Wiesenthal Center Denounces Archbishop Tutu Remarks

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today criticized South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu for stating that criticism of Israel by the West is muted because of guilt over the Holocaust.Tutu made the remarks at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva while reporting findings of his investigation of an Israeli attack in Gaza.

"It is not the criticism of Israel that’s been muted – it is the absence of any criticism directed at the Arab world that has been muted," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and deanof the Wiesenthal Center." If Bishop Tutu is looking for bias, let him direct his attention at the United Nations, where 57 Moslem countries have paralyzed the General Assembly,preventing it from dealing with the single most important issue of our time, international terrorism and never allowing it to issue a single condemnation against Hamas, Hezbollah,or the suicide attacks perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists."

"Regarding Israel, not a single day has passed since its creation where someone has not questioned her legitimacy. No other nation has been subjected to that kind of bias," Hieradded. "The time has come for Bishop Tutu to rise to the occasion and direct his remarks against Arab fixed intransigence and fanaticism, which is the only reason peace has not cometo 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 atinternational 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.