The most successful Simon Wiesetnthal Award dinner ever, the dinner raised $1.6 million.
The Wiesenthal Center is “a living memorial to the memory of a great man — Simon Wiesenthal — who died eight years ago at the age of 96, sixty years after his liberation,” New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo said: “Now some will say that the Center’s mission is complete.” Apropos the emergence of anti-Semitism worldwide, Cuomo cited incidents in France when “last month a group of Jews were attacked by a gang of teenagers…in Spain two months ago…’Adolf Hitler was right’ was painted across a bullfight arena…. It is very much a real threat in the world we live in…. So Simon Wiesenthal was right and you are right to be here this evening. We need a strong Israel and we need a strong America…working hand-in-glove because they are the bulwarks for democracy on this globe.” At the dinner Kenneth Jacobs, Lazard Ldt.'s Chairman and CEO was awarded the Centers Humanitarian Award.