September 23, 2005
Jordan's King Abdullah II has said that he is willing to take radical measures to combat Muslim extremists. Addressing a gathering of American rabbis in Washington he said that Jews and Muslims were irrevocably 'tied together by culture and history' and that "We face a common threat: extremist distortions of religion", which "have already divided us from without for far too long." Abdullah said he wanted to be a voice of moderate Islam and added: "Muslims from every branch of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation," he said, "that a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians – no matter what nationality or religion, Muslim or Jew, Arab or Israeli – is a basic violation of the most fundamental principles of Islam." Now, the king said, was the time to mend fences with the world-wide Jewish community.
