Rabbi Marvin Heir calls for U.N. special session in wake of Mumbai attacks
Heir, the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says the United Nations must address the problem of suicide terrorism.
Rabbi Marvin Heir, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, this afternoon denounced the terrorist assaults in Mumbai, India, and called on the United Nations to hold a special session to counter suicide terrorism.
"This is a wake-up call to America and to the world," Heir said.
In coordinated attacks that began late Wednesday at sites in the Indian financial center, including two luxury hotels, two hospitals and a police station, as many as 125 people have been killed and 325 injured, including three Americans. The Mumbai office of an Orthodox Jewish outreach group, Chabad Lubavitch, was also stormed..
Several at the Jewish center were reportedly taken hostage, including a rabbi and his wife and son. Five other families may have been inside the Chabad House when it was attacked by militants, according to a group in Beijing affiliated with the center.
Heir called terrorism "the plague of the 21st century" and said the attackers "were not just delivering a message to the Indian government. They were sending a message to America and London and Jews and the state of Israel."
Heir expressed concern for victims and asked for the safe release of the Chabad House hostages. Chabad of California is organizing several prayer vigils in coming days in honor of the rabbi.
Bermudez is a Times staff writer.
esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com
