Tutu Criticized; Told Jews to Forgive Nazis
American Jewish leaders criticized South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu Thursday for suggesting that Jews should forgive and pray for the Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust.
Tutu, on a Christmas pilgrimage to the Holy Land Tuesday, urged Israelis to forgive the Nazis for killing 6 million Jews during World War II and condemned the Jewish state for oppressing Palestinians.
“Bishop Tutu’s unsolicited advice to victims of the Holocaust and to their descendants about the benefits of prayer and forgiveness shows an insensitivity that is particularly surprising in a religious person of his stature,” said Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress.
Rabbi Leon Klenicki, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Tutu’s remarks reflected a “profound naivete about Judaism.”
A New York political group sent a telegram to Mayor-elect David N. Dinkins, asking that Tutu’s name be withdrawn from the list of speakers at Dinkins’ inauguration ceremony on Monday.
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