PRESS RELEASE
October 31, 1996

ELIE WIESEL: WHY I AM PERSONALLY ENDORSING PRESIDENT CLINTON AND VICE PRESIDENT GORE

Usually in Presidential elections I try to remain a committed and passionate observer. But as we come close to the 21st century, we need leaders with imagination, we need leaders concerned with social justice. There are too many victims of society, too many prisoners of despair.

We need compassion and sensitivity for those who are ill, hungry, without work or shelter, the forgotten, the abandoned, those for whom life is a burden and every new day a source of fear. We need leaders willing to take on the challenges of dealing with the regular outbursts of hatred between religious groups and ethnic communities, with the violence at home and abroad -- in such places as Bosnia, Ireland, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Zaire.

As a Jew, I am particularly concerned about achieving peace in the Middle East. The nightmare that continues to haunt Israel and its neighbors must end. I know that President Clinton shares this concern and that he has been a steadfast ally and friend of Israel during some of its toughest times since it became a state.

For all these reasons, this year we must take sides and say whether we consider President Clinton and Vice President Gore worthy of our trust. I believe they are.

Elie Wiesel is a world renowned human rights advocate. He is the 1986 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and has taught at Boston University as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities since 1976. His personal experience of the Holocaust has led him to use his talents as an author, teacher and storyteller to defend human rights and peace throughout the earth for much of his life.

# # #