The Anti-Defamation League Denies the Armenian Genocide, Fires its New England Director
A controversy has been growing in New England over the refusal of the Anti-Defamation League to admit that the Armenian genocide was really, well, a genocide. Things came to a head yesterday, according to this article in the Boston Globe:
I don't mean to diminish legitimate concerns about the safety of Jews in Israel. The Ant-Defamation League was founded in 1913 to protect Jews (and others) from discrimination. Denouncing genocides around the world isn't its main reason for existence. But still... does the ADL really believe that genocide should be denied when it is politically convenient to do so? Apparently. China and other nations have downplayed the genocide taking place in Darfur because they value their access to Sudanese oil. The ADL is downplaying the Armenian genocide because it values Israel's alliance with Turkey. In both cases, geopolitical concerns are trumping the moral issue of genocide. The Armenian genocide, unlike the crisis in Darfur, is long over, so obviously the ADL is not causing as much damage as those who deny a genocide occurring today. But this fact hardly makes the ADL's actions any less distasteful.The national Anti-Defamation League fired its New England regional director yesterday, one day after he broke ranks with national ADL leadership and said the human rights organization should acknowledge the Armenian genocide that began in 1915.
The firing of Andrew H. Tarsy, who had served as regional director for about two years and as civil rights counsel for about five years before that, prompted an immediate backlash among prominent local Jewish leaders against the ADL's national leadership and its national director, Abraham H. Foxman.
...
The national office's three-page response ... made clear just how far apart the two sides were on an issue with local, national, and international implications.
The letter, signed by Foxman and Glen S. Lewy, the ADL's national chairman, said "we have acknowledged the massacres of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and called on Turkey to do more to confront its past and reconcile with Armenia. We will continue to press Turkey, publicly and privately . . ." But the letter also makes clear that the national ADL feels the safety of Israel, which considers Turkey a rare Muslim ally, is paramount.
3 comments:
ADL on Foxman's watch is totally without honor. ADL's opposition to hate speech ends where the left wing of the Democratic Party begins, noting ADL's whitewash of anti-Semitic hate speech at MoveOn.org's Action Forum last year.
That pales, however, in comparison to actions only one step less reprehensible than outright Holocaust denial (noting that ADL does not contest the fact that Armenians were in fact murdered by Turks).
Google on site:stormfront.org, "foxman," and "armenians" to see who is now using ADL's actions to attack all Jews. For the record, I am a Jew, and I condemn ADL's actions without reservation and qualification.
For ADL to attempt to even downplay what happened to the Armenians is so reprehensible as to defy belief, noting that Hitler said "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" when plotting the extermination of the Polish people (and, by logical extension, the Jews).
http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hitler.html
"I have issued the command — and I’ll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad — that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness — for the present only in the East — with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"
why the Armenian dont like to discuss is it genocide or deportation?
I know that Turkish archieve is open and it is not important if you are turkish or Armenian... Turkish government give a permission everyone who are studying Armenian issue...
on the other hand I know that it is not possible to work Armenian archieve if You are a Turkish citizen, this is not fair moreover Turkish Government like to discuss this issue... What about Armenian Are they ready to discuss or are they are hesitate to discuss ?
thanks
why the Armenian dont like to discuss is it genocide or deportation?
I know that Turkish archieve is open and it is not important if you are turkish or Armenian... Turkish government give a permission everyone who are studying Armenian issue...
on the other hand I know that it is not possible to work Armenian archieve if You are a Turkish citizen, this is not fair moreover Turkish Government like to discuss this issue... What about Armenian Are they ready to discuss or are they are hesitate to discuss ?
thanks
Post a Comment