Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier (born 1939 in New York City ) is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center , its Museum of Tolerance and of Moriah, the center's film division. He has been a Track II diplomacy contributor to the genesis of the Abraham Accords .
148-516: The Simon Wiesenthal Center ( SWC ) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier . The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance education, defending Israel, and its Museum of Tolerance . The center publishes a seasonal magazine, In Motion . The center has close ties to public and private agencies, and regularly meets with elected officials of
296-791: A 501(c)(4) corporation–called ACLU–which is entitled to lobby. Both organizations share staff and offices. ACLU affiliates are the basic unit of the ACLU's organization and engage in litigation, lobbying, and public education. For example, in 2020, the ACLU's New Jersey chapter argued 26 cases before the New Jersey Supreme Court , about one-third of the total cases heard in that court. They sent over 50,000 emails to officials or agencies and had 28 full-time staff. A leaked ACLU memo from June 2018 said that speech that can "inflict serious harms" and "impede progress toward equality" may be
444-747: A Paris courthouse for accusing the French-based Committee for Charity and Support for the Palestinians (CBSP) of sending funds to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. In its filing of the suit, the CBSP labelled the accusations "ridiculous", stating that its charitable work consisted of providing aid to some 3,000 Palestinian orphans. The court ruled that documents produced by the Wiesenthal Center established no "direct or indirect participation in financing terrorism" on
592-399: A barrage of local ordinances that banned screenings deemed immoral or obscene. Even public health films portraying pregnancy and birth were banned, as was Life magazine's April 11, 1938, issue, which included photos of the birth process. The ACLU fought these bans but did not prevail. The Catholic Church attained increasing political influence in the 1930s; it used its influence to promote
740-631: A constituency of more than 400,000 families. The center maintains offices throughout the United States , and in Canada , Europe , Israel and Argentina . Hier is the recipient of two Academy Awards —as co-producer and co-writer for the 1981 documentary Genocide , about the Holocaust , and as co-producer of the 1997 documentary The Long Way Home , which offers new insights into the critical post World War II period between 1945 and 1948 and
888-522: A contentious six-hour debate – Flynn was voted off the ACLU's board. The 1940 resolution was considered by many to be a betrayal of its fundamental principles. The resolution was rescinded in 1968, and Flynn was posthumously reinstated to the ACLU in 1970. The ACLU had a decidedly mixed civil liberties record during World War II. While there were far fewer sedition prosecutions than in World War I, this did not mean that President Roosevelt
1036-472: A county demanding the removal of a Ten Commandments display from its courthouse; a second Ten Commandments case in the state, in a different county, led to a $ 74,462 judgment. The State of Tennessee was required to pay $ 50,000, the State of Alabama $ 175,000, and the State of Kentucky $ 121,500, in similar Ten Commandments cases. Most of the organization's workload is performed by its local affiliates. There
1184-590: A crime." The De Jonge case marked the start of an era lasting for a dozen years, during which Roosevelt appointees (led by Hugo Black , William O. Douglas , and Frank Murphy ) established a body of civil liberties law. In 1938, Justice Harlan F. Stone wrote the famous "footnote four" in United States v. Carolene Products Co. in which he suggested that state laws which impede civil liberties would – henceforth – require compelling justification. Senator Robert F. Wagner proposed
1332-487: A drive launched that year by the center to track down former Nazis for World War II-era crimes before they die of old age. According to the center, about 2,000 Nazi war criminals entered Canada illegally by providing false documents, but the Canadian government largely ignored their presence until the mid-1980s. It also claimed that when they were exposed, the government made their deportations harder to carry out. One example
1480-483: A folk-hero among the city's 700,000 Jews; the center is perpetually deluged by $ 10 donations from even the most non-observant. Last year, when many other Jewish organizations had to cut corners and go begging, the center pulled in $ 9.7 million in contributions, and another $ 5.3 million for its new Museum of Tolerance (scheduled to open next year adjacent to the center on Pico Boulevard). And Hier has powerful friends who might withhold their significant contributions to many of
1628-560: A formalized way." Later, in the early stages of the First Gulf War , the center released a report which accused Western companies of complicity in Iraq's chemical weapons program. The report said that 207 companies, 86 of which were West German, had supplied Iraq with chemical weapons components as late as 1989. German companies had sold Zyklon-B to Iraq and they also helped it build gas chambers - modeled on those which were used by
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#17327649911931776-559: A high-profile campaign composed of anti-Israel big lies to help destroy the Jewish State by any and all means". The report also said that BDS attacks Israel's entire economy and society, holding all (Jewish) Israelis as collectively guilty. On March 8, 2007, the head of international relations for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Stanley Trevor Samuels, was convicted (and later acquitted in an appeal) of defamation by
1924-923: A joint statement of public apology on their respective websites. Marvin Hier Hier was born in 1939 in New York City . His Jewish parents came from Poland ; his father worked as a lamp polisher after arriving in New York in 1917. Hier grew up on the Lower East Side attending the Rabbi Shlomo Kluger Yeshiva on Houston Street for elementary school and the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School for high-school and six years post-high school. Hier received smicha in 1962 from Rabbi Mendel Kravitz , rosh yeshiva of
2072-594: A lawsuit against the Washington City Paper . Hier was skeptical of the reunification of Germany because he feared that anti-Semitism might reemerge in a reunified Germany . On February 9, 1990, he sent a letter to Chancellor Helmut Kohl and in it, he expressed his fears: "I am not among those in the cheering section applauding the rush towards German reunification." In his reply to Hier's letter three weeks later, Kohl expressed his disappointment "at how little many opponents of German unity take note of
2220-509: A legal aid society centered on store front offices in low-income neighborhoods. The ACLU directors rejected that proposal. Other ACLU members wanted the ACLU to shift focus into the political arena and be more willing to compromise their ideals to strike deals with politicians. The ACLU leadership also rejected this initiative. The ACLU's support of defendants with unpopular, sometimes extreme, viewpoints has produced many landmark court cases and established new civil liberties. One such defendant
2368-552: A lower priority for the organization. The ACLU opposes any effort to create a national registry of gun owners and has worked with the National Rifle Association of America to prevent a registry from being created, and it has favored protecting the right to carry guns under the 4th Amendment. The ACLU opposes state censorship of the Confederate flag . A variety of persons and organizations support
2516-465: A more active role in protecting civil liberties—was De Jonge v. Oregon , in which a communist labor organizer was arrested for calling a meeting to discuss unionization. The ACLU attorney Osmond Fraenkel , working with International Labor Defense , defended De Jonge in 1937 and won a major victory when the Supreme Court ruled that "peaceable assembly for lawful discussion cannot be made
2664-842: A new name, the American Civil Liberties Union. Although a handful of other organizations in the United States at that time focused on civil rights, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) and Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the ACLU was the first that did not represent a particular group of persons or a single theme. Like the CLB, the NAACP pursued litigation to work on civil rights, including efforts to overturn
2812-578: A newspaper from publishing, simply because the newspaper had a reputation for being scandalous. The late 1930s saw the emergence of a new era of tolerance in the United States. National leaders hailed the Bill of Rights , particularly as it protected minorities, as the essence of democracy. The 1939 Supreme Court decision in Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization affirmed the right of communists to promote their cause. Even conservative elements, such as
2960-551: A personal friend of Luke E. Hart , the then–Supreme Advocate and future Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus , offered to join forces with the Knights to challenge the law. The Knights of Columbus pledged an immediate $ 10,000 to fight the law and any additional funds necessary to defeat it. The case became known as Pierce v. Society of Sisters , a United States Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded coverage of
3108-800: A project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles run by Marvin Hier, is set to be built in Jerusalem, Israel. In 2013, The Forward called Hier the "most overpaid" executive of a Jewish non-profit. Hier's family received nearly $ 1.3 million in 2012 from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In 2017 Hier welcomed the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles together with Rabbi Abraham Cooper paving
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#17327649911933256-534: A schism formed over whether to represent Benjamin Spock 's anti-war activism. In 1973, as the Watergate Scandal continued to unfold, leadership was initially divided over whether to call for President Nixon 's impeachment and removal from office. In 2005, there was internal conflict about whether or not a gag rule should be imposed on ACLU employees to prevent the publication of internal disputes. In
3404-679: A town, state, or federal agency may be required to change its laws or behave differently, but not to pay monetary damages except by an explicit statutory waiver. In some cases, the law permits plaintiffs who successfully sue government agencies to collect money damages or other monetary relief. In particular, the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976 leaves the government liable in some civil rights cases. Fee awards under this civil rights statute are considered "equitable relief" rather than damages, and government entities are not immune from equitable relief. Under laws such as this,
3552-566: Is Vladimir Katriuk , who the center said was involved in the Katyn massacre in 1943 and who came to Canada in 1951. Katriuk, who denied the allegations, died in 2015 before he could be extradited to Russia to face charges. In 2022, the Center published their first report about the rise of the anti-semitic Black Hebrew Israelite movement. The report profiled the Israelites' belief system, in
3700-496: Is already providing representation. In addition to representing persons and organizations in lawsuits, the ACLU lobbies for policy positions established by its board of directors. The ACLU's current positions include opposing the death penalty ; supporting same-sex marriage and the right of LGBT people to adopt ; supporting reproductive rights such as birth control and abortion rights ; eliminating discrimination against women, minorities , and LGBT people; decarceration in
3848-414: Is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. , and Puerto Rico . The ACLU provides legal assistance in cases where it considers civil liberties at risk. Legal support from the ACLU can take the form of direct legal representation or preparation of amicus curiae briefs expressing legal arguments when another law firm
3996-628: Is at least one affiliate organization in each state, as well as one in Washington, D.C. , and in Puerto Rico . California has three affiliates. The affiliates operate autonomously from the national organization; each affiliate has its own staff, executive director, board of directors, and budget. Each affiliate consists of two non-profit corporations: a 501(c)(3) corporation–called the ACLU Foundation–that does not perform lobbying, and
4144-567: Is fully legitimate" and that "anti-Zionism equates [to] antisemitism, pure and simple". The European Union's coordinator for combatting antisemitism, Katharina von Schnurbein , said that by including Blume on its list, the center "discredit[s] the invaluable legacy of Simon Wiesenthal". Blume's inclusion was also criticised by representatives of Baden-Württemberg's Jewish community and the Central Council of Jews in Germany . In January 2023
4292-483: Is one of many partner organizations of the Austrian Service Abroad ( Auslandsdienst ) and the corresponding Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (Gedenkdienst). From the very start, the center grew rapidly. In 1985 the museum claimed to have 25,000 visitors annually and the center 273,000 contributing members, including 47,000 Californians. Between 1984 and 1990 the center published seven volumes of
4440-548: Is the recipient of an honorary degree and, in 1993 was made a Chevalier in the Ordre National du Mérite by French President François Mitterrand . Newsweek describes Hier as the following, "Hier is one phone call away from almost every world leader, journalist and Hollywood studio head. He is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance and Moriah Films." In 2007 and 2008 Marvin Hier
4588-671: The Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual , that focused on the scholarly study of the Holocaust. In 1990, it had become one of the largest Jewish organizations in America with 380,000 members. The same year, Sheldon Teitelbaum and Tom Waldman profiled Hier in the Los Angeles Times , describing him as the "unorthodox rabbi", and characterized his success as follows: Yet he has apparently become something of
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4736-588: The American Bar Association , began to campaign for civil liberties, which were long considered to be the domain of left-leaning organizations. By 1940, the ACLU had achieved many of the goals it set in the 1920s, and many of its policies were the law of the land. In 1929, after the Scopes and Dennett victories, Baldwin perceived that there was vast, untapped support for civil liberties in the United States. Baldwin proposed an expansion program for
4884-754: The American Jewish Congress , and the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela defended Chávez, stating that he was speaking not of Jews, but of South America's white oligarchy . The center's representative in Latin America replied that Chávez's mention of Christ-killers was "ambiguous at best" and that the "decision to criticize Chávez had been taken after careful consideration". The center has on two occasions criticized bands for wearing attire resembling Nazi uniforms or using Nazi symbolism. In 2011, Abraham Cooper, condemned
5032-647: The American Legion , the National Civic Federation , and Industrial Defense Association and the Allied Patriotic Societies. ACLU leadership was divided on how to challenge civil rights violations. One faction, including Baldwin, Arthur Garfield Hays , and Norman Thomas , believed that direct, militant action was the best path. Another group, including Walter Nelles and Walter Pollak , felt that lawsuits taken to
5180-610: The Communist Party USA , leading it to be the primary client of the ACLU. At the same time, the Communists were very aggressive in their tactics, often engaging in illegal conduct such as denying their party membership under oath. This led to frequent conflicts between the Communists and ACLU. Communist leaders sometimes attacked the ACLU, particularly when the ACLU defended the free speech rights of conservatives, whereas Communists tried to disrupt speeches by critics of
5328-583: The Due Process Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment . In a unanimous decision, the court held that the act was unconstitutional and that parents, not the state, had the authority to educate children as they thought best. It upheld the religious freedom of parents to educate their children in religious schools. Leaders of the ACLU were divided on the best tactics to use to promote civil liberties. Felix Frankfurter felt that legislation
5476-498: The Garland Fund . Lucille Bernheimer Milner was cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union. She also served for a time as Executive Secretary. During the 1920s, the ACLU's primary focus was on freedom of speech in general and speech within the labor movement particularly. Because most of the ACLU's efforts were associated with the labor movement, the ACLU itself came under heavy attack from conservative groups, such as
5624-715: The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington praised Hier for not allowing the "rewriting of history to the exclusion of Armenian genocide." But to the Armenian community's dismay, the exhibits commemorating the Armenian genocide were removed in 1997. The museum finally opened in 1993, in an 8-story building on Pico Boulevard opposite to Hier's yeshiva. It was given the English name the Museum of Tolerance and
5772-832: The Hunt Museum in Limerick to be retracted, until the conclusion of a demanded inquiry into the provenance of a significant number of items in the collection. In the letter he alleged that the founders of the museum, John and Gertrude Hunt, had close ties to the head of the Nazi Party (NSDP-AO) in Ireland, among others, and that the British had suspected the couple of espionage during the Second world war. The center also claimed, 'The "Hunt Museum Essential Guide" describes only 150 of
5920-573: The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs . In the essay, he claimed that the WSF was an amalgamation of "anti-Globalism, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism." The center was a harsh critic of president Barack Obama's Middle Eastern policy. In May 2011, Obama proposed that "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps" which implied that Israel should withdraw from most of
6068-498: The Managing editor of the biggest Jewish Newspaper in Germany, jüdische Allgemeine , criticised the Wiesenthal Center for integrating Christoph Heusgen , Jakob Augstein and Michael Blume in its lists and for naming them next to terrorists and anti-Semites. He wrote with regard to the Wiesenthal Center and its lists: The fight against anti-Semitism is too serious to be pursued in the way the Wiesenthal Center unfortunately did with
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6216-596: The National Labor Relations Act in 1935, which empowered workers to unionize. Ironically, after 15 years of fighting for workers' rights, the ACLU initially opposed the act (it later took no stand on the legislation) because some ACLU leaders feared the increased power the bill gave to the government. The newly formed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) posed a dilemma for the ACLU because, in 1937, it issued an order to Henry Ford , prohibiting Ford from disseminating anti-union literature. Part of
6364-482: The National Organization for Women . The ACLU has been criticized by liberals such as when it excluded communists from its leadership ranks, when it defended Neo-Nazis , when it declined to defend Paul Robeson , or when it opposed the passage of the National Labor Relations Act . In 2014, an ACLU affiliate supported anti-Islam protesters, and in 2018 the ACLU was criticized when it supported
6512-623: The New Deal to combat the depression. ACLU leaders were of mixed opinions about the New Deal since many felt that it represented an increase in government intervention into personal affairs and because the National Recovery Administration suspended antitrust legislation. The economic policies of the New Deal leaders were often aligned with ACLU goals, but social goals were not. In particular, movies were subject to
6660-524: The disfranchisement of African Americans in the South that had taken place since the turn of the century. During the first decades of the ACLU, Baldwin continued as its leader. His charisma and energy attracted many supporters to the ACLU board and leadership ranks. The ACLU was directed by an executive committee and was not particularly democratic or egalitarian. New Yorkers dominated the ACLU's headquarters. Most ACLU funding came from philanthropies, such as
6808-402: The 501(c)(3) foundation are tax deductible, and only the 501(c)(4) group can engage in unlimited political lobbying . The ACLU is led by a president and an executive director, Deborah Archer and Anthony D. Romero , respectively, as of March 2024. The president acts as chair of the ACLU's board of directors, leads fundraising, and facilitates policy-setting. The executive director manages
6956-577: The ACLU Foundation, on average, has accounted for roughly 70% of the combined budget, and the ACLU roughly 30%. The ACLU solicits donations to its charitable foundation. The local affiliates solicit their own funding; however, some also receive funds from the national ACLU, with the distribution and amount of such assistance varying from state to state. At its discretion, the national organization provides subsidies to smaller affiliates that lack sufficient resources to be self-sustaining; for example,
7104-522: The ACLU and its state affiliates sometimes share in monetary judgments against government agencies. In 2006, the Public Expressions of Religion Protection Act sought to prevent monetary judgments in the particular case of violations of church-state separation. The ACLU has received court-awarded fees from opponents; for example, the Georgia affiliate was awarded $ 150,000 in fees after suing
7252-488: The ACLU by a major US newspaper. The ACLU continued to fight for the separation of church and state in schoolrooms, decade after decade, including the 1982 case McLean v. Arkansas and the 2005 case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District . Baldwin was involved in a significant free speech victory of the 1920s after he was arrested for attempting to speak at a rally of striking mill workers in New Jersey. Although
7400-409: The ACLU from Communism; opposing them were Harry F. Ward, Corliss Lamont , and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn , who rejected any political test for ACLU leadership. A bitter struggle ensued throughout 1939, and the anti-Communists prevailed in February 1940 when the board voted to prohibit anyone who supported totalitarianism from ACLU leadership roles. Ward immediately resigned, and – following
7548-441: The ACLU leadership habitually took the side of labor, and that faction supported the NLRB's action. But part of the ACLU supported Ford's right to free speech. ACLU leader Arthur Garfield Hays proposed a compromise (supporting the auto workers union, yet also endorsing Ford's right to express personal opinions), but the schism highlighted a deeper divide that would become more prominent in the years to come. The ACLU's support of
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#17327649911937696-410: The ACLU leadership have sometimes grown into major debates. In 1937, an internal debate erupted over whether to defend Henry Ford 's right to distribute anti-union literature. In 1939, a heated debate took place over whether to prohibit communists from serving in ACLU leadership roles. During the early 1950s and Cold War McCarthyism , the board was divided on whether to defend communists. In 1968,
7844-437: The ACLU lobbied for the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act , which restored some autonomy to Native American tribes, and established penalties for kidnapping Native American children. Although the ACLU deferred to the NAACP for litigation promoting civil liberties for African Americans, the ACLU engaged in educational efforts and published Black Justice in 1931, a report which documented institutional racism throughout
7992-411: The ACLU represents an individual or organization that promotes offensive or unpopular viewpoints, such as the Ku Klux Klan , neo-Nazis, the Nation of Islam , the North American Man/Boy Love Association , the Westboro Baptist Church or the Unite the Right rally . The ACLU's official policy is "... [we have] represented or defended individuals engaged in some truly offensive speech. We have defended
8140-448: The ACLU to broaden their freedom of speech efforts beyond labor and political speech to encompass movies, press, radio, and literature. The ACLU formed the National Committee on Freedom from Censorship in 1931 to coordinate this effort. By the early 1930s, censorship in the United States was diminishing. Two major victories in the 1930s cemented the ACLU's campaign to promote free speech. In Stromberg v. California , decided in 1931,
8288-541: The ACLU was founded – it had achieved significant success; the Supreme Court had embraced the free speech principles espoused by the ACLU, and the general public was becoming more supportive of civil rights in general. But the Great Depression brought new assaults on civil liberties; the year 1930 saw a large increase in the number of free speech prosecutions, a doubling of the number of lynchings, and all meetings of unemployed persons were banned in Philadelphia. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration proposed
8436-402: The ACLU was mentioned several times, leading the HUAC to mention the ACLU prominently in its 1939 report. This damaged the ACLU's reputation severely, even though the report said that it could not "definitely state whether or not" the ACLU was a Communist organization. While the ACLU rushed to defend its image against allegations of being a Communist front, it also protected witnesses harassed by
8584-488: The ACLU were hostile towards Nazism and fascism and objected when the ACLU defended Nazis. The ACLU defended numerous pro-Nazi groups, defending their rights to free speech and free association. In the late 1930s, the ACLU allied itself with the Popular Front , a coalition of liberal organizations coordinated by the United States Communist Party . The ACLU benefited because affiliates from the Popular Front could often fight local civil rights battles much more effectively than
8732-425: The ACLU, focusing on police brutality, Native American rights, African American rights, censorship in the arts, and international civil liberties. The board of directors approved Baldwin's expansion plan, except for the international efforts. The ACLU played a significant role in passing the 1932 Norris–La Guardia Act , a federal law that prohibited employers from preventing employees from joining unions and stopped
8880-418: The ACLU. The ACLU receives thousands of grants from hundreds of charitable foundations annually. Allies of the ACLU in legal actions have included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , the American Jewish Congress , People for the American Way , the National Rifle Association of America , the Electronic Frontier Foundation , Americans United for Separation of Church and State and
9028-479: The Armenian genocide and the Nazi Holocaust and other genocides." In interviews Hier repeatedly assured people that the Armenian genocide would be featured. This drew the ire of some parts of Los Angeles Jewish community because of the precarious situation for Jews in Turkey, which doesn't recognize the Armenian genocide. Hier took the position that the Armenian genocide did happen and that it should be included, regardless of any diplomatic issues. Michael Berenbaum of
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#17327649911939176-400: The Bible should be interpreted literally in teaching creationism in school. The ACLU lost the case, and Scopes was fined $ 100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later upheld the law. Still, it overturned the conviction on a technicality. The Scopes trial was a phenomenal public relations success for the ACLU. The ACLU became well known across America, and the case led to the first endorsement of
9324-502: The CLB was on freedom of speech , primarily anti-war speech, and on supporting conscientious objectors who did not want to serve in World War I. In 1918, Crystal Eastman resigned from the organization due to health issues. After assuming sole leadership of the CLB, Baldwin insisted that the organization be reorganized. He wanted to change its focus from litigation to direct action and public education. The CLB directors concurred, and on January 19, 1920, they formed an organization under
9472-499: The HUAC. The ACLU was one of the few organizations to protest (unsuccessfully) against the passage of the Smith Act in 1940, which would later be used to imprison many persons who supported Communism. The ACLU defended many persons who were prosecuted under the Smith Act, including labor leader Harry Bridges . ACLU leadership was split on whether to purge its leadership of Communists. Norman Thomas , John Haynes Holmes , and Morris Ernst were anti-Communists who wanted to distance
9620-403: The Hebrew name Beit HaShoah, the House of the Holocaust. The total construction costs amounted to some $ 50 million, with the majority of the funding coming from donations and $ 10 million from government funding. Today the museum hosts 350,000 visitors annually, among them 110,000 schoolchildren. Branches of the Museum have been built in New York and Jerusalem. The Center and its Museum of Tolerance
9768-426: The Hollywood célébrité, local politicians, and businessmen and raised large sums of money which he used to expand his operations. In 1985, the center was incorporated separately from the yeshiva in order to bid for state funding for the construction of a bigger Holocaust museum. This bid was vociferously opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union , the Anti-Defamation League and secular Jewish organizations due to
9916-401: The Japanese band Kishidan for wearing uniforms resembling those of the SS, the armed wing of the Nazi party. The band wore military-inspired uniforms, adorned with the German medal Iron Cross and Nazi insignia such as the death skull and SS eagle on MTV Japan 's primetime program "Mega Vector". Cooper said in a written protest to the band's management company Sony Music Artists , MTV Japan and
10064-425: The Japanese entertainment group Avex (Kishidan's label at the time being and also the current one) that "there is no excuse for such an outrage" and that "many young Japanese are "woefully uneducated" about the crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany and Japan during the second world war , but global entities like MTV and Sony Music should know better". As a result, Sony Music Artists and Avex issued
10212-439: The Martyrs' Memorial had been in the works for 10 years and was reaching its culmination. His response was: 'We will do it bigger, better, faster--and without the survivors.' There was no regard on his part for communal niceties or respect for the survivor community. It was a venture that he viewed as competitive. Whoever had the biggest center would be king. Wiesenthal himself, however, was fully supportive of Hier's museum. Despite
10360-466: The NLRB was a significant development for the ACLU because it marked the first time it accepted that a government agency could be responsible for upholding civil liberties. Until 1937, the ACLU felt that citizens and private organizations best upheld civil rights. Some factions in the ACLU proposed new directions for the organization. In the late 1930s, some local affiliates proposed shifting their emphasis from civil liberties appellate actions to becoming
10508-443: The NRA. Conversely, it has been criticized by conservatives such as when it argued against official prayer in public schools or when it opposed the Patriot Act . The ACLU has supported conservative figures such as Rush Limbaugh , George Wallace , Henry Ford and Oliver North as well as liberal figures such as Dick Gregory , Rockwell Kent and Benjamin Spock . Major sources of criticism are legal cases in which
10656-520: The Nazis - to exterminate Iranian prisoners of war , according to the report. Kenneth R. Timmerman , who prepared the report, wrote: "The picture beginning to emerge is of a vast Iraqi pillage of the treasures of West German technology, aided and abetted by the West German authorities in their lust to increase the nation's export earnings." Despite the allegations in the report, fully endorsed by Hier,
10804-672: The New York-based ACLU. The association with the Communist Party led to accusations that the ACLU was a "Communist front", particularly because Harry F. Ward was both chairman of the ACLU and chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism , a Communist organization. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created in 1938 to uncover sedition and treason within the United States. When witnesses testified at its hearings,
10952-667: The Peace to Prosperity conference in Bahrain . During the June 25–26 economic conference in Manama , Hier praised the government of Bahrain saying, "If every Arab country were to be like Bahrain, the Messiah would arrive!" Hier resides in Los Angeles, California . He has two sons and eight grandchildren. American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU )
11100-676: The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School. In the 1960s, Hier served as assistant rabbi and, in 1964, became Rabbi of Congregation Schara Tzedeck in Vancouver , British Columbia. In 1977, following a visit to Holocaust sites in Europe, Hier came to Los Angeles to create the Simon Wiesenthal Center . Under his leadership, the center has become one of the foremost Jewish human rights agencies in the world, with
11248-605: The SWC released a report on the BDS movement which calls for boycotting Israel until it stops the occupation and discrimination against Palestinian citizens, and allows the Palestinian refugees to return . The report claimed that BDS is a "thinly-disguised effort to coordinate and complement the violent strategy of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim 'rejectionists' who have refused to make peace with Israel for over six decades, and to pursue
11396-456: The Simon Wiesenthal Center will live on as my legacy." The center is headed by Jim Berk as CEO since January 2024, Rabbi Abraham Cooper the associate dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda and Rabbi Meyer May , the executive director. Marvin Hier's wife, Marlene Hier, is the Director of Membership development. Shimon Samuels is the Director for International Relations. In 2016,
11544-488: The Simon Wiesenthal Center. In 1977, he moved to Los Angeles and bought a building on Pico Boulevard using a $ 500,000 donation from Samuel Belzberg which was matched with another half a million from Toronto-based real estate maven Joseph Tannenbaum. In the building he founded a yeshiva , a religious Jewish school, today known as Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles , and a small Holocaust museum, with Belzberg as founding chairman. Famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal
11692-549: The South, including lack of voting rights, segregation, and discrimination in the justice system. Funded by the Garland Fund , the ACLU also participated in producing the influential Margold Report , which outlined a strategy to fight for civil rights for blacks. The ACLU planned to demonstrate that the " separate but equal " policies governing the Southern discrimination were illegal because blacks were never, in fact, treated equally. In 1932 – twelve years after
11840-478: The Supreme Court sided with the ACLU and affirmed the right of a communist party member to salute a communist flag. The result was the first time the Supreme Court used the Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment to subject states to the requirements of the First Amendment . In Near v. Minnesota , also decided in 1931, the Supreme Court ruled that states may not exercise prior restraint and prevent
11988-458: The Supreme Court were the best way to achieve change. In addition to labor, the ACLU also led efforts in non-labor arenas, for example, promoting free speech in public schools. The ACLU was banned from speaking in New York public schools in 1921. The ACLU, working with the NAACP , also supported racial discrimination cases. The ACLU defended free speech regardless of espoused opinions. For example,
12136-519: The Supreme court reversed itself. The rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Russia, and other countries that rejected freedom of speech and association greatly impacted the civil liberties movement in the US; anti-Communist sentiment rose, and civil liberties were curtailed. The ACLU leadership was divided over whether or not to defend pro- Nazi speech in the United States; pro-labor elements within
12284-555: The US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory: "Speaking as a Jew, so many presidents talked about making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. They made nice speeches, but in the end they couldn't deliver. Trump delivered." Hier and his wife have participated in fundraising events for Trump's 2020 reelection campaign. The center has also at times criticized Trump. In January 2018 it asked
12432-681: The USSR. This uneasy relationship between the two groups continued for decades. Five years after the ACLU was formed, the organization had virtually no success to show for its efforts. That changed in 1925, when the ACLU persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti- evolution law in The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes . Clarence Darrow , a member of the ACLU National Committee, headed Scopes' legal team. The prosecution, led by William Jennings Bryan , contended that
12580-423: The United States ; protecting housing and employment rights of veterans ; reforming sex offender registries and protecting housing and employment rights of convicted first-time offenders; supporting the rights of prisoners and opposing torture ; upholding the separation of church and state by opposing government preference for religion over non-religion or for particular faiths over others; and supporting
12728-624: The United States and foreign governments and with diplomats and heads of state. It is accredited as a non-governmental organization (NGO) at the United Nations, UNESCO , and the Council of Europe . The center is named in honor of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal . Wiesenthal had nothing to do with its operation or activities other than giving its name, but he remained supportive of it. "I have received many honors in my lifetime," Wiesenthal once said, "when I die, these honors will die with me. But
12876-488: The Wiesenthal Center [also] aggravates me. They're too commercial. You cannot package the Holocaust. It's an insult to the memory of our parents and brothers and sisters. Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of the Hillel Jewish Student Union at UCLA , in an interview with the same paper in 1990 claimed that he confronted Hier about the unwelcome competition: I asked Hier why he was doing this when
13024-406: The Wiesenthal Center and he is also the author of its annual (since 2001) "Status Report" on the worldwide investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals which includes a "most wanted" list of Nazi war criminals . In November 2005, the Simon Wiesenthal Center gave the name of four suspected former Nazi criminals to German authorities. The names were the first results of Operation Last Chance ,
13172-662: The Wyoming ACLU chapter received such subsidies until April 2015, when, as part of a round of layoffs at the national ACLU, the Wyoming office was closed. In October 2004, the ACLU rejected $ 1.5 million from both the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation because the foundations had adopted language from the USA PATRIOT Act in their donation agreements, including a clause stipulating that none of
13320-422: The amount of what would be expected. He and his family members received nearly $ 1.3 million in 2012 from the center. In 2017, The Forward again rated Hier as the most overpaid Jewish charity leader with a total salary of $ 818,148. Family members of his earned over $ 600,000 from the organization. According to Charity Navigator the center's total revenue and expenses was $ 25,359,129 and $ 26,181,569 in 2018. 52.8% of
13468-518: The anti-semitic Khazar conspiracy theory about Jewish origins. In a 2019 survey of 1,019 African Americans, 4% of respondents self-identified as Black Hebrew Israelites . Moriah Films , also known as the Jack and Pearl Resnick Film Division of the SWC, was created to produce theatrical documentaries to educate both national and international audiences, with a focus on contemporary human rights and ethical issues and Jewish experience. Two films produced by
13616-454: The approval of the funding was that Hier in 1985 had promised to commemorate the Armenian genocide in the museum. California's governor at the time George Deukmejian was of Armenian descent and the legislation which approved the funding explicitly referred to the Armenian genocide: "which have so adversely affected the lives and well-being of so many human beings, through such mass murder as
13764-520: The censorship of movies and to discourage the publication of birth control information. This conflict between the ACLU and the Catholic Church led to the resignation of the last Catholic priest from ACLU leadership in 1934; a Catholic priest would not be represented again until the 1970s. The first decision that marked the Supreme Court's major shift in policy —no longer applying strict constitutional limits to government programs, and taking
13912-671: The center and spoke with Abraham Cooper and Hier who both confirmed the story as "absolutely true." On May 18, 2006, one day before Kelly's story was to be published, the center wrote a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan urging the international community to pressure Iran to drop the measure. The letter characterized Taheri as "a well known and well respected analyst on Iranian affairs" and claimed that "a consensus has developed regarding color badges to be worn by non-Moslems: yellow for Jews, red for Christians, blue for Zoroastrians and other colors for other religions." At that point, neither Cooper nor Hier had actually tried to verify
14060-537: The center considered placing on the list in 2016 for "mainstreaming the BDS movement that never contributes to the daily life of Palestinians." The inclusion of German journalist Jakob Augstein on their 2012 list sparked a controversy in German media. The center's 2021 edition of its "Global Anti-Semitism Top Ten" list included in seventh place the entire country of Germany, particularly Michael Blume [ de ] ,
14208-475: The center had 136 employees. The headquarters of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is in Los Angeles . However, there are also international offices located in New York City , Miami , Toronto , Jerusalem , Paris , Chicago , and Buenos Aires . In its 2013 survey of Jewish charity compensation, the Jewish-American magazine The Forward singled out Hier as "by far the most overpaid CEO" earning double
14356-664: The center in Los Angeles have grown to a collection of about 50,000 volumes and non-print materials. Moreover, the archives incorporates photographs, diaries , letters , artifacts , artwork and rare books, which are available to researchers, students and the general public . In 2005, the New York branch of the Museum of Tolerance opened to the public under the name New York Tolerance Center , providing tolerance training to police officers, prosecutors, schoolteachers and teenagers. In its first four years, over 10,000 people, mostly law enforcement officers, underwent tolerance training at
14504-404: The center in its press release omitted the reference to Bolívar and quoted Chávez as follows: "the world has wealth for all, but some minorities, the descendants of the same people that crucified Christ, have taken over all the wealth of the world." It asserted that he was referring to Jews, and denounced the remarks as antisemitic by way of his allusions to wealth. The American Jewish Committee ,
14652-404: The centre there. The Jewish Week noted that the center itself was accused of intolerance when it built a museum in Jerusalem on land that was once a Muslim cemetery , after gaining approval from Israeli courts. The Center criticized Hugo Chávez for various statements, including a statement in his Christmas speech in 2005: The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority,
14800-533: The city's Muslim population. The museum is being built on a thousand-year-old Muslim graveyard called the Mamilla Cemetery , much of which has already been paved over. The complaints were rejected by Israel's Supreme Court, leading to a demonstration by hundreds of people in November 2008. On November 19, 2008, a group of US Jewish and Muslim leaders sent a letter to the Wiesenthal Center urging it to halt
14948-431: The city's other Jewish organizations if they felt it would benefit, or avenge, him. Hier knows this. In all these ways, he has used his muscle to become one of the most imposing figures in world Jewry. Between 1984 and 1990 the center published seven volumes of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual , that focused on the scholarly study of the Holocaust, broadly defined. This series is ISSN 0741-8450 . The archives of
15096-510: The commissioner against antisemitism of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, alleging that he had liked a 2019 Facebook post equating Zionism with Nazism. Blume told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an interview that he has no recollection of liking any such post, and that it was possible that the post had been edited after he had liked it; he also described himself as a "friend and ally" of Israel who believes that "Zionism
15244-467: The construction of the museum on the site. As of February 2010, the Museum of Tolerance's plan for construction has been fully approved by Israeli courts and is proceeding at the compound of Mamilla Cemetery. The courts ruled that the compound had been neglected as a spiritual site by the Muslim community, in effect not functioning as a cemetery for decades (while simultaneously used for other purposes), and
15392-465: The day-to-day operations of the organization. The board of directors consists of 80 persons, including representatives from each state affiliate and at-large delegates. The organization has its headquarters in 125 Broad Street , a 40-story skyscraper located in Lower Manhattan , New York City. The leadership of the ACLU does not always agree on policy decisions; differences of opinion within
15540-486: The decision was limited to the state of New Jersey, the appeals court's judgment in 1928 declared that constitutional guarantees of free speech must be given "liberal and comprehensive construction", and it marked a major turning point in the civil rights movement , signaling the shift of judicial opinion in favor of civil rights. The most important ACLU case of the 1920s was Gitlow v. New York , in which Benjamin Gitlow
15688-515: The descendants of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possession of all the wealth of the world. A minority has taken ownership of all of the gold of the planet, of the silver, of the minerals, the waters, the good lands, oil, of
15836-427: The distribution of sex education information based on the premise that it was obscene and led to promiscuous behavior. Mary Ware Dennett was fined $ 300 in 1928 for distributing a pamphlet containing sex education material. The ACLU, led by Morris Ernst, appealed her conviction and won a reversal, in which judge Learned Hand ruled that the pamphlet's primary purpose was to "promote understanding". The success prompted
15984-498: The division, Genocide and The Long Way Home have received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature . Moriah Films has worked with numerous actors to narrate their productions. Including but not limited to Elizabeth Taylor , Michael Douglas , Nicole Kidman , Morgan Freeman , Patrick Stewart , and Sandra Bullock . Since 2010, the center has published annual lists of individuals who they consider to have uttered
16132-636: The facility. In April 2016, the New York City Council stopped funding the Tolerance Center following the arrest of a former board member who has been accused of raising $ 20 million from a city correctional officers' union through kickbacks. The Center stated that the member had resigned from its board on June 15, and that it was unaware of any unethical or illegal activities regarding its donors. A branch museum in Jerusalem , expected to be completed in 2021, sparked protests from
16280-529: The fact that for decades now especially the young generation in the free part of Germany has been informed without any taboos of the causes and consequences of the National Socialist tyranny: in schools, universities, church or other educational institutions and the media." He added that East Germans are "immune to any new totalitarian temptations" and he also emphasized the fact that hate crimes are punishable with fines or prison sentences. However,
16428-747: The honorary delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008. In 2009, he criticized Vatican cardinal Renato Martino over his comment that the Gaza Strip was a "big concentration camp". He later criticized the lifting of the excommunication of bishop Richard Williamson , a member of the Society of Saint Pius X . In 2009 Newsweek named him # 2 on its list of "50 Influential Rabbis." A $ 100 million Museum of Tolerance and Human Dignity ,
16576-529: The landmark case United States v. One Book Called Ulysses in 1933, which reversed a ban by the Customs Department against the book Ulysses by James Joyce . The ACLU only achieved mixed results in the early years, and it was not until 1966 that the Supreme Court finally clarified the obscenity laws in the Roth v. United States and Memoirs v. Massachusetts cases. The Comstock laws banned
16724-415: The last communist premier of East Germany, Hans Modrow , wrote a letter to Hier and in it, he wrote that Hier's fears were "definitely justified in the light of the formation of a multi-party landscape." Hier welcomed the frankness of Modrow's reply, adding that "[t]he legacy of the Holocaust in a united Germany should be institutionalized. It should be on the conscience of every German from cradle to grave in
16872-439: The legality of gender-affirming treatments, including those that are government funded, for trans youth. Legally, the ACLU consists of two separate but closely affiliated nonprofit organizations, namely the American Civil Liberties Union, a 501(c)(4) social welfare group; and the ACLU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity . Both organizations engage in civil rights litigation, advocacy, and education, but only donations to
17020-565: The list. [...] Truth instead of fake news : For Simon Wiesenthal, that was a matter of course. Obviously, this is only a very limited part of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's self-image. The center hosts dinners during which it awards people the prizes Humanitarian Award and the less prestigious Medal of Valor. It is one of the center's main fundraising events. The winners of the Humanitarian Award for each year were: Controversies include aiding Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder in
17168-446: The memory of the Holocaust. Fred Diament, president of the Holocaust survivor group 1939 Club who helped establish the competing Martyrs' Memorial, blasted the organization in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1985: As a survivor, what aggravates me is that they collect lots of money in the name of the Holocaust. And they're using lots of it for publicizing their center and also for certain sensationalist things... The style of
17316-406: The money would go to "underwriting terrorism or other unacceptable activities". The ACLU views this clause, both in federal law and in the donors' agreements, as a threat to civil liberties, saying it is overly broad and ambiguous. Due to the nature of its legal work, the ACLU is often involved in litigation against governmental bodies, which are generally protected from adverse monetary judgments;
17464-469: The most antisemitic or anti-Israel "slurs" for the year. The rankings have often been criticized for labeling criticism of Israel anti-Semitism. Examples include Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström 's call for an investigation into "extra-judicial killings" by Israeli police during the Knife intifada in 2015 which the center ranked as the eight worst slur that year, and Berlin's mayor Michael Müller who
17612-519: The museum of wrongdoing. The claim was taken so seriously that the examination was supervised by the prestigious Royal Irish Academy , whose 2006 report is available online. McAleese, who had been written to by the center, then criticized Samuels for "a tissue of lies", adding that the center had diminished the name of Simon Wiesenthal. The center said that it had prepared its own 150-page report in May 2008 that would be published after vetting by its lawyers, but had not done so as of November 2008. The report
17760-413: The opposition and by using the connections with the Los Angeles elite Hier had formented, he secured a grant for $ 5 million from the state. According to Karl Katz , designer of the museum, over 10,000 Californians sent messages to the state Senate in support of the grant. The Center later netted an additional $ 5 million through a bill introduced by Democratic Representative Henry Waxman . One reason for
17908-550: The over 2000 objects in the Museum's collection and, notably, without providing information on their provenance – data that all museums are now required to provide in accordance with international procedure.' This essentially accused the Hunt Museum in Limerick of keeping art and artifacts looted during the Second World War, which was described as "unprofessional in the extreme" by the expert Lynn Nicholas that cleared
18056-586: The part of the CBSP, and that the allegations were "seriously defamatory". The Wiesenthal Center appealed the court ruling, and the appeal was granted in July 2009. In the spring of 2006, Douglas Kelly, the editor of the Canadian National Post found a column by Iranian in exile, Amir Taheri , alleging that the Iranian parliament might force minorities to wear identifiable clothing. Kelly phoned
18204-467: The practice of outlawing strikes, marriages, and labor organizing activities with the use of injunctions. The ACLU also played a key role in initiating a nationwide effort to reduce misconduct (such as extracting false confessions) within police departments by publishing the report Lawlessness in Law Enforcement in 1931, under the auspices of Herbert Hoover 's Wickersham Commission . In 1934,
18352-576: The president to withdraw his statements about wanting more immigration from places from Norway, rather than from "shithole countries" like Haiti and those in Africa. Meir and the Kushner family who are Trump's in-laws (related via Jared Kushner ) have known each other for decades. The Kushner family has made several large donations to the center via the Charles and Seryl Kushner Family Foundation. In 2013,
18500-460: The reactionary, anti-Catholic, anti-black Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a frequent target of ACLU efforts, but the ACLU defended the KKK's right to hold meetings in 1923. There were some civil rights that the ACLU did not make an effort to defend in the 1920s, including censorship of the arts, government search and seizure issues, right to privacy , or wiretapping . Government officials routinely hounded
18648-605: The relationship between him and Kohl remained cordial. The center is very critical of the annual World Economic Forum -alternative the World Social Forum . In 2002, the center's Shimon Samuels published in essay titled With a Clenched First and an Outstretched Arm: Antisemitism, Globalization, and the NGO Challenge in the International Area in the journal Jewish Political Studies Review run by
18796-483: The revenue came from contributions, gifts and grants, 31.4% from fundraising events and 15.8% from government grants. Hier was born and raised in New York City and became an ordained rabbi at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School . At the age of 22 he moved to Vancouver , Canada and became the rabbi of the city's orthodox synagogue. He became friends with the mostly non-Orthodox Belzberg family who would help him fund
18944-651: The speech rights of communists, Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, accused terrorists, pornographers, anti-LGBT activists, and flag burners. That's because the defense of freedom of speech is most necessary when the message is one most people find repulsive. Constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups if they're going to be preserved for everyone." The ACLU developed from the National Civil Liberties Bureau (CLB), co-founded in 1917 during World War I by Crystal Eastman , an attorney activist, and Roger Nash Baldwin . The focus of
19092-436: The story. The day after, Taylor Marsh called Aaron Breitbart, a researcher at the center to verify the story. He too said that the story was "very true" and "very scary." He added that Hier had been on the phone for four hours to confirm the story, something Marsh found odd and she wondered how the confirmation could have taken four hours. The same day the story was published, several Iranian experts doubted its veracity and it
19240-530: The suffering of the tens of thousands of refugees who survived the Holocaust. In 1990, he wrote and co-produced the award-winning Echoes That Remain , a documentary on pre- World War II European Jewish life, and in 1994, Hier produced and co-wrote, Liberation , the first production of Moriah Films . Under Hier's direction, the Wiesenthal Center has served as consultant to Steven Spielberg 's epic Schindler's List , and ABC Television 's miniseries adaptation of Herman Wouk 's novel, War and Remembrance . He
19388-586: The territory it occupied in the Six-day war in 1967. The proposal drew ire from the center which claimed that such a withdrawal "would be Auschwitz borders for Israel," alluding to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp . In December 2016 it ranked the Obama administrations refusal to veto a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction as the most anti-semitic/anti-Israel incident that year. The center wrote "The most stunning 2016 U.N. attack on Israel
19536-570: The unclear separation between the yeshiva and the center. At the time, the same persons sat on the board of both the center and the yeshiva. Another reason for the opposition was that Los Angeles already had a Holocaust museum; the Martyrs' Memorial Museum (later renamed to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust ) and Hier's bid was seen as undue competition by parts of Los Angeles Jewish community which also criticized him for exploiting
19684-603: The wake of the Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America documentary, promoted by NBA star Kyrie Irving . The documentary contained antisemitic tropes , Holocaust denial , and claims of an international Jewish conspiracy . The center reported that individuals motivated by Black Hebrew Israelitism committed five religiously motived murders between 2019 and 2022. The report stated that BHIs believe that Jewish people are "imposters", who have "stolen" Black American's true racial and religious identity. Black Hebrew Israelites promulgate
19832-524: The way for the Abraham Accords . He gave an invocation at the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump . He has participated in fundraising events for Trump's 2020 reelection. He was "the first Orthodox rabbi ever to give a benediction at an American president's inauguration". He cited Psalm 137 : "By the rivers of Babylon ... We wept as we remembered Zion. If I forget thee, Oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. " In 2019 Marvin attended
19980-415: The wealth, and have concentrated the wealth in a few hands. Less than 10 percent of the population of the world owns more than half of the wealth of the world, more than the population of the planet is poor, and each day there are more poor people in the whole world. The reference was to Simon Bolívar , a South American folk hero who led several countries to independence from Spain in the 19th century. But
20128-399: The year ending March 31, 2014, the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation had a combined income from support and revenue of $ 100.4 million, originating from grants (50.0%), membership donations (25.4%), donated legal services (7.6%), bequests (16.2%), and revenue (0.9%). Membership dues are treated as donations; members choose the amount they pay annually, averaging approximately $ 50 per member. In
20276-399: The year ending March 31, 2014, the combined expenses of the ACLU and ACLU Foundation were $ 133.4 million, spent on programs (86.2%), management (7.4%), and fundraising (8.2%). (After factoring in other changes in net assets of +$ 30.9 million, from sources such as investment income, the organization had an overall decrease in net assets of $ 2.1 million.) Over the period from 2011 to 2014,
20424-568: Was a different kind of president who targeted minorities and had at times used tropes considered by many to be antisemitic. Criticism came from Peter Beinart writing in The Forward that "they will reserve a special mention for the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Rabbi Marvin Hier. Last week, Trump rewarded him by asking him to offer an inaugural prayer." In an interview in The Times of Israel in 2019 Hier praised Trump for his decision to relocate
20572-431: Was a growing willingness to protect freedom of speech and assembly via court decisions. Starting in 1926, the ACLU expanded its free speech activities to encompass censorship of art and literature. In that year, H. L. Mencken deliberately broke Boston law by distributing copies of his banned American Mercury magazine; the ACLU defended him and won an acquittal. The ACLU went on to win additional victories, including
20720-672: Was arrested for violating a state law against inciting anarchy and violence when he distributed literature promoting communism. Although the Supreme Court did not overturn Gitlow's conviction, it adopted the ACLU's stance (later termed the incorporation doctrine ) that the First Amendment freedom of speech applied to state laws, as well as federal laws. The Oregon Compulsory Education Act required almost all children in Oregon between eight and sixteen years of age to attend public school by 1926. Associate Director Roger Nash Baldwin ,
20868-491: Was convinced to bless the museum with his name. Edward Norden, writing for Commentary , dismissed the museum as "a low-tech affair fashioned by and for Jews and holding nothing against the Gentiles back—an outsized portrait of Pius XII was given a prominent place among pictures of those who 'didn't care.' The message was that Jews have enemies, murderous enemies, and should look out." Hier, a skillful fundraiser, networked with
21016-599: Was facilitated by President Obama when the U.S. abstained on a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel for settlement construction." In 2017, Hier faced harsh criticism from the Jewish-American community for accepting an invite by the Trump campaign to hold a prayer at the president elect's inauguration . Hier defended his decision by saying that he had offered his blessings to presidential candidates before. That didn't placate his critics who claimed that Trump
21164-513: Was finally made on December 12, 2008. The Simon Wiesenthal Center opposed the construction of Park51 , a Muslim community center in Manhattan in New York, because the planned location was only two blocks away from Ground Zero where the September 11 attacks had taken place. The executive director of the center's Museum of Tolerance in Manhattan, Meyer May said it was "insensitive" to locate
21312-530: Was named the most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek . Hier founded the Yeshiva University High Schools of Los Angeles and was the dean of the school until the 2006–2007 school year. Hier helped to propagate the 2006 Iranian sumptuary law hoax , declaring the fictitious law to be "absolutely true" when contacted by Canadian journalist Douglas Kelly to verify the story. President George W. Bush appointed Hier to serve on
21460-539: Was soon found out to have been a complete fabrication by Taheri. The newspaper that published the story retracted it and apologized for it, but the center never did apologize and refused to admit any mistake on their part. In January 2004, Shimon Samuels of the Paris branch of the center published an open letter to the president of Ireland, Mary McAleese , requesting the "Irish Museum of the Year Award" recently given to
21608-631: Was the Jehovah's Witnesses , who were involved in a large number of Supreme Court cases . The most important cases involved statutes requiring flag salutes. The Jehovah's Witnesses felt that saluting a flag was contrary to their religious beliefs. Two children were convicted in 1938 of not saluting the flag. The ACLU supported their appeal to the Supreme Court, but the court affirmed the conviction in 1940. But three years later, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ,
21756-452: Was the best long-term solution because the Supreme Court could not mandate liberal interpretations of the Bill of Rights. But Walter Pollak , Morris Ernst , and other leaders felt that Supreme Court decisions were the best path to guarantee civil liberties. A series of Supreme Court decisions in the 1920s foretold a changing national atmosphere; anti-radical emotions were diminishing, and there
21904-426: Was thus mundra , i.e. abandoned, under Muslim laws. The center used to hunt Nazi war criminals, often in collaboration with Simon Wiesenthal. Its first claim to fame came in 1979 when it successfully petitioned West Germany to revoke a statute of limitations on Nazi war criminals. Efraim Zuroff , director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, is the coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide for
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