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Following the release of Human Rights Watch's (HRW) anti-Israel report and after observing the media's coverage of HRW's allegations, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) issued the following statement:

"Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center was disappointed to see leading Canadian news outlets continue to give such uncritical and one-sided treatment to allegations about Israel coming from Human Rights Watch - which released a new report that unfairly attacks Israel and falsely claims the country is committing apartheid. The report fails to give weight to Hamas terrorism and human rights abuses and the ongoing threats of attacks Israelis face every day.

"Make no mistake: HRW has been engaged in a longstanding campaign to vilify and demonize the State of Israel by associating the country with some of these most horrifying descriptors in the English language – 'apartheid', 'genocide', 'crimes against humanity'.  

"It is sometimes said that when you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. We disagree. Lies are lies, no matter how often or how casually they are regurgitated and thrown around.

"Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East, and neither rocket attacks nor smear campaigns can alter that reality. We expect better from the Canadian media."