The shooting attack on the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people were murdered was “foreseeable”, Islam expert Dr. Ephraim Herrera told Arutz Sheva on Tuesday.

“The spokesman of the Islamic State (ISIS) said that Muslims in Europe and America should attack against non-Muslims during the month of Ramadan,” he explained.

The target was foreseeable as well, he added, “because homosexuality in Islam is forbidden and the penalty for it is death.”

“The time, the target and the method used were all foreseeable,” said Dr. Herrera.

“If you don’t name the problem, you can’t solve it,” he added, in reference to President Barack Obama’s refusal to say outright that “Islamic terrorism” was responsible for the Orlando attack.

“For sure it is Islam. All their attacks are based upon jihad, and they say ‘we have to fight the Crusaders and the Jews who are the enemies of Islam,’” said Dr. Herrera.

Obama’s refusal to link the attack with Islamic terrorism may be due to the fact that the United States has economic interests in Arab countries and also due to the fact that Muslims in both the U.S. and Europe usually traditionally for the left, he opined.

“[Obama] doesn’t want to offend these populations. These are the two main reasons in my opinion,” he added.

“The West has chosen the Shiites over the Sunnis, and when we remember that 85% of Muslims are Sunni, I’m not sure this is the right choice. And when one remembers that Iran’s goal is to dominate the world, I’m very afraid that it was a bad choice,” warned Dr. Herrera.