Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the human rights group the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, charged the US-sponsored Global Counterterrorism Forum of
deliberately excluding Israel from a second meeting of the group that took place
in Spain last week.
In a strongly worded letter to US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, Hier wrote that “when there was criticism following your
announcement of the creation of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, which
excluded Israel, I accepted the administration’s assurances that a way would be
found to involve Israel. But after reading the Victims of Terrorism comments
from the undersecretary of civilian security democracy and human rights, I’m
prepared to believe that Israel is being left out intentionally.”
Maria
Otero, the undersecretary referred to in Hier’s letter, delivered a speech
entitled “Victims of Terrorism” on July 9 in Madrid at the Global
Counterterrorism Forum and failed to mention Israel as a country that has
experienced terrorism.
“Last September at the official launch of the
Global Counterterrorism Forum, I had the privilege to introduce the premier of a
film ‘Hear their Voices,’ which tells the stories of eleven survivors of
terrorist attacks from Pakistan, Jordan, Northern Ireland, Uganda, Turkey,
Indonesia, India, Spain, Columbia [sic] and the United States,” she
said.
“The film, which was produced by the Global Survivors Network, is a
powerful plea for audiences around the world, especially those sympathetic to
the grievances expressed by extremists, to recognize the human cost of terrorism
and I am delighted that our Spanish hosts are planning on showing this film here
later this afternoon.”
In June, the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s first
formal meeting in Istanbul excluded Israel and invited countries with a history
of sponsoring radical Islamic ideology.
A telling example was the
presence of Saudi Arabia at the meeting. The kingdom’s government embraces and
spreads the radical Wahhabist ideology to which many terrorists
adhere.
The lack of Israel’s presence at the Istanbul event raised
eyebrows, largely because Israel has a long track record of combating
terrorism.
Critics chalked up the absence of Israel to the opposition of
Turkey and its influence on the Obama administration.
Rabbi Marvin Hier
wrote, “I am well aware that Turkey, one of the L of the forum is in opposition
to an Israeli presence, but with all due respect to Turkey or any other country,
the forum was created by the United States and Israel is amongst the United
States’ most reliable and trusted allies.”
Hier continued by saying that
“having a global counterterrorism forum and not including Israel, is like having
a global technology conference and excluding the United States of America. There
is no one with more experience at combatting terrorism or educating civilians
about it than the State of Israel. I think the time has come for the United
States to make it very clear why Israel continues to be excluded.”
Asked
by AP reporter Matthew Lee last week at a State Department briefing “why [Otero]
doesn’t mention Israel or Israelis in her comments talking about victims of
terrorism,” Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman, seemed to stumble
for an answer before replying, “I don’t have the details of the undersecretary’s
speech.”
The reporter pointed out to Ventrell that Maria Otero’s speech
is on the State Department website.
In an extensive Washington Free
Beacon news outlet report titled “Israel’s Plight Ignored” on the Obama
administration’s refusal to include Israel in the forum, the Beacon quoted Josh
Block, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), saying, “When the administration promised to
include Israel in the counterterrorism forum that the United States founded –
after Jerusalem’s inexplicable exclusion from the initial meeting a month ago –
one would think they would be true to their word.”
“Clearly someone
failed here. How Israel could be excluded from another meeting of an anti-terror
forum that we chair is beyond comprehension, especially one that focuses on
victims of terrorism,” he added.
Block noted that, as Israel’s exclusion
comes “at a time when Romney is challenging the administration’s record on
US-Israel relations, this error stands out.”
Senators Joseph Lieberman
(I-Connecticut) and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) also wrote to Clinton in June
expressing disappointment of “the absence of our ally, Israel, from the Global
Counterterrorism Forum, which you attended in Istanbul last week.”