WIESENTHAL CENTER CALLS ON UN TO LAUNCH INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE REARMING OF TERRORIST GROUPS IN GAZA

Center says stopping flow of munitions to terrorist groups best way to prevent loss of innocent lives on both sides of Gaza border

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged the United Nations to launch an independent inquiry into the re-arming of terrorist groups in Gaza. The Center stressed that the focus of the investigation should be to identify the sources of the armaments and to determine which member states are complicit in aiding and abetting terrorism at the expense of innocent lives on both sides of the Gaza border.

“We express our condolences to the innocent victims who lost their lives in Beit Hanoun, but the best way for such an occurrence to never be repeated is for the UN to implement robust measures to choke off the uninterrupted flow of missiles, rockets and other munitions into Gaza,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center.

“The UN should have learned a lesson from this past summer’s Lebanon war where Hezbollah was allowed to arm itself to the teeth, making a mockery of UN Resolution 1559,” said Rabbi Hier. “The UN should focus all of its attention to thwart the efforts of the extremists to convert Gaza into the next Southern Lebanon,” Hier concluded.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036.