The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) denounced plans for a Hamas-led “march of return” this Friday that will put thousands of civilians in danger as they are deployed on the volatile Gaza/Israeli border.

A view of the Gaza Strip from Israel Photo credit: Flickr

“Hamas has recently been escalating the level of violence and terrorist infiltration exactly where they will send thousands of families as human shields on the eve of Passover and Good Friday,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Simon Wiesenthal Center Dean and Founder and Associate Dean & Director of Global Social Action Agenda of the leading Jewish Human Rights NGO, in a statement released at SWC headquarters in Los Angeles.

“Hamas and their allies’ cynical goal is to create a 21st century blood libel against the Jewish State by provoking an Israeli response that will be duly captured and broadcast on social media and Al Jazeera.

“Hamas wants the world to forget that, it and their suicide bombers, missiles, and terror tunnels are the only reason there is a fence separating Gaza from Israeli communities in the first place”, Center officials added.

“We are particularly disturbed by Palestinian media reports that quote support for the so-called right of return march by Mattiahs Schmale, UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza. Palestinian claims to “a right of return” for millions of Palestinians who never set foot in the Holy Land is just another way to call for the elimination of the lone Jewish State. That will never happen. Friday’s march and similar stunts slated for Jerusalem, the West Bank, Lebanon and Jordan will only further the cause of extremism, not peace.

“We call on the US, European Union and all funders of the Palestinian cause and particularly UNRWA, the recipient of largess from 68 donor nations, to denounce, not support these actions whose aims are anything but peaceful or non-violent. The only road to peace is through negotiations with Israel, not by using children as cannon fodder for Hamas’ anti-Jewish, genocidal goals”, Center officials concluded.

For more information, please contact the Center’s Communications Department, 310-553-9036. join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

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