Wiesenthal Center: “Coalition Forces Are Not In Iraq To Put Their Lives On The Line For Racists And Antisemites”

July 13, 2006

WIESENTHAL CENTER: “COALITION FORCES ARE NOT IN IRAQ TO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR RACISTS AND ANTISEMITES”

Speaker of Iraqi Parliament accuses Jews of funding violence in his country

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today condemned remarks made by Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, member of the Sunni Muslim Accordance Front Party, and Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament which put the blame for the violence in Iraq on a Jewish conspiracy. “These acts [of violence] are not the works of Iraqis. I am sure he does this is a Jew and a son of a Jew,” al-Mashhadani said adding that Jews “are using Iraqi money and oil to frustrate the Islamic movement in Iraq and come with the agent and cheap project.”

“It will be very instructive to see if any other Iraqi political or religious leader will denounce this bald-faced lie,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of  the Wiesenthal Center. “Freedom of speech is the hallmark of democracy but the coalition forces are not in Iraq to put their lives on the line so that political leaders can use their status to spout racist hate and bigoted antisemitic lies,” he added.

“Iraq will truly be free only when it develops leadership that has the honesty and courage to speak the truth in confronting the horrific internecine Muslim on Muslim violence racking their society,” Rabbi Cooper 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, the OAS and Council of Europe.

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