Remarks on the occasion of Senator Cristina Fernandez, First Lady of Argentina visiting the Museum of Tolerance 

We are honored to welcome to the Museum of Tolerance, Senator Cristina Fernandez, the first Lady of Argentina and a distinguished leader in her own right. We particularly remember that in the beginning of your husband’s presidency, the meeting President Kirschner held with the Simon Wiesenthal Center delegation.

We recognize and applaud the continued strengthening of Argentina’s democracy and your role Senator, in encouraging your fellow citizens to confront and learn from the past.

I want to congratulate the courage of President Kirschner, who on Tuesday issued a decree formerly taking responsibility on behalf of Argentina for the failure of the investigations into the terrorist attack on the Jewish Center in 1994. President Kirschner acknowledged, that previous Argentine governments had covered up the facts and he wanted to set the record straight. That is the kind of candor that we need today to confront international terrorism.

The events in London should be a wakeup call to the entire world that the time has come to deal firmly with religious fanaticism that turns people into killing machines.

It is not only the suicide bombers who are culpable of terrible crimes, but those who inspire them to hate who should bear the full responsibility. In addition, we call upon clerics from the Muslim world to gather and issue a strong condemnation on this new culture of death by issuing a Fatwa declaring suicide bombings a "Crime Against Humanity." This is not a time for equivocation or explanation – there must be no rationalizations for the mass murder of innocent civilians.