Schwarzenegger to dedicate "Museum of Tolerance" in Jerusalem
By Ellis Shuman March 21, 2004
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Israel in May to attend the groundbreaking
ceremony of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's for Human Dignity - Tolerance Museum in Jerusalem. Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom invited the former movie star to also speak at an anti-Semitism conference in
Israel.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has accepted our invitation and will be the guest speaker at the
ground-breaking ceremony on May 2," Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and
director of the Museum of Tolerance, told Haaretz.
"This will be the first time he is leaving the state of California for a foreign country, and we are
proud that it is for a visit to the State of Israel," Hier said.
Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to speak at a gala dinner for the Center at the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem later that night, will also be promoting trade relations between Israel and California
during his two-day visit. He will visit Israel at the head of a delegation of Jewish Californian
businesspeople, including former Packard Bell president Beny Alagem and Saban Entertainment
president Haim Saban, Globes reported.
The $200 million Museum of Tolerance project was designed by Frank Gehry and will be two and a half
times bigger than the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. It will take about three years to build.
Schwarzenegger, whose father was a member of the Nazi Party in Austria, has given hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles over the years. Rabbi Hier read the
invocation when Schwarzenegger was sworn in as California governor.
Shalom met with Schwarzenegger on Friday at the Los Angeles center and discussed the possibility of
the governor speaking at an anti-Semitism conference scheduled for June in Jerusalem, Shalom's
spokesman Moshe Debby said.
Shalom said that during the cordial 30-minute meeting, Schwarzenegger emphasized his commitment to
fighting intolerance, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"Anti-Semitism is flourishing, is rising once again," Shalom said. "I believe that if we are united,
we will prevail."
Debby said the governor has not confirmed if he will speak at the event.
On Friday, Shalom addressed some 150 Jewish community leaders at the Jewish Federation of Greater
Los Angeles. When Shalom mentioned his ministry's modest budget for hasbarah (public relations),
Guilford Glazer, a prominent real estate developer, rose and announced that he was donating $1
million to strengthen Israel's international information and public relations efforts, the Jerusalem
Post reported.
"I hope that other American Jews will join in this important cause," Glazer said.
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By Ellis Shuman March 21, 2004
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Israel in May to attend the groundbreaking
ceremony of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's for Human Dignity - Tolerance Museum in Jerusalem. Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom invited the former movie star to also speak at an anti-Semitism conference in
Israel.
"Governor Schwarzenegger has accepted our invitation and will be the guest speaker at the
ground-breaking ceremony on May 2," Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and
director of the Museum of Tolerance, told Haaretz.
"This will be the first time he is leaving the state of California for a foreign country, and we are
proud that it is for a visit to the State of Israel," Hier said.
Schwarzenegger, who is scheduled to speak at a gala dinner for the Center at the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem later that night, will also be promoting trade relations between Israel and California
during his two-day visit. He will visit Israel at the head of a delegation of Jewish Californian
businesspeople, including former Packard Bell president Beny Alagem and Saban Entertainment
president Haim Saban, Globes reported.
The $200 million Museum of Tolerance project was designed by Frank Gehry and will be two and a half
times bigger than the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. It will take about three years to build.
Schwarzenegger, whose father was a member of the Nazi Party in Austria, has given hundreds of
thousands of dollars to the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles over the years. Rabbi Hier read the
invocation when Schwarzenegger was sworn in as California governor.
Shalom met with Schwarzenegger on Friday at the Los Angeles center and discussed the possibility of
the governor speaking at an anti-Semitism conference scheduled for June in Jerusalem, Shalom's
spokesman Moshe Debby said.
Shalom said that during the cordial 30-minute meeting, Schwarzenegger emphasized his commitment to
fighting intolerance, the Jerusalem Post reported.
"Anti-Semitism is flourishing, is rising once again," Shalom said. "I believe that if we are united,
we will prevail."
Debby said the governor has not confirmed if he will speak at the event.
On Friday, Shalom addressed some 150 Jewish community leaders at the Jewish Federation of Greater
Los Angeles. When Shalom mentioned his ministry's modest budget for hasbarah (public relations),
Guilford Glazer, a prominent real estate developer, rose and announced that he was donating $1
million to strengthen Israel's international information and public relations efforts, the Jerusalem
Post reported.
"I hope that other American Jews will join in this important cause," Glazer said.
==
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html