New York, NY. . . Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations today welcomed the letter to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum from Muhammad Alissa, Secretary General of the Saudi based Muslim World League (MWL), in which he expressed, on behalf of the MWL, “great sympathy with the victims of the Holocaust” and called the Holocaust “an event whose horrors could not be denied or underrated . . . “
Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, of the Conference of Presidents, said, “We welcome the letter from the Secretary General of the MWL to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in which he publicly voices sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust and unambiguously acknowledges the barbaric historical facts of the Holocaust.
At a time when other leaders in the Arab and Muslim world promote Holocaust denial and revision, Dr. Alissa and the MWL stand out for their willingness to clearly condemn the evil perpetrated by the Nazis. By forcefully rejecting any form of Holocaust denial, and aligning principles of Islam with the innocent victims of Hitler’s atrocities, their message exemplifies the importance of recognizing our shared humanity.
This is a notable first step from an important international religious body representing Muslims around the world that contributes to the mutual recognition of each other’s history. We hope it will be a model other Muslim religious and political leaders in the region will follow and that it leads to even greater progress toward the kind of shared understanding that is so vital to breaking down barriers, promoting goodwill and creating a climate to foster peaceful relations between people.”
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