In view of a possible US strike against Syria over their use of chemical weapons against civilians, Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, remarked: "What has the world learned? It was in August 1942 when Gerhard Riegner, Secretary of the World Jewish Congress, sent a cable to the British Foreign Office and the U.S. State Department telling them that he had learned from a reliable informant that Hitler was discussing a plan to exterminate millions of Jews using prussic acid. Neither the State Department nor the British Foreign Office believed the report and ignored it. As a result, six million Jews were murdered.”

Hier continued, “Now, 71 years later, almost to the day, despite overwhelming evidence including photographs, intelligence reports and even a recorded conversation between Syrian commanders in the field, the world and the British Parliament have chosen to do nothing leaving the United States with the sole responsibility of confronting this horrific crime against humanity.”

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department,
310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.

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, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).