Orlando
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder has harshly condemned the vicious attack on an Orlando, Florida nightclub which left 50 people dead and dozens more wounded earlier in the evening, in the most severe hate crime in US history.
![Omar Mateen [MySpace}]](https://i0.wp.com/www.jwire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Orlando-Nightclub-Shooting-Kills-50-Gunman-Had-Praised-ISIS-The-New-York-Times-2016-06-13-21-46-32.png?resize=171%2C160)
Omar Mateen [MySpace}]
The suspect in the shooting pledged allegiance to ISIS and mentioned the Boston bombing in a call to 911 about 20 minutes into the attack, according to US reports. His name has not been confirmed by US authorities, but several news outlets have identified him as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old resident of Florida.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We are all shocked at the horrific massacre in Orlando. On behalf of the government and people of Israel, I would like to again express our condolences to the American people and the families at this especially difficult hour. This terror threatens the entire world and it is necessary – first of all – that the enlightened countries urgently unite to fight it. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the American people.”
In the meantime President Reuven Rivlin has written to US President Obama to express his condolences following the attack in Orlando. The President wrote, “Once again we feel the pain of terrible loss as we see the blood spilled of young and innocent people. There is no comfort for those who have had their loved ones torn away from them.
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council expresses its profound sadness and utter outrage at the murder of dozens people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.
The terrorist murders in the gay nightclub were reportedly committed by a single gunman, Omar Mateen. Mateen pledged loyalty to the Islamic State and is understood to have also acted out of anti-LGBT bigotry.
President of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Robert Goot joined executive director Peter Wertheim in stating: “We are deeply saddened, shocked and angered by the massacre carried out at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead and 53 injured.
The Australian Jewish community shares the pain caused by this unspeakable act. We pray for the strength of the mourners and the souls of the murdered. We wish long life to the families of the victims. May their memories be a blessing.
There can be no doubting the nature of this attack. This was not a random act, nor was the choice of venue insignificant. On the contrary, this was a deliberate homophobic attack and the victims were selected to die simply because they belonged to the LGBTI community.
It has become clear also that the gunman was inspired by extreme Islamist ideology and had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the outrage. This was an act of terrorism in addition to being a homophobic attack, one that is consistent with both the proliferation of terrorism in the West and the barbaric treatment of LGBTI people in territory controlled by Islamic State.
We as a community stand with LGBTI people at this most difficult of times. We pray that this horrible act will deepen the compassion of all people and lead to a rejection of bigotry. We must all harden our commitment to fight violent extremism so that such a tragedy is never repeated.
“The carnage which took place in the Orlando attack, against innocent people simply trying to enjoy a night out, is something which is difficult to even comprehend,” said AIJAC National Chairman Mark Leibler. “AIJAC mourns the loss of so many sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, partners and friends, offers the bereaved families and friends our sincerest sympathies, and prays for the full recovery of the injured.
“While investigations are still ongoing, one thing already appears clear, that this was both an act of terrorism and a hate crime against the LGBT community,” added AIJAC Executive Director Dr. Colin Rubenstein. “The first lesson we all must draw from this reality is that the bigoted attitudes and ideologies that fuel such terrorist violence and hate crimes must be totally and categorically rejected and vigorously combated by all people of good will.”
“This attack appears to have occurred in the overlap where radical Islamist ideology, a supremacist and totalitarian belief system, intersected on this occasion with the wider and malignant phenomenon of anti-LGBT bigotry. Unless we are prepared to identify clearly both these contributing realities, we will never be able to combat them effectively, raising the risk that horrors like this one will recur in future,” he concluded.
Not one of the Jewish “leaders” quoted in this article had the courage to call this atrocity out for what it is, and that is Islamic terrorism while Dr Dvir Abramovich babbles on with that tired useless term “lone wolf”!
Dear Doctor, just who do you think inspired this “lone wolf” to do what he did? Do you seriously think he woke up one morning and decided to go on a killing rampage without any indoctrination from a person or persons he admired?
The timidity, leftist orientation and general political correctness of my fellow Jews quite frankly sickens me.
You are correct.
Every country which has capital or corporal punishment for homosexuality is Islamic.
There are 100s of videos available of Islamic leaders, Imams, Sheikhs etc (including one currently visiting Sydney who preached in Orlando just two months ago!!) advocating death to gays.
Yet so many in politics, media and community leaders won’t call the obvious.
You are absolutely right, Gil.
All of the professional Jews quoted are pathetic!!!
It is all well to avoid making generalisations, after all there are some courageous modernising mohammedans who can lead some of them out of the seventh century. But by being PC, we undermine the efforts of the same people who risk their live in speaking out against jihadis.
Seventh century supremacist, murderous, sex-slave burning islamofascism must be unequivocally condemned and fought without quarter given; its us or them.
US gun laws are an Act of Terrorism.
Deranged nutters, like the Pulse Night club massacre gunman and when a 22 year old female (Voice TV show) singer was murdered by a young white male, also in Orlando the day before, are all mad. These two killers were both Americans born and breed.
Adrian Jackson adopts the usual leftist script by trying to portray the tragedy of Orlando as a US gun issue.
It is not.
Tough gun laws exist in France and elsewhere in Europe where there are very strict controls of automatic weapons and yet terror outrages carried out by certain Muslim extremists still persist. In Chicago where there are stringent restrictions on gun ownership, that city holds the record as one of the main gun associated murder capitals in the US.
Terrorists and criminals will always find a way to get weapons and the majority of law abiding US citizens need guns primarily for self protection from fanatics and those who could do them harm. This is exactly why the 2nd amendment is vital, especially so today.
The fact of the matter, which Mr Jackson does not appear to comprehend is that tragedies such as Orlando are committed by people either screaming “Allah Akkbar” or profess allegiance to ISIS.
The reason why Donald Trump will most likely be the next President of the USA is that he calls a spade a spade and does not pussy foot around with niceties and political correctness.
The President of the USA noted on TV today that these two killers and many other killers are Americans. I am in good company.
Mr Jackson,
So what that the Orlando shooter was an American citizen?
The undeniable facts are that an acquaintance of his was a suicide bomber in the Middle East and that he professed loyalty to ISIS when he carried out the attack.
Your point of view started off as a gun issue, then you go claiming the nationality of the shooter and quoting Obama. While all Muslims are not terrorists, many horrific terrorist acts are committed by Muslims. Look at France just recently, where a Muslim terrorist stabbed two police officers to death before finally being shot to death by fellow officers.
Finally I’m not impressed with the “company” you keep.
Quoting Obama these days, means squat.
Gun control is the ideal, but in the real world, it fails. It fails especially in a country like the USA where there are literally hundreds of millions of fire arms swirling about in the population.
For a while I lived in NYC and concealed weapons there are prohibited. Some gang members made “zip guns” from car radio antennas. In Judea and Samaria, terrorists set up arms factories and make Carl Gustav sub-machine guns like those used in the Tel Aviv massacre.
As long ago as Homer’s time Ulysses quotes the ancient Greek saying: bare steel in sight, draws men to fight. But when only the baddies have weapons, the good become their slaves. Reasonable, trustworthy people should be armed to ensure that a mere handful of terrorists are stopped before mass casualties occur as in Paris or Mumbai.