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“ For this courageous decision, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (picture) and her administration once again deserve praise," says Ronald L.Lauder, World Jewish Congress President.
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NEW YORK (EJP)---The World Jewish Congress hailed Argentina for ordering Holocaust-denying British bishop Richard Williamson to leave the country within ten days or face expulsion.
“This decision is commendable, even more so because the government of Argentina makes it crystal clear that Holocaust deniers are not welcome in the country. Sadly, other countries and governments are much less inclined to crack down on any attempts to denigrate the victims of the Shoah,” WJC President Ronald S.Lauder said.
The leader of the Jewish group added: “ For this courageous decision, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her administration once again deserve praise.”
Argentina's Interior Minister Florencio Randazo announced last week that ultra-conservative bishop Richard Williamson, who said publicly last month that the Nazis did not kill Jews in gas chambers in WWII, has been ordered to leave the country within 10 days.
The Argentine government said Williamson's beliefs "deeply shocked Argentine society, the Jewish people and all of humanity, to deny a proven historical truth."
Days before he made his controversial statement about the Nazi gas chambers, Pope Benedict XVI lifted the ex-communication of Williamson and three other bishops, in an attempt by the Vatican to heal a split with traditionalists who reject reforms made in the early 1960s.
The 68-year-old bishop has refused to recant his statement, despite the Vatican's demands.
In an interview last week with German magazine Der Spiegel, Williamson said he would reexamine the historical evidence of the Nazi gas chambers -- but again made no sign that he had changed his views.
Ronald Lauder expressed hope that the Argentinean decision to act against anti-Semitism and denial of the Holocaust would have a positive impact on other countries.
Until he was relieved his post earlier this month, Williamson acted as director of the Society of St. Pius X La Reja seminary in Argentina.