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Thursday, October 03, 2013

EoZ, StandWithUs Khaybar petitions delivered to Amnesty, HRW

Over the summer I blogged extensively about the antisemitic Arab TV series "Khaybar" that was being broadcast during Ramadan, and I created a petition for Amnesty and HRW to condemn Arab antisemitism.

Yesterday and today, my petitions along with those from StandWithUs were delivered to AI and HRW.

Here is the press release from StandWithUs:

Delivery of petition to AI in London
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2013

On October 2, 2013, StandWithUs, in partnership with Israel activist blogger Elder of Ziyon, delivered petitions to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in London, asking them to support tolerance and human rights by condemning and exposing anti-Semitism in Arab media. The petitions, “Condemn Khaybarand “End Bigotry and Incitement against Jews on Arab Television,”  were delivered by Irene Naftalin, Community Director of StandWithUs UK, together with Luke Akehurst, Director, We Believe in Israel.  The petitions were delivered to Amnesty International in New York on October 3, by Avi Posnick, Regional Coordinator, New York Chapter, StandWithUs East Coast.  They have over 6,000 international signatures.

    StandWithUs and Elder of Ziyon contacted the two human rights organizations, urging them to use this opportunity to expose, condemn and end anti-Semitic programming in the Arab world. Both organizations have previously pledged to oppose anti-Semitic discrimination. This summer, Human Rights Watch called for an end to religious hate speech in the Arab world. At past conferences, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned all manifestations of anti-Semitism  and called for swift and thorough investigations into incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination.
Delivering petitions to HRW in NYC

  The petitions focused on a Middle Eastern television series, "Khaybar," which promoted hatred and glorified violence against Jews.  The show’s title alone memorialized the massacre of Jewish people in the city of Khaybar during the time of Mohammed. The program was broadcast to millions of people this summer during Ramadan and also was available to many more outside the Arab world via the web. It is representative of the kind of anti-Semitic broadcasts airing regularly throughout the Arab/Muslim world.

    “We hope that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recognize this opportunity to join the effort to oppose anti-Semitic bigotry,” stated Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs.

Elder of Ziyon is one of the world's most popular bloggers. His scoops have been reported in major media worldwide. Visit: elderofziyon.blogspot.com


StandWithUs (SWU) is a twelve year-old, international, non-profit Israel education organization that supports people around the world who want to educate their campuses and communities about Israel. Based in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters throughout the U.S., Israel, Toronto and the UK including New York.