerance and understanding through community involvement, educational outreach and social action. It has 25,000 members across Canada, and confronts important contemporary issues including racism, antisemitism, terrorism and genocide. The Center is affiliated with the world-wide, Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, an accredited Non-Government Organization with status at international agencies, including the United Nations, UNESCO, OSCE and the Council of Europe. With over 400,000 members of all faiths around the world, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has offices in New York, Miami, Paris, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires and Toronto. Simon Wiesenthal died in 2005 after devoting his life to preserving the memories of the victims of the Holocaust, while simultaneously seeking justice for the war criminals. Visit: www.fswc.ca.