New York, NY, December 23, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today commended the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for withdrawing funding from a Palestinian magazine, which featured an article glorifying Hitler and the killing of Jews, and called on "the agency to publicly condemn similar manifestations of anti-Semitism in publications across the Middle East." 

"We applaud UNESCO for taking strong action against this Palestinian magazine for publishing an anti-Semitic article," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Unfortunately, this magazine is not unusual. There are horrible writings and caricatures that demonize Jews daily in numerous Arab and Muslim government-affiliated media located in UNESCO member countries. We again ask the agency to publicly condemn similar manifestations of anti-Semitism in publications across the Middle East."

In a letter sent to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, ADL mentioned its previous letter to UNESCO documenting anti-Semitism in the Arab media, and repeated its request for the agency to take action.

UNESCO announced its decision to cut funding to the magazine in a letter to David Killion, the U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO, who requested an investigation into the agency's financing of the publication. ADL also commended Ambassador Killion for his involvement.

Palestinian Media Watch translated and drew attention to the offensive article in Zayzafuna, a monthly educational magazine that is sponsored by the Palestinian National Committee for Education, Culture and Sciences.