Community mourns Orlando victims
Australian Jewry has expressed its sadness and shock at the massacre carried out at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead and 53 injured.
AUSTRALIAN Jewry has expressed its sadness and shock at the massacre carried out at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that left 49 people dead and 53 injured.
The gunman Omar Mateen, 29, called 911 and pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the shooting.
Mateen shot at the patrons in the Orlando nightclub and held some hostage in a club bathroom as others ran for the doors. He was subsequently killed in a gun battle with police.
“The Australian Jewish community shares the pain caused by this unspeakable act,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot and executive director Peter Wertheim said.
“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.”
Stating that this was a “deliberate homophobic attack and the victims were selected to die simply because they belonged to the LGBTI community”, the pair added, “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.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) national chairman Mark Leibler said the carnage which took place “against innocent people simply trying to enjoy a night out, is something which is difficult to even comprehend”.
“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,” he said.
AIJAC executive director Colin Rubenstein added, “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-LGBTI 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.”
Alex Linker, president of Dayenu, told The AJN the Sydney Jewish LGBTI group is saddened by this “terrible, senseless attack”, which shows that there is still hatred towards the LGBTI community worldwide.
“While we in Australia are so lucky, due to the increased tolerance of the general public and acceptance by religious leaders, we still have such a far way to go to be fully accepted on a global scale,” Linker said.
“Terrorism, whether based in anti-Semitism, homophobia, sexism, or other baseless hatreds, is always a horrific, condemnable act and we long for a time of peace where we no longer have to face it. No-one should have to live in fear of expressing their authentic self.”
Condemning in the strongest possible terms the Orlando attack an act of “evil” , B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich said, “This tragedy is a stark reminder that radical ideologies and lone-wolf terrorism remain a serious and potent threat to communities around the world.
“It is the duty of all nations to stand together so as to prevail in the concerted, sustained fight against global terrorism and to ensure that the lives of all citizens are protected, and that the shared values of democracy, respect and freedom are secure.”
EVAN ZLATKIS
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