Posted on 08/18/2007 5:42:01 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
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.
"My reaction is that this was a vindictive, intolerant, and destructive act, ironically by an organization and leader whose mission -- fundamental mission -- is to promote tolerance," Newton businessman Steve Grossman, a former ADL regional board member, said yesterday.
"I predict that Foxman's actions will precipitate wholesale resignations from the regional board, a meaningful reduction in ADL's regional fund-raising, and will further exacerbate the ADL's relationship with the non-Jewish community coming out of this crisis around the Armenian genocide."
Tarsy, 38, said he had been struggling with the national position for weeks and finally told Foxman in a phone conversation Thursday that he found the ADL's stance "morally indefensible."
The regional board's executive committee backed Tarsy and, according to a source fa miliar with the discussion, even went a step further, resolving to support legislation now pending before Congress to acknowledge the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians during the World War I era as genocide.
The national office's three-page response -- which it provided yesterday to the Globe -- did not mention the local office's intent to support the legislation. But it made clear just how far apart the two sides were on an issue with local, national, and international implications.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Abe Foxman doesn’t want to acknowledge the murders of hundreds of thousands of Armenians? How strange. I guess only Jews matter?
This is a long-standing controversy. When Shimon Peres visited Turkey in the 1990s, he said that he “was not sure” if stories of an Armenian genocide were correct.
Armenians in Jerusalem are not allowed to publically commemorate the genocide, because of Israeli sentivities.
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One of the many political issues the ADL should keep their nose out of.
My understanding, which I must admit is very imperfect, was that the Young Turks were radical nationlists who reversed the traditional Ottoman toleration of Christians. Maybe the Armenians were opposing one nationalism against the Turkish kind, but no doubt that bad things happened to them, or that the government did its’ damnest to cover it up.
The same kind of victimology came at Jewish people from the Serb Defense League types, the Russians, and now...
Hmmm. A quick search with the keywords, “antisemitism armenia” (without the quotes), revealed some information from Turks (heh),...
Antisemitism in Armenia: Two Examples
from the Journal of Turkish Weekly
http://www.turkishweekly.net/articles.php?id=117
Armenian Anti-Semitism in the Ottoman Period
from the Journal of Turkish Weekly
http://www.turkishweekly.net/comments.php?id=1132
...from Radio Free Europe,...
Armenia: Country’s Jews Alarmed Over Nascent Anti-Semitism
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/162399d3-7533-454c-b935-b5933b68c75c.html
...and well, one more link,...
ANTI-SEMITISM IN ARMENIA
(2002-2006)
Vyacheslav Likhachev,
Rimma Varzhapetyan, Chairman of the Jewish community of Armenia
“Armenians and Aryans”: Displays of anti-Semitism
“Among Armenian thoughts that have contributed to anti-Semitic attitudes is the theory that Jews organized the Genocide in 1915.”
But many more hits were returned from the search engines.
And BTW, did Armenia join Russia’s SCO, or is its leadership still hemming and hawing about that?
The Russians have really been stirring stuff up around here and also doing so through several other proxies.
"The Russians have really been stirring stuff up around here and also doing so through several other proxies."
So very true. Putin continues arming Iran and Syria, Israel worst enemies in the Muslim world. What does that make tyrant Putin?
In terms of the ADL, a lot of fine work has been accomplished over the years exposing Nazis and monitoring anti-Semitism, however the ADL's leadership reminds me of the leftist Labour Party in Israel, not in the best interests of the Jewish people or Israel.
You have compiled some excellent research data - well done!
The good news here is that Foxman may be on his way out at the ADL. It’s been a long time coming.
Ping!
ML/NJ
At first I thought the ADL position was based on a sort of metaphysical "uniqueness of the Holocaust" doctrine (this takes the place of HaShem's election of Israel for liberal Jews). I can certainly understand not wanting to alienate a friendly power, though if one is going to base the uniqueness of Israel on genocide rather than HaShem's election it certainly is hypocritical to refuse to admit that the genocide may not be so unique after all.
What are American liberals going to do now? They have posed as both pro-Jewish and pro-Armenian for so long. This whole thing reminds me of the 1975 Syrian invasion of Lebanon in opposition (at the time) to the PLO when both were clients of Russia. In Europe they are passing laws to criminalize "Armenian genocide denial" based on the laws outlawing Holocaust denial. Are American liberals now going to defend one set of laws while attacking the others as violations of free speech???
Oslo Abe's claim that the safety of Israel is paramount to the ADL is simply false on its face. And all these conflicts with other "victim" communities would be avoided if Jewish uniqueness were based on Bechirat Yisra'el instead of secularized to a "uniquely oppressed" status that everyone else can dispute.
Two liberal communities are about to go at each other's throats. Sit back and enjoy the fun.
5.56mm
Not whether it happened, but whether Turkey should be condemned by Congress and/or the UN.
IMO it's a political issue which the ADL shouldn't be involved with. It's not their job. Unfortunately under Foxman they stick their noses into everything from gun control to gay marriage, so a position on this issue isn't out of character in terms of current management. And they're on the wrong side politically.
5.56mm
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