Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center Applauds Government of Canada for Signing Ottawa Protocol on Combating Anti-Semitism

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 19, 2011) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) has high praise for Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism and John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs for hosting the signing of the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Anti-Semitism today.

Canada is the first country to sign the Protocol, an action plan developed during the second annual conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism designed to address rising anti-Semitism worldwide.

"With the exceptional and pernicious rise of anti-Semitism throughout the world, the Ottawa Protocol sets an example for other nations to follow," said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. "This announcement is particularly meaningful as Jews around the world watch in sadness as the racist Durbin III conference in New York provides yet one more international forum for attacking the Jewish people, while here in Canada we read about another anti-Semitic incident in which a swastika was carved on an Edmonton hill," he notes.

FSWC was pleased to participate in the signing ceremony and thanks the Canadian government for its principled leadership.