(Jerusalem Post) Hilary Leila Krieger - Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, slammed the U.S. and Europe Tuesday for not doing more to back Iranian reformers. "If we want to see change in Iran, we have to support the people in Iran who will bring about change. And what we have done is everything possible to dissuade them," said Hoenlein. He singled out the need to highlight Iran's human rights abuses, pointing to hundreds of public executions on "spurious charges" each year. "The West as a whole has failed to stand up to the murder of Christians, Baha'is, and Muslims." "The world makes a mistake to dismiss [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad's comments about Israel and the Holocaust as the rantings of a madman. They are not. They are part of his nuclear program. This is a deliberate, well-thought-out strategy to mobilize the Muslim world," he said. To help encourage moderate Muslims to reject Holocaust denial, the Conference is working with Yad Vashem on a new program to bring Muslim teachers to Israel to learn about the Holocaust.
2006-02-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive