WIESENTHAL CENTER: RELIGIOUS FANATICISM, NOT FRUSTRATION OVER MIDDLE EAST, A PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF LONDON ATTACKS

An out of control religious fanaticism, and not frustration over Arab-Israeli conflict, is the principal cause of the London attacks and of international terrorism, according to the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading international NGO.

"Of course solving the Middle East conflict would substantially lower the propensity to violence. But it is almost insulting to cite frustration over the Arab/Israeli conflict as the principal reason for terrorism," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Center. "Millions of people go to bed every night frustrated and disheartened without becoming terrorists and blowing up trains and buses, murdering thousands of innocent people. They recognize that an imperfect world is no cover for human beings behaving as animals."

Hier continued: "American Jews in the 30s and 40s that had every reason to be frustrated as they watched helplessly the slaughter 6 million fellow European Jews. But they didn’t vent their anger by going out and murdering their fellow citizens.

It is the inability of many in the Muslim world to reign in the extremists that are hijacking their religion by denying the universal virtues of human dignity & pluralism and instead preaching jihad and martyrdom-- the principal motivations for 9/11, the bombings in Madrid, and the bombings in London."

"The time has come for all the leading imams of the Muslim world to come together and issue a religious fatwa prohibiting their coreligionists from joining, contributing or aiding any Islamic fundamentalist group that preaches hatred and terrorism," Hier concluded.

Last month, a Wiesenthal Center delegation met with King Abdullah of Jordan who was recognized for being a force and example for moderation and for his efforts in promoting peace and tolerance in the Middle East.

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, 310-772-2455.