14^th June 2016

MEDIA RELEASE

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.

Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM Executive Director
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au