The Jewish Lobby & Armenian Genocide Bill
#41
Posted 04 August 2007 - 12:27 AM
Watertown TAB & Press
Watertown, MA
email: Watertown@cnc.com
Friday, August 3, 2007
DiMascio: `No Place for Lies,' either!
By John DiMascio
The New England director of the Anti-Defamation League, Andrew Tarsy, would
have us believe that they are honest and neutral brokers with respect to the
Armenian Genocide.
According to Tarsy, Abraham Foxman and the ADL never lobbied against a
congressional genocide resolution. Rather, they just told inquiring media
minds: `... that this issue was one to be resolved by the two countries -
Turkey and Armenia.'
Under scrutiny however, Tarsy's claim seems to fall apart.
The Turkish news Web site `Today's Zaman' reported the following on April
26: `In a letter addressing influential members of U.S. Congress....
U.S.-based Jewish groups demanded that voting on congressional resolutions
urging the U.S. administration to recognize an alleged genocide of Armenians
be delayed.
`The letter was jointly signed by B'nai B'rith International, the
Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs.'
This testimony is corroborated by Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. Kampeas reported as follows on April 23:
`Four groups, B'nai B'rith International, the Anti-Defamation League, the
American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs are set to convey a letter from Turkish Jews who oppose the
resolution to U.S. congressional leaders. The ADL and JINSA have added their
own statements opposing the bill.'
Joey Kurtzman, pundit for www.Jewcy.com, also adds a new wrinkle in his
column: `Fire Foxman - Denying the Armenian Genocide should be the last
atrocity perpetrated by the ADL chief.'
According to Kurtzman, Abdullah Gul, the Turkish foreign minister, met with
Foxman and others in February. Kurtzman asserts that at the said meeting,
Gul asked them `in essence, to perpetuate Turkey's denial of genocide.'
Kurtzman goes on to say that Foxman `acquiesced, and in so doing, performed
the pièce de résistance of Foxman's highly effective, if unintentional,
decades-long campaign to demoralize Jewish America and send young Jews
scurrying for the communal exit doors.'
These sources do not paint a particularly pretty picture. Let us ponder the
brushstrokes in review. A Turkish news site practically boasts that the ADL
lobbied Congress. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency corroborates the story. And
if Kurtzman's allegations of the February meeting are true, the lobbying was
done at the behest of the Turkish government.
Regrettably, there is no shortage of incriminating information about the
ADL's treatment of Armenians. One just needs to do a `Google' search.
Cyberspace is swarming with article after article, editorial after
editorial. All sides are weighing in with their indictments; including those
the ADL claims to represent.
One cannot help but conclude: At the very least, the ADL has a long history
of marginalizing the Armenian experience.
According to the Jewish Journal, in November 1998, the ADL and other Jewish
groups took out an ad (Nov.8, New York Sunday Times) congratulating the
Turkish Republic on its 75th anniversary. That's understandable.
Post-Ottoman Turkey assisted Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. The ADL promotes
Holocaust awareness and rightly recognizes those who aided Jewish refugees.
Therefore, it would follow that the ADL would observe the founding of the
Turkish Republic.
But that appreciation morphed from being understandable to becoming
outrageous! Commenting on some criticism related to the ad, Foxman said:
`...It [Turkey] has a magnificent history of tolerance.'
Granted, Foxman was referring to historic Judeo-Turkish relations. However,
denying the slaughter of 1.5 million people does not indicate `a magnificent
history of tolerance.' At least not where the sensibilities of Armenians are
concerned! It only indicates a shameful tolerance of Ottoman atrocities.
It's a sad but undeniable conclusion. The ADL overlooks and excuses Turkey's
genocide denial. It's deplorable and contradictory. Nevertheless it's their
Constitutional right to do so. However, it's time for them to stop the
elaborate masquerade. The ADL is supposed to cultivate tolerance and advance
human rights. It should stop acting like a self-serving lobby, wearing its
social conscience only as an ornate costume.
The ADL's behavior has other unintended consequences. The rapport between
the Armenian and Jewish communities is being strained. And therein lies the
distressing irony. The ADL, which is so devoted to fighting anti-Semitism,
is actually fostering resentment amongst Armenians towards Jews. So much for
promoting `No place for hate'!
Speaking of which, our local ADL surrogate, `No place for hate,' attempts to
evade complicity by claiming autonomy. Instead of trumpeting their
independence, why don't they prove it by repudiating Foxman? Surely, his
historical disregard for the Armenian experience, warrants a stern response;
especially from those on the `No place for hate' soapbox!
On the subject of local entities, there's another group avoiding the `No
place for hate' issue. The Town Council better jump off this runaway `Love
Train,' before anymore of the people's business gets derailed. It's time to
rescind the proclamation, take down the silly sign, and withdraw from this
unnecessary program.
Watertown has never been, is not now, and never will be a place to hate. And
we don't need Abraham Foxman, the ADL, or its ancillaries to say so!
John DiMascio of Copeland Street may be reached at
irevbacon@worldnet.att.net.
#42
Posted 07 August 2007 - 08:52 PM
Daily News Tribune, MA
MetroWest Daily News, MA
Aug 5 2007
Mazzaglia: Rethink the Armenian genocide
By Frank Mazzaglia/Local columnist
GHS
Sun Aug 05, 2007, 12:21 AM EDT
An unlikely squabble broke out last week between Watertown's Armenian
community and the Anti-Defamation League. This is what happened.
Along with scores of other cities and towns, Watertown proclaimed
itself a "No Place for Hate" community back in 2005. The idea, of
course, was to promote public policy against discrimination. Indeed,
Watertown is one of the most densely populated communities in the
Commonwealth. It is also home to the state's largest Armenian
concentration. Closely built houses encourage neighborliness. Still,
there is genuine anger out there.
It turns out that the Anti-Defamation League, which sponsors "No
Place for Hate," refuses to acknowledge a dark period from 1915 to
1923. That's when the Turkish army implemented a policy of ethnic
cleansing and mercilessly murdered an estimated 1.5 million helpless
Armenian civilians. Turkey's subsequent denial of having anything to
do with the Armenian genocide caused Hitler himself to believe he
could get away with the ruthless slaughter of Jews which we now know
as the Holocaust.
Leaders of Watertown's Armenian community want to maintain the "No
Place for Hate" program but are lobblying to separate its connection
with the ADL.
Mark me down as one who believes that there is real danger in looking
the other way when any nation attempts to cover up shameful episodes
of its past. Japan attempted to do that by changing school textbooks
and omitting its unspeakable attrocities in China and Korea.
Modern China, too, gets more than a bit touchy when the subject of
Tibet comes up.
Turkey's refusal to accept any responsibility for its past history
against the Armenian people, however, gets a bit more problematic
because of its political and strategic importance. Even the United
States drags its feet when it comes to Turkey. It's more in our
interest to be concerned about the present and the future than to
dwell on the past.
Still, there are some of us who get very angry with anyone who denies
the Holocaust. That's why the ADL's position, or rather lack of
position, about the Armenian genocide just doesn't make sense.
Founded in 1913 to fight anti-Semitism, the ADL has taken risky
positions which have done us all proud. The ADL condemned the
senseless killings in Darfur and the genocide in the Balkans. That's
part of the problem. There's nothing 'selective' about genocide. It's
wrong to condemn one genocide and turn a blind eye to another.
Following World War II, a huge wave of anger was directed against
Pope Pius XII for his 'silence' during the Holocaust. Some still seem
to think the Swiss Guard could have been a real match against the SS.
Dan Kurzman's new book "A Special Mission," however, reveals evidence
concerning a secret Nazi plot in which Hitler planned to kidnap and
then kill Pope Pius XII precisely because he was aiding and abetting
Jews whenever and wherever he could. Notwithstanding Kurzman's
evidence, there has been no apology for the defamation.
The real problem comes right down to money. To acknowledge its past
would mean that Turkey would have to pay compensation to Armenians
who suffered under the genocide in the same way the German government
was required to compensate the victims of its Nazi past.
The sad fact remains that no amount of compensation could ever be
enough for what Jews and Armenians have suffered at the hands of
morally sick tyrants.
Sadder yet is the growing conflict between two groups that have both
experienced the terrible result of senseless hatred and intolerance.
In the end, the ADL's refusal to support the truth about the Armenian
genocide places a serious dent in its own integrity. That's why it
makes sense for the ADL to re-think its position. It's too important
an organization to risk losing its moral authority.
The faster wise minds come to that conclusion, the better it will be
for us all.
Frank Mazzaglia can be reached at fmazzaglia@aol.com
http://www.milfordda...nion/x510835716
#43
Posted 09 August 2007 - 10:33 PM
NO PLACE FOR DENYING GENOCIDE
Anna Meschian
Boston Globe
August 5, 2007
TO KEITH O'BRIEN (and his employer): I am truly appalled by your recent
Globe article on the Armenian genocide, "Antibias effort stirs anger in
Watertown" (Page A1, Aug. 1). By writing a supposedly neutral article,
you are basically denying the genocide and following the lead of the
Anti-Defamation League.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts You write,
"According to Armenians and many historians, the Turks systematically
killed as many as 1.5 million Armenians." Many historians? How many,
exactly? How about "According to Armenians and historians who have
no personal gain from denying the genocide . . ."?
It's not only the Armenians who have been fighting to have the
genocide recognized. There are plenty of human rights activists and
historians who have looked into the issue and realized that there
can't be a neutrality on genocide. When ADL's national director,
Abraham H. Foxman, says, "I'm not going to be the arbiter of someone
else's history," someone should remind him of the statement made
by Adolf Hitler in August 1939, in which he justified his plan to
destroy Poland and create a new order by asking, "Who remembers now
the destruction of the Armenians?"
#44
Posted 12 August 2007 - 06:20 PM
Your source of news and information on No Place for Hate/Anti-Defamation League/Armenian Genocide denial
http://www.noplacefordenial.com/
This website is managed by Watertown, Mass based Armenian-American activists who are outraged by the local No Place for Hate (NPFH) program’s association with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that refuses to properly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide and supports the Turkish government’s efforts to defeat Armenian Genocide related resolutions and legislation in the U.S. Congress. We welcome your comments and suggestions and encourage you to submit relevant links, articles and blog entries for posting.
Edited by Aratta-Kingdom, 12 August 2007 - 06:27 PM.
#45
Posted 15 August 2007 - 10:45 PM
WATERTOWN VOTES TO SEVER TIES WITH ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE CITING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL
The Watertown, Massachusetts Town Council voted unanimously this evening to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, citing concerns about ADL National Director Abraham Foxman's denial of the Armenian Genocide and opposition to Congressional legislation reaffirming that crime against humanity, reported the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts (ANCEM).
"The ANCEM applauds the Town Council for stating clearly and unequivocally that there is no place for Armenian Genocide denial in Watertown," stated ANCEM chairperson Sharistan Melkonian "We hope that this action will prompt the ADL and its National Chairman Abe Foxman to rethink their flawed policies on this issue, recognize the Armenian Genocide and end their efforts to stop its reaffirmation by Congress."
The proclamation, introduced by Watertown Councillor-At-Large Marilyn Petitto Devaney, stated: "The Town Council has become aware that the ADL, denies the facts of the horrific Armenian Genocide, that occurred from 1915 to 1923, in which the premeditated, systematic and deliberate murders of more that one and one half million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 took place, as well as continuing to deprive the Armenian people of a right to their history - The Town Council can not continue to join with such an organization."
The proclamation went on to reaffirm Watertown's commitment to "celebrate its diversity and continue to honor its tradition of tolerance and respect for all people for which it has always been known."Watertown residents spoke poignantly before the capacity crowd in attendance to express their concerns about local affiliation with the ADL's genocide denial policies, moving Town Council members to take decisive action and encourage other Massachusetts towns to follow in their footsteps.In her remarks before the Town Council, ANCEM representative Grace Kulegian stated that "We are confident that the just resolution of this matter will deepen Watertown's commitment to tolerance, strengthen No Place for Hate's ability to speak with real moral clarity, and - for the sake of its members and its own future as an organization - end the ADL's truly unfortunate affiliation with genocide denial."
The Watertown - ADL controversy erupted in recent weeks, with Boston area civil rights advocates, and local Armenian and Jewish American community members expressing disappointment and outrage at recent statements by ADL National Director Abe Foxman denying the Armenian Genocide. Editorials and community letters in the local Watertown Tab and Boston Globe cast a shadow on the credibility of the anti-racism program, No Place for Hate, due to its affiliation with the ADL.
#46
Posted 16 August 2007 - 09:05 PM
Will 'No Place for Hate' debate spread?
Thu Aug 16, 2007, 12:21 PM EDT
WATERTOWN, MA -
The sign is down. Watertown has cut its ties to the Anti Defamation League’s “No Place for Hate” anti-bigotry program over the ADL’s stance on the Armenian Genocide.
So what does the future hold, and will Watertown’s decision prompt a national “No Place for Hate” controversy?
At-Large Councilor Marilyn Devaney — after pushing forward a unanimous vote for a proclamation to rescind the relationship with the ADL — said she would lobby the other 50-plus “No Place for Hate” communities in the state to do the same.
State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, is also on board. She plans to gain support from scholars on the subject of the Armenian Genocide and rally supporters of all backgrounds to urge other “No Place for Hate” towns to sever their ADL ties.
“This isn’t a bunch of Armenians saying ‘stand up for us’,” she said. “This is the fact of the matter. It really is an outrage … we need to yield some results.”
Controversy began last month when the TAB & Press published a letter that highlighted statements from ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman, that Congress should play no role in recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Some have classified his words as “genocide denial” regarding what most historians agree was a campaign waged against ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman government during and after World War I.
From 1915 to 1923, as many as 1.5 million Armenians died.
On Tuesday night, there was no denying the intense emotion and aggravation inside the Council Chambers.
Close to 100 Armenian-Americans packed the room and spilled into the hallway, some speaking passionately to council members in anticipation of their decision.
“Armenian-Americans have never asked the ADL to be the arbiter of Armenian history,” said Arman Baghdoyan. “What concerns me seriously is the injection of a sectarian agenda in the political life of the peaceful town of Watertown in the form of a ‘No Place for Hate’ campaign by the ADL.”
Narini Badalian, a 25-year-old Watertown resident, silenced the crowd with her words and left the podium to applause.
“I’ve learned not to be bullied by politics and stand up against hatred, to stand up against bigotry, to stand up against racism,” she said. “ADL does not have a monopoly on battling intolerance.”
David Boyajian of Newton, who wrote the letter that sparked the controversy, labeled the ADL as an “unfair sponsor.”
“There is no reason why you can’t be independent and function just fine,” he said.
And that’s what Watertown plans to do, said Will Twombly, co-chairperson of the “No Place for Hate” committee. For now, at least.
In an amendment to the Town Council proclamation, Twombly asked for 90 days for the 13-member committee to continue to pressure the ADL to change its stance, create new alliances within the community and seek program funding to continue its anti-bigotry agenda and public education work.
“We find the ADL’s decision unacceptable,” he said. “Such atrocities should not be ignored or passed off as someone else’s problem.”
To a reaction of “boos” and taunts of “liar” from the crowd, ADL Regional Director Andrew Tarsy stood at the podium and pleaded to keep “No Place for Hate” in Watertown.
“ADL’s mission and duty is to protect and defend Jewish communities and seek justice for all people,” he said. “Look at the record. It’s not just the pain and emotion this is certainly causing to have this discussion.”
Tarsy said the ADL has never denied what happened at the close of the First World War. Their mission now is to urge the Turkish government to reconcile with Armenians.
Discuss the decision and its impact
On Tuesday night, that did not sit well with the crowd, as shouts of “genocide,” “baloney” and “denial” filled the room and stirred tension.
“Some statements are plain untrue about the organization,” Tarsy added.
But others spoke to the council with inclinations that the ADL’s stance on the genocide will remain.
“Ninety days or 90 years, it wouldn’t make the ADL change their decision,” said John DiMascio, who writes a column for the TAB & Press. “Tear down that silly [No Place for Hate] sign and send it back to the ADL postage due.”
By 10 p.m. Tuesday, it was taken down by the Department of Public Works.
“No Place for Hate” aims to be a community-based campaign established by the ADL and geared to bring awareness to and fight against anti-Semitism, racism and all other forms of bigotry. Some 50 cities throughout Massachusetts are termed “No Place for Hate” zones, and participation is growing throughout the United States.
Grace Kulegian, representing theArmenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts, said the controversy was not invited by Watertown, but there is plan to see a solution through.
“We are confident that the just resolution of this matter will deepen Watertown’s commitment to tolerance, strengthen “No Place for Hate’s” ability to speak with real moral clarity, and for the sake of its members and its own future as an organization, end the ADL’s truly unfortunate affiliation with genocide denial,” she said.
At-Large Councilor Mark Sideris said Watertown is in a spot now that could affect politics throughout the country.
“We are sending a message across the nation,” he said.
As the sole Armenian on the now-rescinded “No Place for Hate” committee, Ruth Tomasian said there are many people who are on board in creating a new future for the community.
“Watertown is at the center of this controversy,” she said. “It’s about where we are going from here.”
#47
Posted 16 August 2007 - 09:15 PM
On Armenian Genocide, Politics Trumps Truth
Leonard Fein
Wed. Aug 15, 2007
On the surface, it should be an easy call. Here, for example, is the text of a cable that Henry Morgenthau, Sr., then America’s ambassador to Turkey, sent to the State Department on July 10, 1915: “Persecution of Armenians assuming unprecedented proportions. Reports from widely scattered districts indicate systematic attempt to uproot peaceful Armenian population and through arbitrary arrests, terrible tortures, whole-sale expulsions, and deportations from one end of the Empire to the other accompanied by frequent instances of rape, pillage and murder, turning into massacre, to bring destruction and destitution on them. These measures are not in response to popular or fanatical demand but are purely arbitrary and directed from Constantinople in the name of military necessity, often in districts where no military operations are likely to take place.” And then, on August 11, his cable back home referred to “this effort to exterminate a race.”
Morgenthau couldn’t use the word “genocide”; it wasn’t invented until 1944. But today, the overwhelming majority of scholars around the world are in agreement: The first genocide of the 20th century was committed by Turkey, and the Armenians were its victims.
But Turkey disagrees, labors mightily to impeach the scholarship, to expunge the term, to establish its claim that Armenians were mere casualties of war. Unlike the many nations that have established commissions of truth and reconciliation, that have looked fearlessly into their own past crimes against humanity (most notably, Germany itself), Turkey hires K Street lobbyists to persuade the American public and the U.S. Congress that its hands are clean, its heart is pure. (See, for an example, the statement of former Congressman Bob Livingston, who has been paid at least $700,000 by Turkey, here.
It is doubtful that many people are persuaded by the Turks and their lobbyists. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recognizes the Armenian genocide, as does the Reform Jewish movement, as, one assumes, do most Jewish leaders, at least privately — perhaps even the leaders of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and B’nai B’rith International. Yet the leaders of these organizations have steadfastly refused to endorse a bill currently before Congress that would formally acknowledge the fact of the Armenian genocide.
How can that be? Why do they shy away from using the word “genocide” to describe the tragedy of the Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turkey?
The answer is unsettling. It has nothing to do with history or truth; it has everything to do with the strategic interests of Israel, as also, to a lesser degree, of the United States.
Turkey is a Muslim country that maintains cordial and strategically important relations with both Israel and America. That is presumably why, in 2001, Shimon Peres, then Israel’s foreign minister, could say, “We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. What the Armenians went through is a tragedy, but not genocide.”
The Peres dismissal led Professor Israel Charny, executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, to write to Peres: “Even as I disagree with you, it may be that in your broad perspective of the needs of the State of Israel, it is your obligation to circumvent and desist from bringing up the subject with Turkey, but as a Jew and an Israeli I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian Genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust.”
The matter has suddenly become a volatile disruption. In Watertown, a suburb of Boston that is home to some 8,000 Armenians, a challenge has been mounted against ADL’s “No Place For Hate” program, a popular anti-bigotry campaign in which hundreds of communities around the nation participate. And cyberspace is filled with criticism of Abe Foxman, the ADL’s chief, who recently said, “This [the genocide] is not an issue where we take a position one way or the other. This is an issue that needs to be resolved by the parties, not by us. We are neither historians nor arbiters.”
It is true that Foxman is neither a historian nor an arbiter. But it is not possible to believe that he is unaware of the relevant history. And that raises a number of pressing questions:
At what point do we allow Israel’s raisons d’etat to override the sober and sobering truth? There’s a long record on this one, going back to Israel’s efforts to impose silence on American Jews regarding the plight of Soviet Jewry, regarding our views of the junta in Argentina, even regarding the war in Vietnam. Israeli officials will necessarily act in what they perceive as their nation’s interests, but is there no way for Israel’s friends to express their own considered views without impinging on those interests?
Does not the outrageous stubbornness of Turkey require that Turkey’s friends and allies seek to persuade the Turkish government that this abrasive issue will continue to foul Turkey’s reputation, that it would be a mature and cleansing act for Turkey at long last to lay open the record and deal frankly with its past, as so many others have done and are doing? Would not such candor raise Turkey’s reputation in the family of nations?
And a question for the authors of HR106, the House bill that would formally recognize the genocide: Have you no shame? The resolution “calls upon the President… to recall the proud history of United States intervention in opposition to the Armenian Genocide.” But America’s record was not proud; it was shameful, as Samantha Power carefully documents in her masterful “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.” We, too, ought be honest about the past.
#48
Posted 18 August 2007 - 01:00 AM
ADL local leader fired on Armenian issue
Genocide question sparked bitter debate
The Boston Globe
By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff
August 18, 2007
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.
#49
Posted 18 August 2007 - 01:04 AM
'NO PLACE FOR HYPOCRICY'
Edited by Aratta-Kingdom, 19 August 2007 - 10:41 PM.
#50
Posted 19 August 2007 - 12:22 PM
Bostonist, MA
Aug 18 2007
ADL's Regional Director Says ADL Should Acknowledge Armenian
Genocide; ADL Fires Him
Only a few days ago, Andrew Tarsy, the regional director of the
Anti-Defamation League, backer of the "No Place for Hate" program,
tried to defend the ADL's stance on the Armenian Genocide at the
Watertown City Council meeting. The ADL refused to recognize the
genocide, Watertown residents - including a large Armenian population
- was furious, and Watertown kicked the ADL out of its borders.
Then, presumably influenced by Watertown's decision to remove hate
from its city limits by removing the "No Place for Hate" program,
Tarsy said it is high time for the ADL to recognize the genocide and
told ADL head Abraham Foxman that the ADL's position is "morally
indefensible."
How did the ADL thank him for him for fighting against hate and
promoting a worthy cause? They canned him.
Firing Tarsy is not going to make the existence of the Armenian
Genocide go away. In fact, it has raised more awareness of why it is
so important to acknowledge the genocide, and people who probably
never knew about the Armenian Genocide certainly know about it now.
The ADL has lost much of its reputation on this matter. Do the words
"Anti-Defamation" apply to only a few groups? And why are the
Armenians left out? In a long letter the ADL plans to run in papers
next week, Turkey is one of the only Middle Eastern nations that
accepts Israel, so they don't want to alienate Turkey, but every
nation needs to be called to account for its errors.
What exactly is the purpose of the Anti-Defamation League? If they
insist on not recognizing the genocide, then they should change their
name because "Anti-Defamation League" clearly doesn't apply to
everyone.
Other towns are moving to get the ADL out, and leaders are moving to
distance themselves from the ADL. The ADL's regional board has called
on the national group to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. And,
eventually, the ADL will be left standing all alone with a
bowdlerized history that they don't share with anyone.
http://bostonist.com..._regional_d.php
#51
Posted 19 August 2007 - 12:28 PM
The Boston Globe
August 18, 2007
A painful truth
By Rachel Kaprielian and Alan Dershowitz
THE CONTROVERSY in Watertown over the Anti-Defamation's League's
anti-bigotry program, "No Place for Hate," has struck an important chord in
the historical and global struggle for human rights. Moreover, it reopened a
deep wound for the Armenian people, whose nation was devastated, half their
population murdered, and the remainder deported in what was the first
genocide of the 20th century.
The tragedy is compounded by the denial by Turkey itself. In 1915, Henry
Morganthau, then US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, worked tirelessly to
bring the genocide to the world's attention and warned the US secretary of
state that "a campaign of race extermination" was occurring against
"peaceful" Armenians.
The New York Times published 145 articles in 1915 and stressed that what was
happening to the Armenians was a "deliberate" "policy of extermination."
Thousands of eyewitness accounts, official government documents, and
photographs buttress the historical truths.
The Association of Genocide Scholars and the community of Holocaust
scholars, as well as numerous others, have written that this horrific event
was genocide. In 2000, 126 leading Holocaust scholars -- including Nobel
Prize laureate Elie Wiesel -- published a statement in The New York Times
that sought both to "affirm the incontestable fact of the Armenian Genocide
and urge Western Democracies to officially recognize it."
The matter is not subject to interpretation. In recent decades, the Armenian
genocide has been referred to as "the forgotten genocide" and to understand
it is to note that it was the template for the genocides that followed: the
Holocaust, Pol Pot's genocide in Cambodia, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and
today in Darfur. Adolf Hitler famously said in 1939 upon the commencement of
his own "final solution:" "Who now remembers the Armenians?"
For any organization or official to believe that there are differing sides
to the Armenian Genocide is as much an outrage as it would be for Germany to
say that the work of Jewish scholars, witnesses, and victim testimonies
represented merely the "Jewish side" of the Holocaust. To deny genocide
victims their history and suffering is tantamount to making them victims
again.
Justice and memory demand that we recognize the Ottoman Turkish genocide
against the Armenians for what it was: the destruction of a large part of an
ancient and vibrant community as well as the horrible model of what Hitler
did to Jews and what the janjaweed is doing to the victims of Darfur.
The Anti-Defamation League has done enormous good around the world. Its
regional chapter was courageous and correct in its decision to affirm its
position that the genocide was fact.
No Place for Hate is a wonderful project that is not limited to Watertown.
It represents the defense of human rights yesterday, today, and tomorrow and
challenges our strongest determination, our greatest will, and our most
humanitarian spirit.
To assure that "Never Again" remains more than an aspiration we must all
join together to proclaim the truth, no matter how painful or difficult.
Rachel Kaprielian is a state representative from Watertown. Alan Dershowitz
is a professor at Harvard Law School.
#52
Posted 19 August 2007 - 12:31 PM
The Boston Globe Editorial
Globe Editorial
No synonyms for genocide
August 18, 2007
ONE SHOULDN'T play geopolitics with genocide. The executive committee of the
Anti-Defamation League for New England showed sound moral judgment this week
when it acknowledged that, just like the destruction of the Jews in Europe
and the Tutsis in Rwanda, the slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
was a horrific crime against humanity.
All three genocides had particular historical characteristics, but they have
universal significance as a recurring evil that needs to be identified
properly so that humankind recognizes its early stages and takes action to
prevent mass slaughter.
But the national ADL apparently thinks that it can pick and choose among
genocides. Yesterday it fired Andrew Tarsy, the regional director, for
urging the national organization to acknowledge the reality of what happened
from 1915 to 1917 in what is now Turkey. The ADL plans to run an
advertisement in the Globe and other newspapers explaining its position.
In a telephone interview yesterday, James Rudolph, the regional ADL
chairman, called Tarsy an extraordinary leader. Indeed, Tarsy was acting in
the best ADL tradition of trying to unite people of different ethnic groups,
in this case Jews and Armenians, to promote human rights.
The national ADL, in its ad, does condemn the killing of hundreds of
thousands of Armenians but can't quite describe this crime for what it was:
genocide. The ADL says it is worried about the fate of the Jewish community
in Turkey and Turkey's strategic relationships with the United States and
Israel.
But Turkey's treatment of its Jewish minority and its foreign policy
shouldn't depend on a historical lie. If the national ADL doesn't
acknowledge the genocide, it is complicit in a coverup.
#53
Posted 19 August 2007 - 01:04 PM
AMERICAN JEWS HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF PATRONAGE OF WATERTOWN AUTHORITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS
arminfo
2007-08-17 09:34:00
The Town Council of Watertown, Massachusetts, unanimously decided to
cut the connection with the Jewish All-American organization Alliance
against Terror, as the latter doesn't recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Radio Liberty reports that the Hay Dat office in East Massachusetts
welcomes the decision of Watertown's Town Council. Sharistan Melkonian,
Chairman of the Hay Dat office, hopes that this step will make the
Jewish organization and its leader Abraham Foxman change their position
on the Armenian Genocide and give up their efforts exerted against
recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Congress. The statement of
Marilyn Devaney, a member of the Town Council, runs that the Town
Council is concerned about the fact that the Alliance against Terror
organization denies the the horrible Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923,
therefore the Town Council can't communicate with such organization
any longer.
#54
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:02 PM
Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
For many years, Armenian-Americans have been frustrated and angered by the
fact that a small number of influential Jewish-American organizations have been
undermining congressional efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide by
providing political support to the Turkish denialist campaign.
At the same time, the Armenian community has been pleased that many Jewish
groups, scholars and even some Israeli officials, contrary to their government's
policy of appeasing Turkish denialism, have taken a principled stand on this
issue by not succumbing to Turkey's blackmail.
As the Armenian-American community has become stronger politically and gained
the support of numerous Jewish individuals and organizations in recent years,
it has begun to actively challenge and counter all efforts at genocide denial.
The most recent controversy erupted last month when David Boyajian, a Boston
area activist, sent a letter to the editor of the Watertown Tab, complaining
about the fact that Abe Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), had made statements to the media casting doubt on the facts of the
Armenian Genocide. Foxman was quoted as saying: "The Turks and Armenians need to
revisit their past. The Jewish community shouldn't be the arbiter of that
history. And I don't think the U.S. Congress should be the arbiter, either."
Furthermore, the ADL, along with the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith
International and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
recently forwarded to the U.S. Congress a letter from Turkey's small Jewish
community opposing the pending congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide.
In his letter, Boyajian objected to the sponsorship by the Town of Watertown,
Massachusetts, of ADL's anti-racist program -- "No Place for Hate" - at a
time when the latter's Director was making disparaging remarks on the Armenian
Genocide.
In response to letters from several other readers, Boston area newspapers
provided extensive coverage of this controversy and published editorials critical
of Foxman and the ADL. The Watertown Town Council then held a hearing and, by
a unanimous vote, decided to disassociate itself from the "No Place for Hate"
program due to its affiliation with ADL. Other Massachusetts cities are
considering a similar action.
The controversy widened when scores of Jewish-Americans openly challenged and
harshly criticized Foxman's indifference to the Armenian Genocide, finding it
utterly unacceptable that the leader of an organization that fights bias
would take such a cavalier attitude toward genocide. Many called for his immediate
dismissal.
Andrew H. Tarsy, the ADL's New England Regional Director, called an emergency
meeting of the regional ADL Board which voted last week to urge the National
ADL to revise its policy of genocide denial.
In response to mounting criticism, the National ADL posted a statement on its
website -- published this week as a paid ad in the Boston Globe and the
Jewish Advocate -- saying that the ADL "has acknowledged and never denied the
massacres" of Armenians, while claiming that "legislative efforts outside of Turkey
are counterproductive to the goal of having Turkey itself come to grips with
its past."
The ADL headquarters also sent a letter to the local ADL board, signed by
Chairman Glen Lewy and Director Foxman, stating that the regional board does not
have the authority to publicly advocate a policy contrary to ADL's position.
The letter referred to the Armenian Genocide as "a dispute between Armenians
and Turkey" and described the genocide as a "massacre."
Foxman then fired ADL's Regional Director Tarsy for challenging the ADL's
position on the Armenian Genocide. In retaliation, ADL's New England executive
committee backed Tarsy and resolved to actively support the congressional
resolution on the Armenia Genocide.
In a joint opinion column published in the Boston Globe, Harvard Law
Professor Alan Dershowitz and Massachusetts State Representative Rachel Kaprielian
called for an unequivocal affirmation of the Armenian Genocide and praised the
regional chapter of ADL for doing so.
The dismissal of Tarsy created a major rift between the regional board and
the ADL headquarters. Two prominent members of its New England Regional Board,
Stewart Cohen, the former chairman of the Polaroid Corporation, and Boston City
Council member Mike Ross, resigned in protest. They said that they could no
longer be part of an organization that does not recognize the Armenian
Genocide. According to press reports other regional board members are also
contemplating handing in their resignations.
Another prominent Jewish leader, George Beilin -- a past president of the
North Shore Council of the B'nai B'rith Organization -- called on Foxman to
"resign immediately for the sake of the Jewish community in the United States and
the world." Steve Grossman, a former ADL regional board member, called Tarsy's
firing "a vindictive, intolerant, and destructive act." The Boston Jewish
Community Relations Council also came to Tarsy's defense, issuing a statement in
support of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Ronne Friedman, senior
rabbi at Temple Israel, the largest synagogue in Boston, was quoted by the Boston
Globe as saying: "I'm devastated to hear the news [of Tarsy's firing]. I
think it's an inexcusable behavior on the part of the national office." For
additional statements and articles on this issue, please see:
www.noplacefordenial.com.
Should Foxman not respond to calls, from the Jewish community and others,
seeking his resignation:
-- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a descendant of Holocaust
survivors, should be asked to rescind the Legion of Honor bestowed upon Foxman in
2006 by President Jacques Chirac, France's highest civilian honor.
-- Cities throughout the United States should follow Watertown's lead and
disassociate themselves from the ADL's "NPFH" program, as long as Foxman persists
in his denialist position on the Armenian Genocide.
Foxman should step aside in order to prevent further damage to ADL's good
work. It is inconceivable that an organization that fights discrimination is led
by someone who denies genocide. The new Director of the ADL should issue a
clear statement acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and declare the
organization's support for the pending congressional resolution.
#55
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:04 PM
WATERTOWN REMEMBERS WHAT THE ADL CHOOSES TO FORGET
By Joe Fitzgerald
Boston Herald, MA
http://news.bostonhe...ticleid=1018030
Aug 20 2007
If ever there was an organization unworthy of its heritage, it has
to be the Anti-Defamation League, founded more than 90 years ago to
root out the kind of blind hatred that eventually led to the Holocaust.
If any governing body has become an embarrassment to its forebears,
it has to be those ADL grand pooh-bahs to whom the deaths of 1.5
million Armenians is not that big a deal, at least not big enough to
be regarded by them as one of history's most infamous acts of genocide.
The cruel irony is inescapable. If any group ought to be sensitive
to the trauma inflicted by revisionists who'd deny the legitimacy of
someone else's horror, you would think it would be the descendants
of those whose dying plea was, "Never forget!"
Yet the ADL will not acknowledge a genocide took place, which is why
the town fathers of Watertown, home to 8,000 Armenians, chose not
to be honored as one of its No Place For Hate communities. Who can
blame them? As the adage puts it, the friend of my enemy is my enemy.
Faithful Armenians, not unlike faithful Jews, feel an inherent
responsibility to be keepers of a flame, living reminders of real
events and of lives extinguished during the course of those events.
When asked why he relentlessly pursued Nazi war criminals into his
90s, Simon Wiesenthal, who lost 89 relatives to the evils of the
Third Reich, replied, "It's a debt we, the living, owe to the dead;
if we forget, it will be as if they died again."
How can the ADL not understand that, especially when personal
testimonies abound?
"I can still see my mother crying," Medford's John Baronian recalled
here two years ago on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
"She would try to hide it, but we'd catch her crying all the time, and
whenever she'd try to talk about it she'd break down and cry again,
unable to continue. She could still hear the voices of those little
kids, the sisters and brother I never knew, pleading for something
to eat or drink as they died in her arms out there in the desert."
She and John's father lived in Turkey in a place called Harput.
"He was a farmer," Baronian recalled. "Armenians had lived there
for centuries. When the genocide began, the Turks were immediately
brutal. Women were beaten and raped by Turkish soldiers while men
were hanged in the square or shot in the woods, just for being
Armenians. That was all the reason the Turks needed.
"Then came the death march. That's what we call it, though the Turks
called it a relocation march, which was ridiculous because thousands
were forced into the Der El Zor desert with no food, no water,
no nothing.
"My mother was among them with my sisters, Helen and Azadouhi, and
my brother, Sirak, all under 5. All around her, decent people were
dying needlessly while her own children kept crying from hunger and
thirst until they died, too. My poor mother would hear those cries
every day for the rest of her life."
By Wiesenthal's reasoning, the ADL would have them die again,
which is almost unfathomable, given its mission to combat hatred,
particularly anti-Semitism.
"Just before he began slaughtering Jews, Hitler asked, 'Who remembers
what happened to the Armenians?' " Baronian said. "In other words,
people will eventually forget whatever you do. What a devastating
comment. I can assure you, all around the world Armenians have never
forgotten.
"And that's why I tell the story. God forbid anyone forgets."
The people of Watertown obviously haven't forgotten.
Good for them.
#56
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:07 PM
Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide Now
Sign our petition demanding the ADL clean up its mess
by Jewcy Staff, August 15, 2007
TAGS: Abe Foxman Open Letters The ADL the Armenian Genocide Watertown
According to Hrag Vartanian, a blogger who also works at the Armenian
General Benevolent Union, the backlash against the Anti-Defamation
League startedon June 10, when Jewcy published Fire Foxman, our call
for Abe Foxman to befired as head of the ADL in part for his denial of
the Armenian Genocide. Then the Huffington Post got on board, the
Armenian blogosphere took notice, and before long the Boston Globe had
published a supportive op-ed about the controversy.
Last night, the Armenian community of Watertown, Massachusetts voted
to break all connections with the Anti-Defamation League by severing
ties with itsNo Place for Hate Program, which attempts to promote
tolerance (though not,apparently, for descendants of the Armenian
Genocide.) Armenian-American activists in Watertown are promising to
lobby all 67 of the Massachusetts towns still participating in NPFH to
drop their connection, too. Ultimately, they want the Massachusetts
Municipal Association to stop working with the ADL entirely. These
activists have Jewcy's emphatic support, and we willdo what we can to
help their cause along.
The ADL has made a monster of itself by denying a genocide. It has
made theentire Jewish community look morally incompetent for allowing
ourselves to be represented by someone who engages in Holocaust
denial. And it has earnedthe justified fury of the Armenian-American
community, which bears witness to the mass-murder of its forebears,
and refuses to see that memory trampledupon.
Several weeks ago, it might have been enough for Abe Foxman to give up
encouraging others to share his agnosticism about the Armenian
Genocide. But thecontroversy has gained momentum, and now it's too
late for him to just stop talking. We think it would be fitting to see
Foxman take a sensitivity course on the challenges faced by the modern
Armenian-American community, but all we really want from him are three
simple responses:
Acknowledge the Armenian Genocide
Apologize to the Armenian-American community
Apologize to the Jewish community, for humiliating us before our
fellow-citizens
Over on the Shvitz, you'll find John DiMascio's first-hand account
from last night's meeting. John DiMascio is an incorrigibly eccentric
columnist for the Watertown TAB & Press, and has played a leading role
in getting the ADL evicted from Watertown.
This isn't just an abnormally short Jewcy article, by the way; it's a
petition. If you're with us, show us (and the ADL) your support by
signing on in the comments section. Tell us why you're motivated to
sign, and, if the spirit moves you, either register (you can use a
pseudonym) or add your name.
* This petition also accessible via www.firefoxman.com
#57
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:43 PM
[Under Pressure] National ADL reverses stand; calls Armenian massacre ’genocide’
By Associated Press
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - Updated: 06:59 PM EST
BOSTON - The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday reversed itself and called a World War I-era massacre of Armenians a genocide, a change that comes days after the ADL fired its local director for taking the same stance.
ADL director Abraham Foxman’s statement that the killings of Armenians by Muslim Turks "were indeed tantamount to genocide" came after weeks of controversy in which critics questioned whether an organization dedicated to remembering Holocaust victims could remain credible without acknowledging the Armenian killings as genocide.
The New York-based organization had called the deaths of up 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of Muslim Turks between 1915 and 1923 an atrocity, but stopped short of saying it was genocide _ a planned extermination of the Christian Armenian minority.
Last week, the town of Watertown, home to a large Armenian population, withdrew from the ADL’s "No Place for Hate" anti-bigotry program because of the organization’s refusal to call the massacres genocide. The ADL also fired New England regional director Andrew Tarsy after he said he agreed the killings were genocide.
The towns of Acton and Newton were among those considering whether to break ties with the ADL, and several Jewish organizations, led by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, signed a letter urging the ADL to acknowledge the killings as genocide.
In a statement Tuesday, Foxman said he consulted with historians and his friend, Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel, after the controversy began and became convinced genocide had occurred.
In an interview, Foxman said the letter from the Jewish groups revealed divisions Jews can’t afford to have at a time of increased threats to them around the world.
"This is not a time for us to be squabbling about historical fact or non-fact," he said. "That’s what really shocked me into saying, you know what, I’ve got to find a way to bring us together."
But Foxman said his group would not support a pending Congressional resolution that calls the massacre a genocide, saying it was "a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians."
Foxman would not comment on whether Tarsy would be rehired.
Nurten Ural, president of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations, said she was disappointed by the ADL’s decision. Turks and Armenians both suffered during the war, and calling it genocide by the Turks is like being accused of a crime you didn’t commit, she said.
Ural said many historians do not believe a genocide occurred, and said if the Congressional resolution passes it would damage relations with Turkey, which is valued in the West as a friend to Israel in the hostile Middle East and a bulwark against radical Islam.
"This is not a political issue, this is an historical issue, it should be left to the historians," Ural said. "The U.S. needs Turkey, Turkey needs the U.S. in many, many ways. It would be really bad for both countries."
The controversy began in July after Newton resident David Boyajian wrote a local Watertown paper about the ADL’s stance and urged the community’s No Place for Hate program to sever ties with the ADL. During a meeting on the subject in Watertown last week, Tarsy was booed by the overflow crowd. Later in the week, he changed his stance and said he strongly disagreed with the national organization.
James Russell, professor of Armenian studies at Harvard University, said evidence of the Armenian genocide is overwhelming, including eyewitness accounts and copious documentation. He said the word "genocide" was invented in the 1940s by an attorney trying to come up with a legal term to describe what had happened to the Armenians.
"The word was invented to describe what had happened to the Armenians in the first place," he said. "If there’s any ambiguity there, then the Declaration of Independence might as well be considered a British royalist document."
State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, an Armenian and Watertown resident, said she was "relieved and heartened and glad" about the ADL’s decision. But asked if Watertown would re-establish its connection to the ADL, Kaprielian said, "The dust has to settle on this."
Kaprielian criticized the ADL for failing to support the Congressional resolution, which she said just repeats what the ADL acknowledged Tuesday. She said the group was letting geopolitical concerns take precedence over its core commitment to human rights.
Foxman said the ADL does not just fight for equal rights, but also works to protect the Jewish community. Members of the Jewish minority in Turkey flew to the U.S. to ask the ADL to remain neutral on the genocide question, and Foxman had honored the request. But he said with the Armenian issue "tearing the community apart" he had to take a stand in the interest of unity.
"It’s the balancing of moral points of view," he said. "It’s not one above the other, but sometimes you have to make a decision."
#58
Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:48 PM
American Thinker
August 21, 2007
ADL's curious indifference ends on Armenian genocide
Thomas Lifson
Andrew Bostom and I both found it very strange that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) could not bring itself to condemn the genocide against the Armenians perpetrated by Turkey almost a century ago. The AP reports:
The Anti-Defamation League has reversed itself and decided to call a World War I-era massacre in Armenia a genocide.
This after one Massachusetts community pull out of the ADL's No Place for Hate anti-bigotry program and others were considering doing the same. [....]
ADL president Abe Foxman said the organization changed its position after he consulted with historians, and his friend Eli Weisel.
He said that though the ADL acknowledges the genocide, it does not support a Congressional resolution to call it one.
This looks a lot to me like a damage-control operation, now that the ADL's stance has been publicized. Given that the organization is still against a Congressional resolution, it looks like politics has a lot to do with its stance. It may well be that it believes official condemnation would push Turkey further toward Islamist rule.
While that may be valid pragmatic concern, a genocide is still a genocide, where or not it is politically convenient to speak the truth. I always thought the ADL was supposed to be in the moral truth-telling business. After all, it expects to be taken seriously as a moral force, it needs to be.
But if it is an organization which is in the business of politics, and what it calls genocide depends on political convenience, that is another matter entirely. So I believe the organization needs to clarify why it now believes the Armenian genocide was a genocide, and why it deosn't want Congress calling it that.
#59
Posted 22 August 2007 - 09:16 PM
ANC CALLS FOR ADL NATIONAL LEADERSHIP TO END GENOCIDE DENIAL
armradio.am
21.08.2007 19:50
Turmoil in the New England Regional Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
continued this weekend with two Board Members resigning following
the firing of Regional Director Andrew H. Tarsy, for public calls
on ADL National Director Abe Foxman to reverse policy and properly
characterize the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National
Committee of Eastern Massachusetts (ANC-EM).
"We are disappointed and outraged to hear that Mr. Tarsy was
removed from his position simply for speaking openly and honestly
about the Armenian Genocide," stated ANCEM chairperson Sharistan
Melkonian. "Mr. Foxman and the ADL National Leadership are clearly
out of step with their own membership, who have rightly concluded that
genocide denial is morally indefensible and will only serve to diminish
the credibility of this once-respected civil rights organization."
Reports of Tarsy's firing and the resignations by Stewart L. Cohen
and Boston City Councilman Mike Ross came just days after the New
England ADL Board voted to call on the ADL National leadership to
reverse their position, properly characterize the Armenian Genocide as
'genocide,' and support Armenian Genocide legislation (H.Res.106 /
S.Res.106). According to an August 17th Boston Globe article, Tarsy
told reporter Keith O'Brien, "I strongly disagree with ADL's national
position. It's my strong hope that we'll be able to move forward
in a relationship with the Armenian community and the community in
general." Just 48 hours prior, Tarsy had defended the ADL National's
genocide denial position at the Watertown Town Council. Tarsy,
clearly uncomfortable in his remarks before the capacity crowd at the
Council meeting, was challenged when he evaded the word 'genocide'
in describing the murder of over 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman
Turkish government from 1915-1923.
A myriad of Watertown residents
urged the Town Council to take action, including ANC-EM spokesperson
Grace Kehetian Kulegian, who stated "on behalf of Watertown's Armenian
community - and our century-long history of service and sacrifice for
our town - we call upon the Town Council to dissociate itself from
the ADL until such time that: The Anti-Defamation League, through its
National Director, Mr. Foxman, openly and unequivocally acknowledges
the Armenian Genocide and supports congressional affirmation of this
crime against humanity.
The Watertown Town Council voted unanimously that evening to cut ties
with the ADL, by disassociating with their "No Place for Hate" program.
Following the New England ADL's public call for ADL National to
reverse their position, the National ADL posted an "Open Letter to
the New England Community," refraining from characterizing the events
of 1915-1923 as 'genocide.' The letter also claimed that the ADL
"takes no position" on Armenian Genocide legislation (H.Res.106 /
S.Res.106) while stating "We believe that legislative efforts outside
of Turkey are counterproductive to the goal of having Turkey itself
come to grips with its past."
"Mr. Foxman is sadly reading from a page in the Turkish government's
genocide denial playbook," stated Melkonian. "Instead of helping
Turkey confront this dark page in human history, the ADL is enabling
its continued genocide denial a decision which comes at the expense
of its own reputation." The ADL statement comes as additional towns
in Massachusetts prepare to follow Watertown's lead in ending their
association with the ADL and Armenian Genocide denial.
Foxman's claims of neutrality regarding Armenian Genocide legislation
contradict earlier published statements in the Boston Globe and Los
Angeles Times, where Foxman noted "The Turks and Armenians need to
revisit their past. The Jewish community shouldn't be the arbiter
of that history. And I don't think the U.S. Congress should be
the arbiter either." According to press reports, Foxman joined the
American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith and JINSA in forwarding a
letter from Turkey's Jewish Community citing concerns about Armenian
Genocide legislation to Members of Congress. According to an April
27th Jewish Telegraphic Agency article by Ron Kampeas, the ADL and
JINSA "added their own statements opposing the bill."
The Watertown - ADL controversy erupted in recent weeks, with Boston
area civil rights advocates, and local Armenian and Jewish American
community members expressing disappointment and outrage at recent
statements by ADL National Director Abe Foxman denying the Armenian
Genocide. Editorials and community letters in the local Watertown Tab
and Boston Globe cast a shadow on the credibility of the anti-racism
program, "No Place for Hate", due to its affiliation with the ADL.
Reporter Keith O'Brien first reported Tarsy's firing in a front-page
Boston Globe article on August 18th. The news was accompanied by a
strongly worded Globe editorial, titled "No Synonyms for Genocide,"
arguing that the national ADL should not "pick and choose among
genocides," and stating "if the national ADL doesn't acknowledge
the [Armenian] genocide, it is complicit in a cover-up." An op/ed
coauthored by Massachusetts State Representative Rachel Kaprielian and
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, published in the Boston Globe
on the same day, noted "For any organization or official to believe
that there are differing sides to the Armenian Genocide is as much
an outrage as it would be for Germany to say that the work of Jewish
scholars, witnesses, and victim testimonies represented merely the
"Jewish side" of the Holocaust." Kaprielian and Dershowitz went on to
praise the New England Regional ADL for taking a principled stand,
noting that the "regional chapter was courageous and correct in its
decision to affirm its position that the [Armenian] genocide was fact."
#60
Posted 22 August 2007 - 09:35 PM
The Jerusalem Post
August 23, 2007
Armenians urge Jews to take moral high ground
The State of Israel and Jewish organizations around the world should take the moral high ground and recognize the World War I-era killing of Armenians by Turks as genocide regardless of the political ramifications with Turkey, Armenian residents of Jerusalem said Wednesday.
"Israel understands the issue better than anyone else... [but] her judgment is impaired by the politicizing of the issue," said Father Samuel Aghoyan, 66, a priest at the Armenian Patriarchate in the Old City of Jerusalem and a superior at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
He noted that politics alone has prevented Israel from recognizing the killing as a genocide.
"When you politicize the issue, you kill the spirit upon which both the US and Israel were founded," Aghoyan said.
"If you don't want to recognize it openly at least say that it happened," he added.
His remarks come one day after the New York-based Anti Defamation League reversed itself and called a World War I-era massacre of Armenians a genocide after previously firing an organization official who said the same thing.
The director of the Armenian school and library in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem said that Armenians were pleased over the about-face taken by the ADL.
"The Jewish lobby should make their minds up as representatives of the Jewish people - as people who suffered the Holocaust - to take a more moral stand in fully and unconditionally recognizing the killing of the Armenians as a genocide, regardless of politics," Father Norayr Kazazian, 30, said.
He added that Israel and the Jewish world should not be overly fearful of the repercussions such a move could have on the Jewish community living in Turkey, noting that hundreds of thousands of Armenians are also living in Turkey, and citing Turkey's good relations with both France and Belgium even though both countries have defined the killings as a massacre.
Historians estimate that as many as 1.5 million Armenian Christians were killed by Muslim Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey, however, denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying that the toll has been grossly inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.
Armenian residents of the small Armenian Quarter in the Old City said Wednesday that they sensed an unquestionable difference between the views of Jewish people, who recognized the mass killing as genocides, and the political leadership who were concerned with the political ramifications of such a move with Israel's warm relationship with Turkey.
"I know the Jewish people are with us and recognize the killing as a genocide but it is political interests which prevent the Knesset and Jewish groups from doing so," said Hagop Antressain, 63, an Old City shopkeeper who expressed mixed feelings about the ADL reversal.
The son of a survivor of the massacre, Antressain said that the Jewish and Armenian people shared a common tragedy.
He noted that when he watches Holocaust movies on Holocaust Remembrance Days he sees not Jewish children but Armenian children.
"It is my father's eyes when he was seven-years-old," Antressain said.
He opined that passage of a pending US Congressional resolution, which would term the killings a genocide, was "only a matter of time," adding that the legislation was brought about as a result of pressure by Armenian and Jewish intellectuals, and not by American Jewish groups.
Antressain lambasted recent remarks by the Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee David Harris that Armenian and Turkish historians should sit down together and discuss the genocide.
"Should we ask Jewish and Nazi historians to discuss the Holocaust?" he asked.
As a native of Jerusalem, Antressain said that it was important for him that Israel would not be the last country to recognize the killing as genocide.
"I know the feelings of the Jewish people and I do not want the Jewish State to be the last to recognize the genocide," he said.
The Armenian residents of Jerusalem opined that eventually all countries would come to recognize the killing as a genocide.
"Sooner or later the right time will come," Aghoyan concluded.
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