New York, NY, February 1, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Andrzej Lepper, for accepting an honorary Professorship from MAUP, the private Ukrainian University which actively promotes anti-Semitism. Lepper's professorship follows an honorary doctorate granted to him by MAUP in 2004.

"It is outrageous that the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, a member state of the European Union, has accepted yet another award from an institution which promotes anti-Semitism, including the infamous blood libel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "By once again embracing MAUP, Lepper has reinforced his credentials as a member of the same bigots club as the racist and anti-Semite David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and Holocaust denier, who also teaches there."

Mr. Foxman added that, "The real test for the Polish government is -- how much longer will they tolerate participating in a coalition with parties whose leaders ally themselves with haters of the Jewish people?"

Lepper arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on January 31 to deliver a lecture at MAUP, accompanied by the deputy leader of his Self-Defense Party, Janusz Maksymiuk, who was also awarded an honorary doctorate. An ADL report published in 2006, Poland: Democracy and The Challenge of Extremism, outlined serious concerns about Poland's governing coalition, which includes Lepper's Self-Defense Party.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.