Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein and ZOA Chairman Mark Levenson, Esq. released the following statement: 

ZOA condemns the Islamic terrorists of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath Islamic terrorist organization, and the international Islamic terror group suspected of assisting them, for perpetrating the horrific multiple bombings of Catholic churches and tourist hotels in Sri Lanka yesterday, on Easter Sunday. We mourn and pray for the nearly 300 murdered and 500 wounded mostly Christian innocents, who were the victims of the worst terror attack since 9-11.   

As ZOA President Morton Klein recently testified in Congress, and in keeping with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s famous 2015 speech calling for a “religious revolution” among Muslims, Imams at the leading Islamic center of Al Azhar University, and throughout the world, must take the lead in reforming Islam so that murder and terror attacks in the name of Islam are no longer acceptable.   

ZOA is also appalled that former President Obama, former Secretary of State Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar all failed to name both the Islamic perpetrators and the Christian victims of the massacres in Sri Lanka.   

For instance, instead of acknowledging that the victims were Christians, or the Muslim identity of the perpetrators, Obama called the Sri Lanka massacres “attacks on tourists and Easter worshipers” and “an attack on humanity.” Commenters justifiably wondered “Do we have people who worship Easter?,” and “Why can’t you call them what they are… Christians?” By contrast, after the horrendous New Zealand massacre, Obama specified that he grieved with “the Muslim community.” 

Secretary Clinton likewise called the victims “Easter worshipers.” Bernie Sanders merely tweeted about “victims” with no attempt at identifying them or the perpetrators. Ilhan Omar likewise avoided identifying victims and perpetrators. 

We cannot solve the problem of Islamic terrorism unless we acknowledge it, confront it, and call upon Muslim religious officials to lead widespread reform.