23 replies to this topic

[Lev7]

PRESS RELEASE

Armenian National Committee
San Francisco - Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
www.ancsf.org
mail@ancsf.org


ADL's Abe Foxman Disputes Criticism on Armenian Genocide Position

Monday April 7, 2008 - Responding to a question about the
Anti-Defamation League's reluctance to unequivocally recognize the
Armenian Genocide, Abe Foxman, National Director of the ADL said, "...No
one can dictate to you to use the word that you want us to use. We will
use the words that we feel comfortable with."

Foxman's statement was part of a somewhat rambling answer to a question
posed at the conclusion of a speech in San Francisco related to his
book, "Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control."
The speech took place at the Jewish Community Center. Foxman spoke
about international anti-Semitism directed towards Jews and Israel. He
repeatedly condemned and called for an end to the use of racist,
anti-Jewish euphemisms.

The first question posed to Foxman asked why he has chosen to use
euphemisms in regard to the Armenian Genocide. Foxman prefaced his
response by informing the audience that some people are not happy with
the Anti-Defamation League's position the issue of the Armenian
Genocide, and he went on to state that the issue should be resolved
between Turks and Armenians. (Full text below.)

After years of lobbying against Armenian Genocide recognition in
Congress and refusing to unequivocally acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide, Foxman's position was publicized last year in the New England
media, prompting a public outcry which included conflict among ADL
officials. As a result, on August 21, the ADL published an ad in several
Boston-area community newspapers, stating in part, "In light of the
heated controversy that has surrounded the Turkish-Armenian issue in
recent weeks, and because of our concern for the unity of the Jewish
community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people, ADL
has decided to revisit the tragedy that befell the Armenians. We have
never negated but have always described the painful events of 1915-1918
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and
atrocities. On reflection, we have come to share the view of Henry
Morgenthau Sr. that the consequences of those actions were indeed
tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they
would have called it genocide."

Although some applauded the ADL's new position, it also prompted
criticism for it's use of the qualifier "tantamount," and the term
`consequences of those actions" suggesting the Armenian Genocide was not
carried out with the intent to destroy a people, as defined by the U.N.
and the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The ADL has also recently reiterated its opposition to U.S. recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, as well as Turkey's call for an "impartial
study" of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey has repeatedly called for a
"historical commission," despite it's prime minister's statements that
Turks could never have committed a genocide, and its continued criminal
prosecutions of citizens who discuss the Armenian Genocide.

Turkish press has reported that the ADL wrote to Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan, expressing its sorrow for the discomfort the acknowledgement of
the Armenian Genocide caused Turkey's leadership and people. Erdogan
announced, `The wrong step that has been taken is corrected ... They said
they shared our sensitivity and expressed the mistake they made [and]
will continue to give us all the support they have given so far.'

The national ADL's position on the Armenian Genoicde runs counter to the
position of a wide range of Jewish organizations in the Bay Area. In
November, 2007, the San Francisco Bay Area's Jewish Community Relations
Council re-iterated its support for official recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. As the Jewish community's public affairs arm, the JCRC
represents more than 80 Jewish organizations across the Bay Area. The
organization, which includes the membership of the San Francisco chapter
of the ADL, overwhelmingly approved a policy statement re-issuing a
1989 letter to Armenian community leader Bishop Aris Shirvanian,
expressing support for the Armenian Genocide resolution pending in the
U.S. Senate at that time. Senate Joint Resolution 212 sought to
designate April 24th as a national day of remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide.

Foxman's full answer to the question about his position on the Armenian
Genocide was:

"The question is, this is a public issue, a public debate. There are
people out there who are not happy with the Anti-Defamation League's
position on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. To reply to your
question, the Anti-Defamation League, has for as many year as I know,
and I've been involved for 43 years in the league and its director for
21 years, has always described, the events of 1915-1918, between Turkey
and/in the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian people as a massacre, as a
terrible tragedy, and an issue, that, it should be resolved between the
Turkish people and the Armenian people.

We never denied it... We never challenged or questioned... We didn't
use the words that you use... And it's not a moral question of, to use
your words. We could use your words. Usually a certain word becomes a
political issue. And it would be as if we, the Jewish people, would say
to you or everybody else, 'Unless you use the word [Shoah] and Holocaust
to describe the events of 1933-1945, unless you use our words, you are a
Holocaust denier.' That's nonsense. We have used the word. We have
used it in the context of what we believe in applying it. But we have
never, never, in terms of an organization, and a people, denied the
tragedy, of the massacre. But we haven't used the word that you want to
use. And you use this, and this is for all you here now, not only to
accuse us, but to point to the Anti-Defamation league, to prevent us
from teaching diversity, I think that's wrong. But we've all, you know,
wanted to share the pain. But no one can dictate to you to use the word
that you want us to use. We will use the words that we feel comfortable
with. And we've used the word genocide... And so now it's, "Not only do
you have to use the word, but you have to support legislation in
Congress,' which we don't, and we don't, we're "immoral," etc. And we
have articulated our position. I've used the word genocide... Some
people don't like exactly how we've formulated it, but that's what makes
this country a democracy. And we have never denied it, we don't deny
it, but again you don't have a right to dictate to us how the word
should be formed, in what manner, and what shape..."


Flyers detailing the ADL's position on the Armenian Genocide, which were
being distributed on the sidewalk in front of the Jewish Community
Center, were destroyed by security guards.

[irlandahay]

PRESS RELEASE

Armenian National Committee
San Francisco - Bay Area
51 Commonwealth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 387-3433
Fax: (415) 751-0617
www.ancsf.org
mail@ancsf.org


ADL's Abe Foxman Disputes Criticism on Armenian Genocide Position

Monday April 7, 2008 - Responding to a question about the
Anti-Defamation League's reluctance to unequivocally recognize the
Armenian Genocide, Abe Foxman, National Director of the ADL said, "...No
one can dictate to you to use the word that you want us to use. We will
use the words that we feel comfortable with."

Foxman's statement was part of a somewhat rambling answer to a question
posed at the conclusion of a speech in San Francisco related to his
book, "Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control."
The speech took place at the Jewish Community Center. Foxman spoke
about international anti-Semitism directed towards Jews and Israel. He
repeatedly condemned and called for an end to the use of racist,
anti-Jewish euphemisms.

The first question posed to Foxman asked why he has chosen to use
euphemisms in regard to the Armenian Genocide. Foxman prefaced his
response by informing the audience that some people are not happy with
the Anti-Defamation League's position the issue of the Armenian
Genocide, and he went on to state that the issue should be resolved
between Turks and Armenians. (Full text below.)

After years of lobbying against Armenian Genocide recognition in
Congress and refusing to unequivocally acknowledge the Armenian
Genocide, Foxman's position was publicized last year in the New England
media, prompting a public outcry which included conflict among ADL
officials. As a result, on August 21, the ADL published an ad in several
Boston-area community newspapers, stating in part, "In light of the
heated controversy that has surrounded the Turkish-Armenian issue in
recent weeks, and because of our concern for the unity of the Jewish
community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people, ADL
has decided to revisit the tragedy that befell the Armenians. We have
never negated but have always described the painful events of 1915-1918
perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and
atrocities. On reflection, we have come to share the view of Henry
Morgenthau Sr. that the consequences of those actions were indeed
tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they
would have called it genocide."

Although some applauded the ADL's new position, it also prompted
criticism for it's use of the qualifier "tantamount," and the term
`consequences of those actions" suggesting the Armenian Genocide was not
carried out with the intent to destroy a people, as defined by the U.N.
and the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The ADL has also recently reiterated its opposition to U.S. recognition
of the Armenian Genocide, as well as Turkey's call for an "impartial
study" of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey has repeatedly called for a
"historical commission," despite it's prime minister's statements that
Turks could never have committed a genocide, and its continued criminal
prosecutions of citizens who discuss the Armenian Genocide.

Turkish press has reported that the ADL wrote to Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan, expressing its sorrow for the discomfort the acknowledgement of
the Armenian Genocide caused Turkey's leadership and people. Erdogan
announced, `The wrong step that has been taken is corrected ... They said
they shared our sensitivity and expressed the mistake they made [and]
will continue to give us all the support they have given so far.'

The national ADL's position on the Armenian Genoicde runs counter to the
position of a wide range of Jewish organizations in the Bay Area. In
November, 2007, the San Francisco Bay Area's Jewish Community Relations
Council re-iterated its support for official recognition of the Armenian
Genocide. As the Jewish community's public affairs arm, the JCRC
represents more than 80 Jewish organizations across the Bay Area. The
organization, which includes the membership of the San Francisco chapter
of the ADL, overwhelmingly approved a policy statement re-issuing a
1989 letter to Armenian community leader Bishop Aris Shirvanian,
expressing support for the Armenian Genocide resolution pending in the
U.S. Senate at that time. Senate Joint Resolution 212 sought to
designate April 24th as a national day of remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide.

Foxman's full answer to the question about his position on the Armenian
Genocide was:

"The question is, this is a public issue, a public debate. There are
people out there who are not happy with the Anti-Defamation League's
position on the issue of the Armenian Genocide. To reply to your
question, the Anti-Defamation League, has for as many year as I know,
and I've been involved for 43 years in the league and its director for
21 years, has always described, the events of 1915-1918, between Turkey
and/in the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian people as a massacre, as a
terrible tragedy, and an issue, that, it should be resolved between the
Turkish people and the Armenian people.

We never denied it... We never challenged or questioned... We didn't
use the words that you use... And it's not a moral question of, to use
your words. We could use your words. Usually a certain word becomes a
political issue. And it would be as if we, the Jewish people, would say
to you or everybody else, 'Unless you use the word [Shoah] and Holocaust
to describe the events of 1933-1945, unless you use our words, you are a
Holocaust denier.' That's nonsense. We have used the word. We have
used it in the context of what we believe in applying it. But we have
never, never, in terms of an organization, and a people, denied the
tragedy, of the massacre. But we haven't used the word that you want to
use. And you use this, and this is for all you here now, not only to
accuse us, but to point to the Anti-Defamation league, to prevent us
from teaching diversity, I think that's wrong. But we've all, you know,
wanted to share the pain. But no one can dictate to you to use the word
that you want us to use. We will use the words that we feel comfortable
with. And we've used the word genocide... And so now it's, "Not only do
you have to use the word, but you have to support legislation in
Congress,' which we don't, and we don't, we're "immoral," etc. And we
have articulated our position. I've used the word genocide... Some
people don't like exactly how we've formulated it, but that's what makes
this country a democracy. And we have never denied it, we don't deny
it, but again you don't have a right to dictate to us how the word
should be formed, in what manner, and what shape..."


Flyers detailing the ADL's position on the Armenian Genocide, which were
being distributed on the sidewalk in front of the Jewish Community
Center, were destroyed by security guards.

Then why am I getting pamphlets at school about the holocaust and not the Armenian genocide? why in my history class did I watch a documentary on aushwitz and not one on Aleppo? why do I have a class called "holocaust studies" next year and not one called "Armenian genocide studies"?

no, in a world of democracy the one with the most money shouldnt have the louder voice.

if turks and Armenians should solve their problems then Jews and skinheads should do the same. if you want I can schedule an appointment for you mister foxman

Edited by irlandahay, 19 April 2008 - 12:20 PM.

[Yervant1]

MASSACHUSETTS IS NO PLACE FOR SWASTIKAS OR ADL HYPOCRISY
By David Boyajian

The Belmont Citizen Herald
10 December 2008

Who has done more harm: the scoundrel who recently committed the
senseless, criminal act of spray-painting a swastika on a Newton
synagogue; or the national Anti-Defamation League, which has long
diminished and denied the Armenian genocide and lobbied alongside
Turkey to stop the U.S. from recognizing that genocide? I suggest
the latter.

Last year Belmont and Newton severed ties with the No Place for
Hate (NPFH) program of the ADL due to the latter's actions against
Armenians.

Many Massachusetts cities, including Belmont, have occasionally
experienced swastika spray-painting defacements. But the ADL is taking
blatant advantage of the Newton incident.

Summoning up the ghost of NPFH, the ADL has declared that Newton is
"not a place for hate" and used other rhetoric to try to recoup its
lost standing.

Though the Newton incident was atrocious, the ADL lacks the
credibility to lecture anyone about hate. The ADL maintains that
denial, diminishment, or any questioning of the Holocaust constitutes
anti-Semitism and "hate." By its own standards, therefore, the ADL
is guilty of hate regarding the Armenian genocide. It's also clearly
guilty of major hypocrisy.

Arlington, Bedford, Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport,
Northamp ton, Peabody, Somerville, Watertown, Westwood have, like
Belmont and Newton, castigated the national ADL and dropped NPFH. So
did the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents every
city and town. Human rights advocates, many of them Jewish, have also
condemned the ADL's stance against Armenians.

And Watertown has now demanded that Blue Cross Blue Shield stop
sponsoring NPFH. Top ADL officers inside the company had persuaded
it several years ago to fund the program.

And, no, the national ADL and director Abraham Foxman have not
unambiguously acknowledged the Armenian genocide. Quite the opposite.

Pressed by human rights advocates and Armenians, the national ADL
issued a statement on August 21, 2007 that, while it mentioned
the word genocide, implied that the Armenian murders were simply a
"consequence" of war and, therefore, not intentional. The ADL knows
that "consequential" deaths are not genocide. The official definition
of genocide in Article 2 of the U.N. Genocide Treaty specifically
requires "intent" by the perpetrator. Imagine the ferocious ADL
reaction if an Armenian group implied that the Holocaust was simply a
"consequence" of WWII.

The ADL's slickly worded genocide denial was a blatant demonstration
of bad faith. And it didn't fool the MMA and the dozen cities that
subsequently cut ties to NPFH. The ADL stateme nt has never - never -
been retracted.

Foxman has recently started another word game, saying that he has
"referred" to the Armenian genocide. The ADL condemns word games
with the Holocaust but then plays the same games with the Armenian
holocaust.

The powerful ADL has long lobbied against Armenian genocide resolutions
in Congress. Imagine how the ADL would have screamed bloody murder if
an Armenian organization had lobbied against any of the innumerable
pieces of Holocaust legislation.

The ADL's seemingly inexplicable opposition to Armenians is part of
a widely acknowledged deal between Turkey and Israel.

"The Jewish lobby has quite actively supported Turkey," notes Yola
Habif Johnston of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs,
"to prevent the so-called Armenian genocide resolution from passing."

The American Jewish Committee is one of the groups she cited. Grilled
earlier this year about the Armenian issue, AJC's Strategic Studies
Director, Barry Jacobs, blurted out, "We are not historians, which is a
polite [expletive] way of saying we're not going to take responsibility
[or] make a decision on 1915." Added Jacobs, "The position of all the
Jewish organizations, including the ADL, was not to have a position
on the facts ... we do not think that the Congress is the place to
settle this ... that's the real world and that's the position of the
U.S. and Israel."

Jacobs once appeared in a nasty, Turkish-sponsored genocide denial
film and has pledged to "champion to the best of our ability Turkish
interests in the U.S. Congress."

However, the American Jewish World Service, American Jewish League for
Israel, Jewish War Veterans of the USA, and a dozen other principled
Jewish groups support the Armenian resolution. So do the NAACP,
Sons of Italy, Nat'l Council of La Raza, NOW, American Values, Arab
American Institute, Cambodian Assoc. of America, Int'l Campaign for
Tibet, Christian Solidarity Int'l, National Council of Churches,
and some 70 more organizations.

But not the ADL. Foxman is loath to back out of his deal with Turkey.

It's clear that the main ADL agenda is political wheeling and dealing
and not, as claimed, universal human rights. The public and ADL's
principled grassroots members have been misled.

The national ADL's stance against Armenians lends credence to
those who accuse it and groups like AJC of exploiting the Holocaust
for political purposes and of being insincere about others' human
rights. That is a far greater disservice to Jews and humanity than
any spray-painted swastika.

[gamavor]

I can't agree more with Abe Foxman that the issue of recognition of the Genocide is something that should be solved between Armenians and Turks. However, what is strange is the denielist support of the Jews as a whole (their organizations in the world and Israel as a country) to the Turks. One may ask why and the answer is clear. Because there have never been a Jewish shoah. It is a lie. Holohoax is a Jewish fabrication to draw attention and sympathy to the Jewish people, who are acctually the most racist people in the world.

[Yervant1]

FACING HISTORY, THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, AND THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
By David Boyajian

HETQ
December 6, 2011

The Anti-Defamation League's hostility to Armenian Americans is no
secret. The ADL and its national director, Abraham Foxman, have worked
with Turkey to deny the Armenian genocide and defeat the Armenian
genocide resolution in Congress. It was a shock, therefore, to learn
that Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO), a nationwide Holocaust
and human rights educational organization whose curriculum includes
the Armenian genocide, was to "partner" with Foxman for an ADL panel
discussion on "The New Anti-Semitism" in Boston on November 7, 2011.

Alerted by an Armenian-authored Open Letter to FHAO, many Armenians
urged the group to withdraw its partnership with Foxman. I myself
spoke to FHAO, without success.

FHAO's Form Letter

Instead, FHAO responded to Armenian Americans with a form letter which
claimed, disingenuously, that Foxman had acknowledged the Armenian
genocide. FHAO didn't even bother to address the ADL's hypocritical
opposition to the Armenian genocide resolution, which Foxman continues
to call a "counterproductive diversion."

Though Foxman's notorious August 21, 2007 statement mentioned the
"G word," it also implied that Armenian deaths in 1915 were a
"consequence" of wartime conditions rather than intentional.

"Intent," however, is what United Nations law requires for an act to
be considered genocide. Foxman knew that when he issued his statement.

Prompted by human rights activists and Armenian Americans, a dozen
Massachusetts cities and the Massachusetts Municipal Association
condemned Foxman's rhetorical sleight-of-hand, and from 2007-2008 -
after Foxman's statement - cut ties with the ADL's "No Place for
Hate" program.

Open Letter to the Genocide Education Project

A second Open Letter (Oct. 31, 2011) requested the San Francisco-based
Armenian organization, the Genocide Education Project (GEP), whose
primary mission is teaching the Armenian genocide, to ask FHAO to
drop its co-sponsorship of the Foxman event.

Why GEP? Because it and FHAO's advisory boards overlap: Professors
Peter Balakian and Richard Hovannisian are on both boards. And FHAO
executives Adam Strom, son of his group's founder, and Jack Weinstein,
are on GEP's advisory board.

I contacted GEP, which said that it would decide how to proceed and
get back to me. It never did. Other Armenians, too, pressed GEP to
ask FHAO to not co-sponsor Foxman. I later made another attempt to
reach GEP, without success. Ultimately, GEP remained silent. GEP owed
answers to a concerned public. Silence invites speculation. Did it
fear losing FHAO's friendship? If so, should an Armenian American
organization collaborate with such organizations if that prevents it
from speaking out?

Fortunately, the Coalition to Recognize the Armenian Genocide, composed
of Armenians and Jews, rose to the occasion. At the ADL event, it
distributed flyers urging "all organizations and officials to spurn
the ADL until it unequivocally recognizes the Armenian Genocide" and
"ceases lobbying against" the Armenian genocide resolution.

Interesting questions and issues arise from the sad spectacle of the
FHAO-ADL partnership and GEP's silence.

Human Rights as a Cover

If an organization recognizes, and even teaches about, the Armenian
genocide, is that recognition principled and consistent? Or is it
mainly a vehicle to advance the organization's own goals?

We do know, after all, of organizations that use human rights or
genocide education to disguise their real agenda. The ADL is one
such example.

The ADL has lots of nice-sounding, "politically correct" programs:
"No Place for Hate," "Combat Bullying," "Making Diversity Count,"
"Workplace of Difference," "Stories of LGBT History," and more. These
programs, along with its ample funds and alleged prestige, have
enabled the ADL to gain entry to thousands of public elementary and
high schools, colleges, corporations, cities, and governments. (FHAO,
incidentally, has several programs similar to the ADL's.) Teaching
human rights is not, however, the ADL's real aim.

ADL programs are just a backdoor way to instill familiarity and
sympathy with itself, the concerns of the Jewish people, the Holocaust,
and Israel.

How do we know this? Because no genuine human rights organization
would ever work closely - as the ADL has done - with the human
rights-abusing, genocide-denying Turkish government to defeat a
Congressional resolution on the Armenian genocide, especially while
advocating Holocaust recognition and reparations in Congress.

And must we surrender to the "taboo" against critiquing Jewish groups
such as the ADL, even when they're clearly adversaries?

That taboo could explain the reluctance, 3 - 4 years ago, of many
Armenian American political groups, leaders, and academicians,
especially on the West Coast, to emulate Massachusetts'
hugely successful, internationally-recognized campaign
(www.NoPlaceForDenial.com) against the ADL's anti-Armenian bias.

When Armenian American leaders avoid criticizing influential
adversaries, are they defending the community's interests or their own?

Another question: when an individual recognizes the Armenian genocide,
is that recognition principled and consistent? Or is it mainly a
vehicle to advance his or her interests? Public officials are,
of course, the most obvious examples.

Genocide 'Bait and Switch'

Presidential candidate Barack Obama recognized the Armenian genocide
and promised to do the same as president. As a result, he garnered
several Armenian American endorsements. Once in the White House,
he quickly forgot his promise. And consider Jane Harman who as
a Congresswoman (D-CA) supported the genocide resolution before
she deceitfully undermined it. Then there's Richard Gephardt, at
one time the U.S. House Majority Leader. As a Congressman (D-MO),
he supported the Armenian resolution. He even spoke at an Armenian
genocide commemoration on Capitol Hill. Nevertheless, after leaving
Congress in 2005, Gephardt became a paid consultant for Turkey and
lobbied against the Armenian resolution that he once supported. And
recall Samantha Power, the alleged genocide expert and "friend"
of Armenian Americans.

Reluctance to Critique

Three years ago Power very publicly urged Armenian Americans to
vote for Barack Obama because as president he would recognize our
genocide. She now heads the White House's "Office of Multilateral
Affairs and Human Rights" (while her husband and longtime Obama friend,
Cass Sunstein, is the president's "regulatory czar.") Our "friend"
Samantha hasn't been heard from in years. By now, Armenian American
organizations should have made some kind of critique of America's
"Human Rights" sweetheart. But, no, they're as quiet as she is. The
lesson is not lost on Power or anyone else contemplating self-serving
rhetoric and promises to Armenians.

And could self-interest, rather than the Armenian people's best
interests, explain why more diasporan Armenian "leaders" and
organizations haven't been more critical of corruption among Armenia's
government officials and oligarchs?

Armenian Americans expect their political leaders and organizations to
speak up strongly when our interests are at stake. Fear of offending
those who offend us is a poor excuse.

[Yervant1]

Hey Mr. Fox-man did you forget the award you gave to Erdoghan, you two are match made in heaven!

ADL ALARMED AT TURKEY'S REPORTED INVESTIGATION OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DUAL ISRAELI AND TURKISH CITIZENSHIP

Update: (12/24/12) On December 22, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs released a statement denying media reports of an investigation
of Turkish Jews in connection to the "Flotilla Incident" stating that
there is "no basis" and that Turkey "cannot accept generalization
and presentation of allegations regarding possible perpetrators of
the incident in a way that targets the Turkish Jewish community who
are a part of our society and equal citizens of Turkey."

New York, NY, December 18, 2012 ... The Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) today expressed alarm at news reports that Turkey's National
Intelligence Organization is investigating individuals who may be
dual citizens of Israel and Turkey in connection to the Mavi Marmara
"Flotilla Incident" of 2010.

Various reports suggest that targets of the investigation are Jewish
without a thorough identification process and go on to mention that
the identities of those being investigated will be disclosed at a
later time.

In a letter to H. E. Namýk Tan, the Ambassador of Turkey to the United
States, ADL stressed that the vague allegations being reported may be
intimidating to the Turkish-Jewish community and could create a sense
of alarm for Turkish Jews who have felt protected by the government
in Turkey for centuries.

"Throughout Jewish history, similar tactics have fomented anti-Semitism
by publicly raising suspicions of Jewish dual loyalty in the minds
of fellow countrymen," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.

ADL also reiterated its call for an explanation on the validity of
the reports.

"If your government has information about specific individuals under
investigation, that should be disclosed immediately in order to
relieve any sense of uncertainty about the Turkish Jewish community
in general," Mr. Foxman wrote. "If the news reports are unfounded or
misleading, an immediate and public clarification is needed."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading
organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services
that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

http://www.adl.org/P..._62/6460_62.htm

[Yervant1]

ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE CITED AS HATE GROUP

http://www.veteranst...cking-genocide/
Sunday, September 29th, 2013

Abraham Foxman, Leading Supporter of Turkish Genocide

No Place for Denial

Municipalities must sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League's No
Place for Hate program because the ADL

Refuses to unambiguously acknowledge the Armenian Genocide Engages in
genocide denial by echoing Turkish calls for a "historians commission"
Lobbies against U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide

For many years, the ADL has refused to acknowledge that the massacres
by the Turkish government of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and
1923 constitute genocide; the ADL has also actively participated in
genocide denial by lobbying for Turkey to prevent passage of a United
States Congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide.

In advocating for the Turkish government, the ADL has abandoned its
mission "to secure justice and fair treatment to all." As recently
as February 5, 2009, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman told The
New York Times that the ADL will continue to oppose a Congressional
resolution because "There's too much at stake in the [Israeli-Turkish]
relationship."

The ADL has thus disqualified itself as a defender of universal human
rights by prioritizing geopolitical interests over a clear moral
imperative - that of condemning and combating genocide and Holocaust
denial in all its forms.

On August 21, 2007, under pressure from the New England Armenian and
Jewish communities, as well as area human rights and governmental
bodies, the ADL issued a disingenuous press release that it claims is
an acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide. This statement, however,
actually contravenes the international legal definition of genocide
by avoiding any language that would imply the intent required by the
1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.

By writing that the "consequences" of actions by the Ottoman Empire
were "tantamount to genocide," the ADL is, in fact, upholding Turkey's
assertion that Armenians died simply as a result of World War I
conditions and not from a deliberate, planned program of extermination.

Two days later - and on numerous occasions since - the ADL called
upon Armenians to "respond favorably to the several recent overtures
of Turkey to convene a joint commission . . . to investigate what
happened in the past."

Proposals for further study are intended to create doubt about
historical facts and are a standard tactic of genocide and Holocaust
deniers. Indeed, the ADL has denounced a similar conference to examine
the Holocaust that was convened in Iran in December 2006.

In an April 23, 2008, statement to Congress, International Association
of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) President Dr. Gregory Stanton, condemned
Turkey's proposition to establish a historical commission as the
"latest version" of Turkish genocide denial. He explained:

"The problem with this proposal is that the Armenian genocide has
been thoroughly documented and studied by genocide scholars, many of
whom are not Armenian, and the historical record is unambiguous. In
1997, The International Association of Genocide Scholars declared
unanimously that the Turkish massacres of over one million Armenians
constituted a crime of genocide. A 'commission of historians' would
only serve the interests of Turkish genocide deniers. There is no more
'other side' to the truth about the Armenian genocide than there is
about the Holocaust."

Likewise, in June 2008, the internationally respected anti-hate
group Southern Poverty Law Center published an extensive intelligence
report on Turkish genocide denial; addressing the proposed historians
commission, it wrote, "A lie isn't the other side of any story. It's
just a lie."

It is exceptionally offensive for the ADL to ask Armenians to convene
with denialist historians on the payroll of the Turkish government
to "investigate" the Armenian Genocide. By the ADL's own standards,
casting doubt on the historical truth of genocide constitutes genocide
denial. Considering the ADL's unceasing - and just - efforts to combat
Holocaust denial, its actions are remarkably hypocritical.

On November 2, 2007, the ADL held its national commissioners meeting
during which the Armenian, Jewish, and human rights communities
expected the ADL to take a clear and principled stand by unambiguously
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. In a one-sentence press release,
however, the ADL announced that it had voted "to take no further
action" on the issue. By this defining vote, the entire organization
- not just its national leadership - became complicit in Turkey's
genocide denial campaign.

As a result of the ADL's position on the Armenian Genocide, thirteen
Massachusetts communities withdrew from the ADL's No Place for
Hate Program. Additionally, the Massachusetts Municipal Association
terminated its sponsorship of the program, announcing in an April
2008 press release:

"The MMA Board of Directors . . . believes that unequivocal recognition
of the Armenian Genocide is both a matter of basic justice to its
victims as well as essential to efforts to prevent future genocides
. . . The inconsistency between the National ADL's position on the
Armenian Genocide and the human rights principles underlying NPFH is
a matter of great concern to MMA Board members and the municipalities
they represent. The MMA feels strongly that it is imperative to speak
with absolute clarity on genocide."

According to genocide scholars, genocide denial is the highest form
of hate speech and the final stage of genocide. Nobel Laureate Elie
Wiesel calls it a "double killing." The IAGS says that denial "is
actually a continuation of the genocide, because it is a continuing
attempt to destroy the victim group psychologically and culturally,
to deny its members even the memory of the murders of their relatives."

Philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy states succinctly, "Deniers are not
merely expressing an opinion; they are perpetrating a crime."

It is clear that the ADL does not possess the moral authority to
sponsor anti-hate and diversity programs in our cities and towns. Its
actions are an affront to the cause of human rights, tolerance, and
genocide prevention - and with the very ideals that the No Place for
Hate program aims to foster in our communities.

There is no question that the work of dedicated volunteers and human
rights activists on local No Place for Hate committees is extremely
valuable and should be supported. Yet this vital work is compromised
by ADL sponsorship. The Belmont, Massachusetts Human Rights Commission
concurred: "ADL and the No Place for Hate program emphasize that the
"tip of the pyramid of hatred" is genocide. How can we, in good faith,
ask our community to work at the base of this same pyramid while the
No Place for Hate sponsor is actively working against congressional,
international recognition of the Armenian genocide?" (September 6,
2007) Our communities abound with committed, civically engaged citizens
who can continue to perform critical human rights work independently,
without the baggage that comes with ADL sponsorship. The MMA has
recommended an alternative program for its member cities and towns.

No Place for Hate municipalities across the country must support
human rights for all people and join Arlington, Bedford, Belmont,
Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Peabody,
Somerville, Watertown, and Westwood, Massachusetts, as well as the
Massachusetts Municipal Association, by immediately severing ties
with the ADL.

To compensate for its unethical actions, the ADL must:

Unambiguously recognize the Armenian Genocide Cease the denialist
tactic of calling for further study of the Armenian Genocide Support
U.S. affirmation of the Armenian Genocide

The ADL's denial of the Armenian Genocide is not simply an Armenian
issue; it is a moral concern for all humanity. As Martin Luther
King, Jr. so eloquently declared, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere."

Ultimately, denying any genocide, anywhere, endangers us all.

"Studies by genocide scholars prove that the single best predictor
of future genocide is denial of a past genocide coupled with impunity
for its perpetrators," according to the IAGS.

The failure to punish the Turkish perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide
and to secure justice for its victims encouraged Adolph Hitler, setting
the stage for the Holocaust. On the eve of the Final Solution, and
one week prior to the invasion of Poland, Hitler told his commanders:

"Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality . . . 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
formation 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 which we need. Who, after all,
speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Adolph Hitler, August 22, 1939
 

[Yervant1]

HALLELUJAH! ABE FOXMAN FINALLY 'RETIRES' FROM THE ADL

Pamela Geller.com
Feb 11 2014

JEWISH LAY LEADERSHIP: NEO KAPOS

Oh, happy day. Abe Foxman is resigning after more than 50 years at
the increasingly damaging ADL. I thought that Foxman was going to go
out feet first. And in a way, he is. Lord knows the man is brain dead.

He took a once-vital organization and turned it hard left, going
relentlessly after fierce proud Jews like me. And more than any other,
Jew-haters loved to flaunt the ADL's condemnation of my work. Foxman's
ADL freely criticized Israel. He attacked my lawyer, David Yerushalmi,
an orthodox Jew. Foxman even went after Joan Rivers ( I kid you not).

But he walked on eggshells with anti-semitic Muslim groups.

Of course, his successor could be worse, but let's not think about
that now. Foxman is gone; perhaps the ADL will finally recognize the
Armenian Genocide.

One Jewicidal leader down, legions to go. I nominate Charles Jacobs
to replace Foxman.

"Abraham Foxman retiring from ADL," JTA, February 10, 2014

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Abraham Foxman, the national director of
the Anti-Defamation League, and one of the longest-serving and
highest-profile American Jewish organizational leaders, is retiring
from his post.

Foxman will step down on July 20, 2015, according to an announcement
Monday by the ADL.

"For almost five decades, ADL offered me the perfect vehicle to live
a life of purpose both in standing up on behalf of the Jewish people
to ensure that what happened during World War II would never happen
again and in fighting bigotry and all forms of oppression," Foxman,
73, said in an ADL news release. "My years at ADL, particularly the
27 spent as National Director, could not have been more rewarding."

Foxman announced his retirement at the ADL's annual National Executive
Committee meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. The organization said its search
for Foxman's successor will be conducted by the executive search firm
BoardWalk Consulting and will be guided by ADL leadership.

A lawyer by training, Foxman, a child survivor of the Holocaust,
started at the ADL in 1965 and became its national director in 1987.

Under his leadership, ADL has expanded to 30 regional offices across
the United States and an office in Israel.

In 2011, the last year for which data is available, the ADL reported
nearly $54 million in revenue. The organization monitors anti-Semitic
activity, offers discrimination-sensitivity training and runs
anti-bigotry programs.

But it is Foxman's personage for which the ADL may best be known. Seen
as a spokesman for the Jewish people, Foxman has used his position
as a bully pulpit to advocate for Israel, warn against discrimination
and, perhaps most often, issue declamations of what does or does not
constitute anti-Semitism.

Whether they be condemnations of foreign leaders or pardons of
celebrities who have made ill-considered utterances, Foxman's has
been the authoritative voice on what is or is not acceptable to Jews.

After he steps down, Foxman will serve as a part-time consultant to
ADL and sit on the organization's national commission and national
executive committee, the organization said.

http://pamelageller....tires-adl.html/
 

[Yervant1]

Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

 

Mass. Judicial Nominee Rejected over Genocide Denial

 

Joseph Berman

BOSTON (AP)—Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s nominee for a Superior Court judgeship has been rejected by the Governor’s Council, which approves judicial nominees.

 

The eight-member council voted 4-4 Wednesday to deny attorney Joseph Berman a place on the bench.

Patrick said he’s disappointed and that Berman is qualified.

The choice was a contentious one for some council members. The opposition was led by Councilor Marilyn Petitto Devaney, a Watertown Democrat.

Devaney objected to Berman’s ties to the Anti-Defamation League, which has worked directly with Turkey to defeat Congressional resolutions on the Armenian genocide and still refuses to unambiguously acknowledge that genocide.

Berman supporters said he helped push the ADL’s national leadership to change its position and acknowledge the Armenian genocide.

Gov. Patrick called the objections to Berman ‘‘unprecedented and unfair.’’

Before and during the height of Armenian Americans’ battle against the genocide denial of the ADL in 2007, National Commissioner Berman apparently never issued a public statement disagreeing with national ADL policies towards Armenians.

[Yervant1]

Judicial Candidate Joseph Berman, the ADL, and the Armenian Genocide
<http://www.armenianl...enian-genocide/>
BY STAFF - POSTED ON MARCH 8, 2014*POSTED IN:
<http://www.armenianl.../author/nishan/>

<http://www.armenianl...12/boyajian.jpg>
By David Boyajian

Background

The presentation below was given by David Boyajian at a public hearing for
attorney Joseph S. Berman before the Massachusetts Governor's Council on
February 26, 2014. The hearing took place at the State House in Boston,
Massachusetts. Mr. Boyajian is a member of the Armenian American
community of Massachusetts.

In 2013, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick nominated Mr. Berman, a
long-time member and National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), to be a Superior Court judge. The Massachusetts Constitution
empowers the eight elected members of the Governor's Council to confirm or
reject all judicial nominations.

Following Mr. Berman's first Governor's Council hearing on November 13,
2013, a three-month long public controversy ensued over his suitability to
be a judge.

The Councilors had several reasons, beside his ADL leadership post, for
doubting Mr. Berman's suitability: his lack of truthfulness as to whether
he had asked elected officials to lobby the Councilors on his behalf; a
lack of criminal trial experience; poor demeanor; over $100,000 in
political campaign contributions, including to Governor Patrick, since
being rejected for a judgeship in 2004; and more.

On February 26, the Governor's Council vote was a 4-4 tie, which means that
Mr. Berman's candidacy for a judgeship failed.

Presentation by David Boyajian

Councilors, thank you for the opportunity to address you today.

I know that a majority of you have previously indicated they will not
confirm Joseph Berman to be a Superior Court judge, and that you have a
variety of reasons for that.

I've listened to the tape of Mr. Berman's first hearing in November, and
I'm aware of those reasons.

Mr. Berman's position as a National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation
League, which has engaged in inexcusable activities against an ethnic group
- Armenian Americans - is one reason that has been expressed by some.

I must note that in his questionnaire in November of 2013, Mr. Berman
listed himself as being on both the National and Regional ADL boards.

I'll be providing factual context to what I will be saying about Mr.
Berman's nomination and the ADL so that the Council, those present, and the
media, understand my remarks. This is especially important because the
media has often misrepresented some essential facts.

I'm going to talk about the credibility of Mr. Berman and, because New
England (N.E.) ADL officials have publicly supported him, the credibility
of the N.E. ADL.

During his November 2013 hearing, Mr. Berman did himself no favors when,
during questioning by Councilor Jubinville, he repeatedly denied having
called any official or candidate to lobby the Councilors. He later had to
admit to Councilor Caissie that that morning he had phoned a State Senator
- now a Congresswoman - to lobby some of you. Credibility and truthfulness
are, of course, essential qualities in a judge.

Mr. Berman has been a member of the ADL for about 19 years, and an ADL
National Commissioner since 2006.

For 20 years - and probably even longer - the ADL has been denying the
factuality of the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey against Armenian
Christians from 1915 to 1923. The ADL, consciously and deliberately, went
out of its way to engage in anti-human rights activities directed against a
particular ethnic group, namely Armenian Americans, who had never given the
ADL any reason to do so.

All those years, surely the New England ADL, including Mr. Berman, knew
what the ADL was doing. Did they speak out? No.

The ADL, which claims to be a universal human rights organization, not just
a Jewish one, has also actively worked with Turke, a major human rights
violator, to defeat Armenian genocide resolutions in the US Congress. Can
you imagine any genuine human rights group, such as Amnesty International,
actively working against recognition of a proven genocide?

Just imagine the ADL's reaction if some organization which claimed to
uphold human rights were trying to stop the scores of Holocaust resolutions
in the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and other countries.

Would the Governor even be nominating Mr. Berman if the ADL was trying to
defeat a Congressional resolution recognizing the evils of Black Slavery?

What would your reaction be if the ADL made a deal with the British
Government to defeat a resolution on the Irish Famine?

At his November 2013 hearing, Mr. Berman was asked what he'd do if he were
a member of an organization which opposed recognition of the Holocaust. He
said only that he would oppose the policy. I don't believe him. I
believe that he would resign from such an organization. Yet he never
resigned from the ADL.

Some essential background if I may: Jewish political analysts and the
Jewish media have acknowledged that the ADL's anti-Armenian activities came
about as part of a three-way deal many years ago among Turkey, Israel, and
a few of the leading Jewish American lobbying groups, including the ADL,
the American Jewish Committee, AIPAC, the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs, and B'nai B'rith.

I know this personally because 10 years ago a fine man, William Parsons,
the then-Chief of Staff at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, gave
a public lecture at Tufts. He told me afterwards that the ADL was indeed
lobbying against Armenian Americans. Has it never occurred to the National
ADL and its Commissioners that they cannot credibly ask us to commemorate
the Holocaust while they simultaneously work to cover up a Christian
genocide?

Again, surely the New England ADL, and its National Commissioners,
including Mr. Berman, knew what the ADL was up to. Did they ever speak
out? No.

I must mention that scores of American organizations, of various
orientations and ethnic groups, and many well-known Jewish American
organizations, historians, authors, human rights advocates, and elected
officials, have openly supported the Armenian genocide resolution. Such
groups include the American Jewish World Service, the Jewish War Veterans
of the USA, and Jewish World Watch.

Those Jewish organizations spoke out. Did the New England ADL, and Mr.
Berman? No.

In July of 2007, the ADL's Armenian genocide denials and lobbying for
Turkey against Armenian Americans began to make headlines. It started
locally with a letter I wrote to the Watertown Tab newspaper pointing out
that Watertown was one of many municipalities that had adopted the ADL's
alleged anti-bias program known as "No Place for Hate."
[image: OLYMPUS DIGITAL
CAMERA]<http://www.armenianl...rontal_view.jpg>

It quickly became a national and international issue. Frantic diplomatic
activity took place between Turkey and Israel. There are hundreds of
articles about this archived on the Armenian American activists' website
known as NoPlaceForDenial.com.

On NoPlaceforDenial.com, please look particularly at the section titled
"The History of Lobbying Against Genocide Recognition", which contains
revealing articles from the Jewish and non-Jewish press. You will be
shocked and repulsed.

So, what did the N.E. ADL and Joseph Berman say or do before this issue
erupted in 2007? Apparently, nothing.

In August of 2007, Andrew Tarsy, head of the N.E. ADL, after initially not
acknowledging the Armenian genocide, then spoke out publicly, and
acknowledged the Armenian genocide. He was fired by ADL National Director
Abraham Foxman. Did Mr. Berman ever speak out publicly? No.

Mike Ross, the Boston City Councilor, and Stewart Cohen, former chairman of
Polaroid, immediately resigned from the ADL. Did Joseph Berman resign?
No. In his first Governor's Council hearing, in November, Mr. Berman was
asked about this. He replied that he wrote a resignation "in his head",
but never acted on it. I am sorry, but "in his head" is not good enough.

Mr. Berman says that he and some other New England ADL members went to New
York City in November of 2007 to the ADL's national conclave. They said
they wanted the ADL to change its stance against Armenians. First, even
assuming that they did so, at that point it was too little, too late.

You see, three months earlier, soon after this issue broke, the National
ADL, on August 21, 2007, issued a statement that purported to be an
acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide, but was not.

The ADL's full statement implied that the Armenian genocide - it also used
the phrase "tantamount to genocide" - was simply a "consequence" of wartime
conditions. But the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, the
grandfather of all international law on genocide, specifically requires
intent by the perpetrator to legally be "genocide".

Now, that legalistically dishonest ADL statement was implicitly rejected
not just by Armenian Americans and human rights advocates. It was also
rejected by the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents all
the Commonwealth's cities and towns. The MMA cut ties with the ADL's "No
Place for Hate" even after the ADL statement. The following municipalities
also cut ties after the ADL statement: Arlington, Bedford, Belmont,
Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Peabody,
Somerville, and Westwood.

Many top members of the N.E. ADL, including Mr. Berman, are lawyers.
Surely, if laymen can understand the dishonest wording in the National
ADL's statement in August of 2007, so can lawyers in the N.E. ADL. A
judge should have knowledge and integrity when it comes to civil and human
rights law.

Yet now - and only now- are we hearing publicly from Mr. Berman on the
Armenian genocide issue, just when he wishes to become a judge.

Indeed, I do not recall any member of the N.E. ADL publicly pointing out
that the National ADL's August 21, 2007 statement was worded so as to not
meet the U.N's official definition of genocide. Many of the persons who
signed a recent petition supporting Mr. Berman - including former Attorney
General Scott Harshbarger and former Governor William Weld - are also
attorneys.

Have any of them ever publicly pointed out the legal problems with the
ADL's August 2007 statement? Not to my knowledge.

In late 2007, the N.E. ADL did request the National ADL to reverse its
anti-Armenian policies.

But that was many years, even decades, after it had to have known of those
policies. And only after Massachusetts Armenians Americans forced the
issue in the summer of 2007.

And what have the N.E ADL and Mr. Berman done since 2007 on the Armenian
issue? Apparently, nothing at all, and worse.

You see, in 2008, Mr. Derek Shulman became the N.E. ADL's new director. He
served until last month. Who is Derek Shulman? He was a "political
director" in AIPAC, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee. It is
a matter of public record that AIPAC, since at least the early 1990's, has
worked directly with Turks to defeat Armenian genocide resolutions in the
U.S. Congress. If, in 2008, the N.E. ADL and Mr. Berman were truly sincere
in the wake of being criticized over the Armenian genocide issue, why would
they allow themselves to be led by a person from an organization, AIPAC,
that has an anti-Armenian record?

Indeed, even though the N.E. ADL claims to have told the national ADL that
it should favor the Armenian genocide resolution, in a presentation he gave
in Falmouth, Massachusetts in 2012, Derek Shulman told his audience that
"we" - implying the N.E. and the national ADL - oppose the Armenian
genocide resolution.

In other words, the N.E. ADL and its leaders, including Mr. Berman, are not
credible.

And where were the leaders of the N.E. ADL in 2007, including Mr. Berman,
when the Armenian Heritage Park, which had been designated by a state law
passed by the legislature for the Rose Kennedy Greenway, was under attack,
for specious reasons, by a top member of the New England ADL, namely Peter
Meade, head of the Greenway Conservancy?

Mr. Meade, though Catholic, was and is a board member of the N.E. ADL. In
an article I wrote for area newspapers, titled "The Greenway is No Place
for the ADL", I disproved the specious reasons being cited by the Boston
Globe, such as that there were supposedly no memorials or ethnic content
slated for the Greenway. As a member of the anti-Armenian ADL, Mr. Meade
had a clear conflict of interest vis-a-vis the Armenian Park.

Why didn't the leaders of N.E. ADL 2007, including Mr. Berman, speak out
publicly against Mr. Meade's conflict of interest?

I will conclude with some facts regarding what this nomination is not about.

First, I know that no Governor's Councilor is making a decision on this
nomination on the basis of ethnicity or religion.

Moreover, the ADL and Armenian genocide issue is not even remotely a matter
of Armenian Americans versus Jewish Americans. The two peoples are, in
fact, very friendly. Over the years, probably hundreds of joint community
and academic events and programs on genocide have been held by the two
communities. For example, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles
will hold just such an event on March 10th.

In the year 2000, 126 Holocaust Scholars signed a petition appearing in the
New York Times that acknowledged the Armenian genocide.

A renowned Polish Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, actually coined the word
"genocide" in the 1940's and was the primary author of the United Nations
Genocide Convention of 1948. In a CBS-TV interview in 1949, which can be
seen on YouTube, Lemkin said that the principal reason he became interested
in genocide was because "it happened to the Armenians". Nearly 20
countries, including Canada, France, the Netherlands, and Argentina, as
well as the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the European
Union Parliament, the Parliament of the Council of Europe, a U.N.
Subcommittee, the Vatican, and many more institutions have officially
recognized the Armenian genocide specifically as "genocide."

Finally, the ADL, and its National Commissioners, and similar groups, owe
Armenian American reparations. They must apologize to Armenian Americans,
they must unambiguously recognize the Armenian genocide, and they must work
affirmatively for passage of the Armenian genocide resolution.

The ADL claims it is a universal human rights organization that defends the
rights of all ethnic groups. At this time, that claim is false.

The ADL, led by its National Commissioners, owe it to the Jewish American
community and others to reform so that the ADL truly supports universal
human rights.

For all the above reasons, I respectfully ask that the Governor's Council
not confirm ADL National Commissioner Joseph Berman as a judge. Thank you.

http://www.armenianl...enian-genocide/
 

[Yervant1]

SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY: PARTNER IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL?

By MassisPost
Updated: April 16, 2014

By Heidi Boghosian
Executive Director of the National Lawyer's Guild (NLG)

Students at Suffolk University Law School have launched an online
petition urging the school's president to withdraw its invitation to
Armenian genocide denier Abraham Foxman to speak at their commencement
and receive an honorary degree. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation
League director, drew harsh public criticism in 2007 for opposing
a congressional resolution acknowledging the 1915 extermination
of approximately 1.5 million Armenians. Since the 15th century,
Armenians had been treated as second-class citizens under Ottoman
rule. In honoring Foxman, Suffolk University sends a message that
politics are more important than acknowledging crimes against humanity.

The denial of genocide is an integral, and final, part of the genocidal
process, as Genocide Watch founder Gregory Stanton has written. Despite
a well-documented body of eyewitness accounts and other evidence
chronicling the 20th century's very first genocide (scholar and lawyer
Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide in 1943 with the extermination
of the Armenians in mind), the Turkish government continues to mount
a campaign of denial through inaccurate scholarship, propaganda,
aggressive lobbying, and even a law which forbids mention of the word
genocide. In 2005, Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk was prosecuted for
"insulting Turkishness," as was Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant
Dink who was subsequently assassinated in 2007 by a young Turkish
nationalist. U.S. political and partisan allegiances with Turkey
enable a range of repugnant human rights transgressions, old and new.

My grandmother Baidzar was born in Giresun, a village on the Black Sea,
to parents who owned almond and filbert orchards and were active in
working for protection of the Armenian minority. Baidzar remembered
that men would come to their house in the middle of the night and
have secret, whispered meetings upstairs, because it was against
the law for minorities to assemble. The father of the poet Silva
Gaboudegian was one of those men. Many years and many worlds later,
an older cousin would tell my grandmother that those men were members
of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Baidzar remembered her mother
falling to her knees crying before two officers, a Turk and a German,
who came to their home on horseback, begging them to spare her family.

Baidzar later watched her parents and siblings being slaughtered
before escaping to an orphanage and making a treacherous passage to
the United States as a mail order bride.

Around the world, on April 15, just weeks before Suffolk's
commencement, and 99 years after the mass murders, families with
stories just like my grandmother's will mark the day of observance of
the genocide. April 15 is widely considered to be the starting date of
a systematic and well-documented plan to eliminate the Armenians. On
that day in 1915, the Interior Minister of the Ottoman Empire, Talaat
Pasha, ordered the arrest and hangings of Armenian intellectuals and
community leaders in Constantinople. The killings were gruesome and
included beheadings of groups of babies, dismemberments, mass burnings
and drownings, use of toxic gas, lethal injections of morphine or
with the blood of typhoid fever patients.

Although there has been much academic recognition of the Armenian
genocide, this has rarely been followed by governmental recognition.

Turkey swiftly condemned a U.S. Senate committee resolution adopted on
April 10, 2014 by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations labeling
as genocide the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces and warned
Congress against taking steps that would tarnish Turkish-American
ties. Similar resolutions under past presidential administrations
have also failed.

The Turkish people have been taught for decades that there was no
genocide, with the result that most believe their country is being
treated unfairly when genocide resolutions are raised. Continued
failure to acknowledge the genocide in our history books is a
disservice not only to survivors of the genocide, but also to those
Turks who tried to stop it then and who face imprisonment today for
publicly acknowledging the genocide.

Suffolk University should listen to its students. It has the chance to
take a step forward in rectifying decades of injustice by reversing
its decision to honor Abraham Foxman with an honorary law degree
at its 2014 commencement. Tolerance of those who deny the Armenian
genocide may be politically expedient, but it is nonetheless morally
indefensible.

The NLG's syndicated radio program, Law & Disorder, will
address this issue on the air Monday, April 21, 2015. To
find out which stations near you will air the segment, visit:
http://lawanddisorder.org/stations/

To access the petition and/or letter to
Suffolk University President McCarthy, visit:
https://www.change.o...ncement-speaker

Photo: "Staged footage from 'Ravished Armenia,' Aurora Mardiganian's
book/film about the Armenian Genocide.'

http://massispost.co...enocide-denial/
 

[Yervant1]

SOME STUDENTS AT SUFFOLK LAW PROTEST CHOICE OF ADL LEADER AS COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER

Boston Business Journal
April 17 2014

Mary Moore

Students at Suffolk University Law School are opposing the school's
choice of Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation
League, as its commencement speaker.

Amy Willis, president of the school's student chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild in Massachusetts, said student members of the Guild,
several faculty members and Muslim students attending Suffolk
University have expressed dissent about Suffolk's choice of Foxman.

They have written emails and letters to Suffolk University's
administration, she said. Willis is a second-year law student at
Suffolk and is a student attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services.

In an April 14 letter to Suffolk President James McCarthy, the National
Lawyers Guild at Suffolk Law wrote that Foxman has been "a proponent
of many disturbing policies" and has "failed to embrace the promotion
of truly inclusive diversity."

The student chapter's letter reads, in part:

"In 2007, he spoke out publicly about the (Anti-Defamation League's)
stance on the Armenian genocide, denying that the deaths of 1.5 million
Armenians rose to the level of a genocide -- calling it tantamount to
genocide, but refusing to define this tragedy with the appropriate
and meaningful political term. ... Mr. Foxman's commentary on the
Armenian genocide hits home at Suffolk law, as there are students of
Armenian descent whose families would feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed
at commencement."

Suffolk University, in an email response to the BBJ, said that the
concerns expressed by members of the Suffolk University community
caused the university to "reexamine Mr. Foxman's career of work"
to ensure that it is in line with Suffolk's principles. Foxman was
chosen as the commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree
due to his work for nearly 50 years with the Anti-Defamation League.

Suffolk offered this response:

"While some have disagreed with statements he has made, Mr. Foxman's
body of work is deserving of recognition. As President Obama said
only weeks ago following the announcement of Mr. Foxman's upcoming
retirement from the ADL: 'For decades, Abe Foxman has been a tireless
voice against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all of its forms, always
calling us to reject hatred and embrace our common humanity. It is
our hope that Mr. Foxman's personal story as a Holocaust survivor and
attorney who has dedicated his life to public service will inspire
our graduates as they embark on their professional careers. In the
weeks to come, we will work with those who may still have concerns to
find ways to engage Mr. Foxman in a dialogue on the important issues
they have brought to our attention."

http://www.bizjourna...-choice-of.html
 

[Yervant1]

AFTER YEARS OF DENIAL, FOXMAN RECOGNIZES GENOCIDE

http://asbarez.com/1...nizes-genocide/
Friday, May 23rd, 2014

The ADL's National Director Abraham Foxman

BY LAURA BOGHOSIAN

BOSTON--After years of equivocation, Anti-Defamation League National
Director Abraham Foxman has publicly acknowledged that the Turkish
massacres of the Armenian people constituted genocide.

This recognition comes after a seven-year campaign in which the
Armenian and Jewish communities, as well as human rights activists and
local officials, demanded that the ADL affirm this historical truth.

In remarks delivered at Suffolk University Law School's commencement
on May 17, Foxman stated, "Had there been people of courage to
act in 1915 when the Armenian genocide was taking place, had there
been international intervention when massacres in Cambodia, Bosnia,
and the genocide in Rwanda were happening, innocent lives in great
numbers could have been saved."

The announcement that Foxman would deliver the keynote address
and receive an honorary degree unleashed widespread criticism that
the university planned to honor a man who refused to issue a clear
statement on the Armenian Genocide and who actively lobbied against
its recognition.

Groups including the Suffolk chapter of the National Lawyers Guild,
Suffolk student organizations, the Armenian Bar Association, Suffolk
alumni, and others called on Suffolk to rescind its invitation. When
Suffolk refused, several faculty members carried small Armenian flags
in silent protest onto the stage where Foxman spoke.

Foxman's Suffolk remarks stand in contrast to the ADL's 2007 statement
that the "consequences" of the Turkish government's actions were
"tantamount to genocide." The Armenian community and its supporters
rejected that statement as its qualifiers circumvented the intent
required by the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.

An ADL statement one year later that alleged it had "referred to
those massacres and atrocities as genocide" was likewise rebuffed as
it only "referred" to the unacceptable 2007 statement. Recent claims
by Foxman and the ADL that this 2008 release clearly and unequivocally
acknowledged the Armenian Genocide are false.

Since that time, human rights activists have continued to press
the ADL for an unequivocal acknowledgement, as well as an end to
its lobbying for the Turkish government to prevent passage of a
Congressional Resolution affirming the Armenian Genocide.

"Abe Foxman's reference to the Armenian massacres as genocide,
without any qualifiers, is a welcome change," stated Herman Purutyan,
Massachusetts chair of the Armenian Assembly of America. "Even though
Foxman continues to assert that he had previously acknowledged
the genocide, the basis for his claims are a chain of statements,
at the root of which is the 2007 statement full of qualifications,
intended to obfuscate the question. We expect that Foxman's statement
at Suffolk is not only his personal view, but that it also reflects
ADL's official position. ADL should confirm this by publishing an
unequivocal statement on its website, and joining in the efforts to
have the U. S. Congress recognize the Armenian Genocide by passing
the resolution currently before it."

Foxman's remarks reflected growing support by Jewish organizations
for recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In March, ADL New England
Regional Director Robert Trestan was quoted stating that the ADL
"now fully recognizes the Armenian genocide without reservation."

The following month, the American Jewish Committee issued a release
that read, "We pause in mournful tribute to the memories of the
estimated 1.5 million victims of the Meds Yeghern, the Genocide of
Armenians, committed in the final years of the Ottoman Empire."

Describing the genocide as "an unspeakable crime against humanity,"
the AJC called upon the Turkish government to confront the truth. "

Finally, the Israeli Knesset discussed recognition of the Armenian
Genocide at a plenum on May 13. A motion by the left-wing Meretz
party to recognize the genocide before its 100th anniversary next
year received support from across the political spectrum, including
from the rightist coalition government.

"These reversals of position by major Jewish organizations are quite
significant for all those committed to recognition of the genocides of
the past century," stated Dikran Kaligian, chairman of the Armenian
National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts. "No longer will Turkey
be able to exploit the differences between the positions of these
organizations' leadership and their membership -- the vast majority
of whom want nothing to do with Turkey's genocide denial campaign."

Locally, the Coalition to Recognize the Armenian Genocide was
established in 2008 to foster communication between the Armenian and
Jewish communities and to raise awareness of the Armenian Genocide
within the Jewish community. Its objectives include advocating for
official recognition of the genocide by the United States government.

Coalition members include representatives from the Armenian National
Committee of America and the Armenian Assembly of America.

The coalition facilitated contacts between Armenian activists and
members of the ADL and created an online petition calling on Congress
to recognize the Armenian Genocide that has gathered over 21,000
signatures to date.

Laura Boghosian is a member of the Coalition to Recognize the Armenian
Genocide.
 

[Yervant1]

Beware the Hornet's Nest

Editorial 5-24-2014
By Edmond Y. Azadian


Armenian-Jewish relations have a very special significance and are
expressed in a variety of dimensions. The basic tenet that binds the
two groups is falling victim to mass murder. The two groups understand
each other and they are poised better than other groups to empathize
with each other, having experienced the horrors of ethnic cleansing or
extermination.

However, those relations may manifest in many different ways when
political considerations weigh in. The fact that the state of Israel
is not among the 20-some nations that that have recognized the
Armenian Genocide is a sore point in those relations. But the saving
grace is that bona fide scholars and legislators in Israel articulate
better than any other group Israel's moral obligation to recognize the
Armenian Genocide in the face of political expediency.

It does not take a conspiratorial mind to observe the influence of
Israel and its lobbying arm in the US and in this country's
legislature. Therefore, as the Armenians take up the challenge of
extracting Genocide recognition from the US government, first and
foremost, they have to capitalize on the sympathies of these lobbying
groups.

Also, it is an important factor to harmonize and coordinate Armenian
interests with the political interests of those groups. Working at
cross-purposes guarantees defeat.

In recent years, a controversy has been introduced in these delicate
relations, that of the Armenian Genocide policy of the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), reflected mainly in the actions and words of its
national director, Abraham Foxman.

A vigorous campaign was conducted mostly in New England and to a
smaller extent, nationally, to expose the ADL's active participation
with Turkey in defeating all resolutions in the US Congress
recognizing the Armenian Genocide. That campaign yielded some positive
results, especially in discrediting the ADL's anti-bias program, No
Place for Hate, as a hypocritical façade for the organization's
disingenuous and active campaign against other human rights causes,
including the Armenian Genocide.

Certainly it was an indirect victory when on the eve of the 2014
Genocide memorial day, the American Jewish Committee released an
unequivocal statement of support, which said, in part, "In a month of
solemn remembrance of the atrocities of the last century -- from the
20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide to the annual commemoration
in Israel and the Untied States of the Holocaust -- we pause in
mournful tribute to the memories of the estimated 1.5 million victims
of the Medz Yeghern, the genocide of the Armenians, committed in the
final years of the Ottoman Empire."

We may also consider partial victory in defeating the nomination of
Joseph Berman by Gov. Deval Patrick to the Massachusetts Superior
Court as a result of a sustained and well-orchestrated campaign,
although Mr. Berman's case was only tangentially germane to the
Genocide issue. A number of negative factors were used against his
nomination: his lack of criminal experience, slight knowledge of drug
issues, his attempts to buy political influence through hefty campaign
contributions and his representation of a Guantanamo inmate. Perhaps
his affiliation with the ADL was the straw that broke the camel's
back.

The campaign against the ADL and its leader, Foxman, has not abated
for the last few years. On the contrary, it has been gaining momentum,
which culminated in the confrontation between the Ad Hoc Greater
Boston Committee for Human Rights and the Suffolk University
Administration. Mr. Foxman was invited to deliver the commencement
address at Suffolk Law School graduation. The protest against Mr.
Foxman's presence began in April by Suffolk's student chapter of the
National Lawyers' Guild. The main reason for the initiative was Mr.
Foxman's and the ADL's long-standing collusion with Turkey, a major
human rights violator, in campaigning to defeat US congressional
resolutions on the Armenian Genocide.

Anti-Foxman actions also included a call to Sen. Edward Markey (D-Ma),
another invitee to the Suffolk ceremony, to boycott the affair.

It was a valiant campaign and an effective exercise of political
activism, which unfortunately did not achieve its intended results.
Mr. Foxman delivered his commencement address, and was awarded an
honorary Juris Doctor degree. And in the melee, he also referenced the
Armenian Genocide.

But the defeat will be more instructive if we are prepared to study
its lessons. Mr. Foxman would not have stood behind the podium had the
Suffolk administration not felt strong on its grounds. It looks also
as if this campaign has reached its point of saturation. In economics
and in politics, there is something called a law of diminished
returns, which warns us not to overstep our boundaries. The fact that
some Jews have also joined the anti-ADL and anti-Foxman campaign
indicates that some internal policy issues or personal quarrels are
involved, which may entangle the Armenians unnecessarily.

Mr. Foxman is a power broker in Washington and the ADL is equally
powerful and no Armenian organization can match their influence should
push come to shove.

The writing is already on the wall; on May 13, 2014, the ADL issued a
statement trying to clarify its position on the Armenian Genocide.
However, the angry tone of the statement is more of a warning than an
apology or clarification. By reiterating its statement of August 22,
2008, the new statement says, "We are deeply concerned by ongoing
questions about our organization's position with regard to the
Armenian Genocide. The ADL has never denied the tragic and painful
events perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians and we
have referred to those massacres as genocide. All of the ADL's
anti-hate programs classify genocide as the ultimate crime against
humanity."

Although there is an explicit acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide,
there is no denial of Mr. Foxman's or the ADL's active role against
Armenian Genocide resolutions in Congress. Instead, there is a stern
warning which should be taken very seriously: "There is simply no
basis for the false accusation that we engage in any form of denial
and we believe this characterization of the ADL crosses the boundary
of acceptable criticism into the category of demonization."

A more ominous echo comes all the way from Jerusalem. Normally the
press in Israel is very favorable to the Armenian cause but an article
published in the Jerusalem Post on May 18 by a novice called Tal
Buenos is vitriolic. Under the title of "Abraham Foxman's Good Name,"
the writer not only defends his mentor but also attacks virulently the
basic facts of the Armenian Genocide, generously borrowing words and
statements from the official Turkish denialist lexicon.

One of the writer's laughable statements goes like this: "Foxman is
not a denier. He has never refused to recognize existing facts about
the Armenian tragedy of World War I. On the contrary, he has expressed
genuine interest in learning more facts about what has happened."

If Mr. Foxman has yet to learn the facts about the Armenian Genocide
after 126 Holocaust and Genocide scholars affirmed the
incontrovertible fact of the Armenian Genocide on June 6, 2007, it is
too late for him to catch up. Besides, if he does not have all the
facts about the issue, why is he campaigning against a cause that he
does not know enough about?

It is very difficult to isolate a single quote statement from Mr.
Buenos' article, because he offers many gems. The following statement
seems to have been borrowed from Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu's history
lessons: "It is only through the study of authentic documents that one
may formulate an informed opinion on whether the Ottoman government
acted with the intention to destroy the Armenian people -- as the
genocide label would warrant --or in consideration of wartime
necessities to clear vulnerable areas within its territory of a
population whose leaders were colluding with the enemy."

Mr. Buenos, as a PhD candidate in political science, does not have
enough sense that his same argument may turn against him and may be
used by unscrupulous people in the Holocaust narrative.

One scathing view is the following: "In a dramatic twist, the term
genocide has become a burden on the memory of the Holocaust."

Then he continues his denials by upholding the uniqueness of the
Holocaust and accuses the Armenians of the very sin that he is in the
process of committing: that the Armenians are politicizing the
Genocide agenda.

Ironically, there is not much about Mr. Foxman in the entire article,
which seems to have been ordered by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

With Israel's participation, the confrontation has been turning very
ugly and certainly counterproductive. The debate must not pit Jews
against Armenians, genocide against the Holocaust, because then we
will be the certain losers.

Spearheading a political movement is healthy. The fact that we do not
generate enough mobilization undermines the strength of the leaders.
Comparing and contrasting the Genocide and the Holocaust is a
dangerous game. Each case should be analyzed based on their own
circumstances. Otherwise, the exercise undermines the moral foundation
of each case. Both have to be elevated to a universal realm in order
to uphold their lessons for a global audience.

There is an old saying in Armenian which is still topical: Sahman
kachats zenen yuriants, in the classical Armenian, which literally
means, the boundary of the valiants is the extent of their weapons.
Interpreted, it says that overextension may be counter productive but
above all, let's not stir the hornet's nest.


http://www.mirrorspe.../current-issue/

[Yervant1]

What a shame, what's next?

 

ADL'S DUBIOUS SURVEY

Keghart.com
Editorial, June 1, 2014

Since its release earlier in May, the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL)
preposterously named "The Global 100: An Index of Anti-Semitism"
has drawn ridicule from a variety of sources for being unscientific
and thus invalid.

The jazzy-sounding "Global 100", which claimed that more than a quarter
of the world's population is anti-Semitic, has been found wanting in
proper methodology and on political grounds. Among the critics are
author Norman Finkelstein (a child of Holocaust survivors) and Amira
Haas, a leading columnist of the Israeli "Haaretz" newspaper. It has
been also criticized as skewed to portray and to enforce Zionist
ideology and agenda. Least of the survey's problem is that by
interviewing just over 50,000 adults (102 countries in 96 languages),
it claims there are more than one billion anti-Semites among us.

The survey says 0.2% (!) of Laotians are anti-Semitic while that
country's next-door neighbor (Vietnam) is 6% anti-Semitic. In the
land of "Liberte, Fraternite, Egalite" some 37% of Frenchmen are
anti-Semitic compared to a mere 21% in Portugal, a country with
a long history of anti-Semitism. Haiti and the Dominican Republic
share the tiny island of Hispaniola. While 26% of Haiti's population
is anti-Semitic, that number amazingly balloons to 41% in next-door
Dominican Republic, says the survey. For some mysterious reason,
fully 33% of the citizens of Botswana, in the middle of nowhere, are
anti-Semitic. Malaysia's percentage is 61%, compared to its neighbor
Singapore's 16%. Greece is far more (69%) anti-Semitic than Israel's
sworn enemy Iran (56%).

In the Caucasus, Armenia gets the gold medal in the anti-Semitism
(58%) competition, according to the inane survey. Azerbaijan's and
Georgia's numbers are 37% and 32%. Thus Armenia is almost twice as
anti-Semitic as Georgia, says Genocide-denying Abe Foxman's ADL.

Extrapolated into population figures, there are 1,300,000 (count them)
anti-Semites in Armenia. Who knew?

In an scathing attack on the ADL, Finkelstein wrote: "Most every
sane person has come to take anything the Anti-Defamation League
utters with a dozen boulders of salt" adding that the organization
is trying to cash in on the "ever-burgeoning anti-Semitism industry
and still hopes to immunize Israel by labeling legitimate criticism
of its policies as motivated by an irrational animus towards Jews."

Peter Lyukimson's below article, which appeared in "Vestnik Kavkaza"
(May 27), attacks the Armenian Cultural Society of Israel for accusing
the Israeli government of inability to fight anti-Armenian sentiment
in the country. Mr. Lyukinson also takes the ADL survey at face value.

Despite residing in Israel, he doesn't seem to know that all Christian
minorities of the Holy Land--including Armenians--have a very difficult
time under Israeli Occupation.

In YNETnews.com (May 30), Palestinian Farid Jubran addressed the
difficulties Christians in Israel face. "A minority of a minority ,
[it is] exposed to waves of hatred," he said and cited an Israeli
member of the Knesset who tore the New Testament in the Knesset while
uttering words of incitement. The firing of gunshots inside churches,
the setting of fire in monasteries, the spray-painting of malicious
graffiti on monastery walls, the slashing of Christians' car tires
were other examples of anti-Christian acts in Israel, said Mr. Jubran.

He also mentioned religious Jews spitting on monks, Jews shattering
Christian gravestones, and death threats to bishops and to Christian
community leaders. "The government stands by idly and utters a few
words of condemnation...restricts the Churches' activities immensely
by imposing a strict and discriminating regime of visas for Christian
clerics. A priest who wishes to stay in Israel in order to serve in one
of the Christians communities will be forced to undergo a humiliating
via dolorosa on the part of the authorities until he receives the stay
permit, if at all," wrote Mr. Jubran and pointed out that the nature,
identity and autonomy of Christian schools are constantly undermined
by the Israeli authorities.

To neutralize the criticism of the Armenian Cultural Society's
accusations against the Israeli authorities, Mr. Lyukimson luxuriates
in spreading the anti-Armenian misinformation of the ADL survey. While
it's irrational to claim that there's no anti-Semitism in Armenia,
what little that exists is surely a result of Israel's execrable
policies towards the Armenian people, rather than a racial or religious
hostility.

For years Israel has been selling sophisticated weapons and electronic
gadgetry to Azerbaijan. The latter not only threatens Armenia on a
regular basis but it frequently sends soldiers across the border to
kill Armenians. Israeli soldiers also train the Azeri military.

Israel refuses to recognize the Genocide of Armenians, although it
should have been the first state to have recognized the vast tragedy
which preceded the Holocaust by 25 year. Israel, through its lobby in
the US, regularly throttles the passing of resolutions recognizing
the Genocide. Putting politics ahead of morality, a state which was
born out of the ashes of the Holocaust, does Turkey's dirty work in
Washington with offensive eagerness and alacrity.

Despite ADL's assertion that 37% of Azerbaijan is anti-Semitic, a few
days ago Arye Gut, board member of the Azerbaijan-Israel International
Association, said to the "Baku Post": "Azerbaijan is the most tolerant
country in the world and a true model of intercivilizational and
interreligious dialogue." And back in November, Gut said: "There has
never been anti-Semitism in Azerbaijan." Whew.

ADL mouthpiece Mr. Lyukimson should read about Russian Jews who,
for decades, sought sanctuary from Soviet anti-Semitism in tolerant
Armenia. He should also read about the frequent intermarriage between
Soviet Armenians and Soviet Jews. The two nations found each other
sympathetic. Meanwhile a discredited lobbying organization, with
the misnomer that it fights defamation, is trying to sow hostility
between the two nations.

The ADL and Mr. Lyukimson are barking at the wrong tree.

http://www.keghart.c...rial-ADL-Survey

 

[Yervant1]

ARMENIA NOT ANTI-SEMITIC COUNTRY, HEAD OF JEWISH COMMUNITY SAYS

19:12 * 05.06.14

Head of the Jewish community in Armenia Rima Varzhapetyan intends to
address an open letter to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

According to an ADL report, Armenia is the most anti-Semitic member
of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with 58% of the
population harboring anti-Semitic attitudes.

"The Jewish community, as a national minority, has never been
maltreated in Armenia. There is a synagogue here. And the issue of
Israel recognizing the Armenian Genocide is our only concern because
it is a cause of debates inside Armenia. It is commonly understood,
though, that Israel will not recognize the Armenian Genocide for
security reasons. But it is universally recognized at the level
of people's diplomacy, and it is people's wish that the problem be
resolved," Varzhapetyan said.

"We are indignant at the poll results. We do not know anything about
the respondents. The question may have been 'Do you love Jews?' or
'Why do not Jews recognize the Armenian Genocide?'"

Although the Jewish community in Armenia has officially registered
700-800 members, many more Jews are living in Armenia.

"They are mostly mixed marriages and do not consider it necessary
to register their national identity. But all of them take part in
different events. So we can speak of a Jewish community of several
thousand people in Armenia," Varzhapetyan said.

Jews have been living in Armenia for centuries, and although many of
them have emigrated to Israel, they regularly visit Armenia, and even
bring their children here.

http://www.tert.am/e...ma-varjapetyan/
 

[Yervant1]

ADL leader: massacre of Armenians was ‘unequivocally genocide’

OZAN KOSE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

People lay red carnations on pictures of Armenian intellectuals,
detained and deported in 1915, during a rally to commemorate the 101th
anniversary of the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire.

By Travis Andersen GLOBE STAFF MAY 14, 2016

The Anti-Defamation League said Friday that the massacre of 1.5
million Armenians that began in 1915 was “unequivocally genocide” and
for the first time expressed support for US government recognition of
the killings as a genocide.

The statement from ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt was
posted on the organization’s website. It marked the strongest
affirmation yet from the leading civil rights group in support of
Armenian advocates, who have long pushed for formal recognition of
what they contend was a genocide perpetrated by Turkish forces.

“What happened to the Armenian people was unequivocally genocide,”
Greenblatt wrote. “We believe that remembering and educating about any
genocide — Armenian, the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and others — is a
necessary tool to prevent future tragedies. . . . That is why I am
speaking out today and why we would support US recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.”

The statement came after years of tension between the ADL and Armenian
activists, who chafed at the organization’s prior reluctance to
acknowledge the killings as genocide.

Anthony Barsamian, the Boston-based cochairman of the Armenian
Assembly of America, welcomed Greenblatt’s statement and said he hoped
the ADL would back a resolution pending in Congress.

Cardinal O’Malley leads prayer service for Armenian genocide

Nearly 800 people attended a first-ever prayer service organized by
the Archdiocese of Boston to commemorate the Armenian genocide.

The measure calls on President Obama to work for “Armenian-Turkish
relations based upon the Republic of Turkey’s full acknowledgment of
the facts and ongoing consequences of the Armenian Genocide, and a
fair, just, and comprehensive international resolution of this crime
against humanity.”

When World War I broke out, Turkish leaders targeted the Christian
Armenian population under the pretext that they would cooperate with
the Russian enemy. Turkey has long denied that a genocide took place,
saying the death toll is exaggerated and that many Armenians died of
from starvation or disease amid the upheaval of the war. The Turkish
embassy in Washington could not be reached

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of America, said Greenblatt’s statement “is new in that it’s very
explicit in breaking with [the Turkish government’s] denials.”

While the ADL has never denied that a massacre took place, the
organization said in 2007 that a similar congressional push was
“counterproductive.”

The following year, the ADL’s then-national director, Abraham H.
Foxman,said in a letter to an official in Watertown, which has a large
Armenian population, that “we have referred to those massacres and
atrocities as genocide.” Foxman also made explicit reference to the
“Armenian genocide” during a speech in 2014.

On Friday, Robert Trestan, the ADL’s New England regional director,
said Greenblatt’s statement was the “most unequivocal statement that
we’ve ever issued,” and that the ADL and local Armenian community
share an interest in educating the public about genocides to prevent
future atrocities.

But Andrew H. Tarsy, former regional director of the ADL who split
with the group over the issue, said Greenblatt’s statement was
inadequate.

“I think they ought to lead the conversation about reparations for
these families,” he said. “The recovery of assets, land, money, items,
family heirlooms. Everything that Holocaust reparations . . . has
represented should be on the table.”

In a statement, the US State Department said the government “clearly
acknowledges as historical fact and mourns that 1.5 million Armenians
were massacred or marched to their deaths in the final days of the
Ottoman Empire. . . . The United States continues to urge [Turkey and
Armenia] to work together to achieve a full, frank, and just
acknowledgment of the facts. ”

Friday’s declaration by the ADL was also praised by Middlesex Sheriff
Peter Koutoujian, a prominent member of the local Armenian community.

“Today’s historic statement was the result of a lengthy, open dialogue
I was proud to be part of, along with members of the Armenian National
Committee of America, the Armenian Assembly of America, as well as
individuals of the Armenian American and Jewish communities of Greater
Boston,” Koutoujian said. “And so I want to personally thank all those
who took part in these discussions, especially ADL New England
Regional Director Robert Trestan who has been a true friend and
partner to all Armenians.”

Peter Schworm of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

https://urldefense.p...IcdbkvkJZyGU&e=

[Yervant1]

ADL: We would support U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide

20:46, 14.05.2016

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO has called on the U.S. government
to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

"What happened to the Armenian people was unequivocally genocide,"
Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. "The genocide began with the
ruling government arresting and executing several hundred Armenian
intellectuals. After that, Armenian families were removed from their
homes and sent on death marches. The Armenian people were subjected to
deportation, expropriation, abduction, torture, massacre and
starvation."

Mr. Greenblatt said it is important to educate each generation about
the tragedies of the past.

"That is why I am speaking out today and why we would support U.S.
recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Silence is not an option," he
emphasized.

"Collectively, this background makes it imperative for groups who,
sadly, share a history of oppression to stand together. When
individuals or groups deny the Armenian genocide, as recently took
place with a billboard in Boston, ADL will speak out and denounce that
denial. In that spirit, I am optimistic about greater cooperation
going forward to end all forms of hate and bigotry," he resumed.

https://urldefense.p...DMywoV9FXzac&e=

[Yervant1]

Premature Declaration of Victory

 Editorial, 19 May 2016

Imagine a besotted man who, after courting a woman for 30 years, hasn’t been able to get more intimate than a dry quick kiss (in 2007 to be exact) on the cheek from the object of his adoration. And then one day she phones and invites him to a fancy restaurant and to late night drink afterwards at her place.  The naïve and grateful beau starts calling his friends to congratulate himself for his humiliatingly belated amorous triumph.

The metaphor is not perfect, but something close to the above occurred in mid-May when Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), stated through a blog that the Armenian massacres of 1915 were (ahem) genocide. Armenian spokesmen (the Armenian Assembly of America, the Armenian National Committee of America, an Armenian sheriff in Massachusetts, and several other “community leaders”) who had for years tried to persuade the ADL that there had been an Armenian Genocide, welcomed Greenblatt’s announcement without reservation. The Armenian supporters of the statement believed that the Armenian community had finally, after three decades, convinced the influential and supposedly anti-racism organization--which had fought US recognition of the Armenian Genocide tooth and nail--that Turkey had committed genocide against the Armenians.

It might sound churlish, but alas, the whole-hearted embrace of Greenblatt’s statement might have been premature. There’s a fly in the ointment: in fact, there are more than a half-dozen.

Before analyzing the two Greenblatt phrases (“…What happened to the Armenian people was unequivocally genocide…we would support US recognition of the Armenian Genocide”), let’s consider that for three decades the revolting leader of the ADL (Abe Foxman) was the point man for the Turkish government’s successful lobbying against US recognition of the Genocide. Gunslinger Foxman was unabashed in his politicking efforts on behalf of Turkish denialists. The despicable man didn’t mind that his misguided posturing had made the ADL not only a virtual arm of the Israeli government’s foreign ministry but had also compromised the reputation of his organization as a haven where injustice and discrimination were abhorrent. The blowhard blithely admitted to “The New York Times” (Feb. 4, 2009) that the ADL opposed a Congressional resolution [re Genocide recognition] because “there’s too much at stake in the [Israeli-Turkish] relationship.”

On another occasion, the fat cat politico, who for many years led the 103-year-old organization, said: “…the Jewish community shouldn’t be the arbiter of that [Armenian/Turkish] history, nor should the US Congress” and then called the recognition of the Genocide “a counter-productive diversion.” He didn’t say what he meant by counterproductive or diversion. To crown his work on behalf of Turkey, in 2005 Foxman awarded the then-Prime Minister Erdogan the ADL’s “Courage to Care” award.  Two years later, because of pressure from righteous Jews, Foxman grudgingly said the massacre of the Armenians was “tantamount” to genocide. That was the “quick dry kiss on the cheek” to the Armenian lobbyists.  Foxman at last retired last June and was succeeded by Greenblatt.

Considering the harm the ADL caused the Armenians for so many years, one would have expected an apology from the current ADL CEO. For all those years the hard-pressed Armenian-American community invested a great deal of time and effort in Washington to gain recognition of their genocide, but at every turn ADL led the anti-Armenian posse in the Washington Belt Way. An apology from Greenblatt for wasting so much of Armenian effort would have been the right thing to do.

Another fly in the ointment: Amazingly, the word “Turkey” doesn’t appear in Greenblatt’s statement. So who was the phantom genocidier? Was it spontaneous bloodletting like spontaneous combustion?

The third fly: There is no talk of compensation or reparations to the Armenians in the statement. As we have said more than once, apology and 50 cents will not get you a cup of coffee.

Writer Jack Kalpakian, in a comment to a US publication, pointed out that the ADL recognition is “far too late. Foxman and ADL did immense damage to the simple demand of the fundamental justice of acknowledgment pursued by Armenian-Americans…the ADL is too late. It lobbied against the recognition when it mattered, and it is highly unlikely that there would be recognition by the US at this stage.”  Kalpakian also wondered whether the acknowledgment is a ploy to “reduce friction with the Armenian community…but it will do nothing to rebuild trust and bridges, particularly after the Israeli support for Azerbaijan in the April war.” The Armenian-American writer said that the Greenblatt statement is reminiscent of a person who marches in the funeral cortege of the person he harmed.

The other fly in the ointment is the fact that the statement didn’t come from the ADL National Commission. Since it was made by its CEO, it doesn’t necessarily bind the organization to a solid and permanent policy. The ADL can anytime disassociate itself from the statement and declare Greenblatt’s recognition was an individual belief. Some months ago President Joachim Gauck of Germany twice used the word “genocide” to describe the suffering of the Armenians during the First World War. However, this did not mean recognition of the Genocide by Germany. According to writer Luther Sahagian, “The wording doesn’t require any further action or follow-through on the part of the ADL.”

Another pesky fly: Greenblatt wrote that he “would support US recognition of the Armenian Genocide.”  “Would” (the past tense of “will”) is a conditional word. According to the British Council’s English language mavens, “would” is used to talk about the past or about hypothesis—things that are imagined rather than true. “Would,” says the British Council, is also used for politeness. Another source of correct English says that “would” is used for unlikely situations, unlike “will” which is a definite statement. This is not an idle game of semantics. There is a huge difference between “would” and “will”. Considering the importance of the statement, we are certain lawyers went through Greenblatt’s blog with a fine tooth comb to protect the ADL. The ADL CEO can dissipate some of the clouds if he changed “would” to “will”.

The U.S.-based "No Place for Denial" website would like to see the ADL fight for the Armenian Genocide resolution as fiercely as it does for Holocaust legislation. “A mere statement of ‘support’ by the ADL now is insufficient. We must wait to see whether the ADL actually fights for the Armenian resolution and other forms of acknowledgment,” says the website and adds that the ADL must “atone for its sins of defending mass murderers.”

We believe that because of the ADL’s long-time Genocide denial and the bad blood this policy has created between some Armenians and Jews, the ADL CEO should issue another statement which removes the above “flies”. The new statement should be sent to President Obama, to the US Senate and Congress, to the presidents of Turkey and Israel. The statement should also affirm Turkey’s obligations (compensation, restitution) to Armenians.

Finally, the new ADL CEO should consider the words of Andrew H. Tarsy, former ADL regional director, who several years ago split with the organization on the Genocide issue: “I think they ought to lead the conversation about reparations for these families… the recovery of assets, land, money, items, family heirlooms. Everything that Holocaust reparation…has represented should be on the table.”

[Yervant1]

Dissident Voice
May 20 2016


The ADL and the Armenian Genocide: It’s Not Over Until It’s Over

by David Boyajian / May 20th, 2016

In mid-May, on the Anti-Defamation League’s “blog,” CEO Jonathan
Greenblatt said that the ADL now “unequivocally” acknowledges the
Armenian Genocide committed by Turkey. Curiously, he doesn’t mention
Turkey. The ADL, he added, “would support U.S. acknowledgment of the
Armenian Genocide.”

It’s surprising that such a serious subject would only be “blogged.”
But let that go.

For decades the ADL has been colluding with Turkey to defeat Armenian
Genocide resolutions in the U.S. Congress and to avoid acknowledging
that genocide. For an organization that loudly espouses human rights
and insists on Holocaust recognition and legislation, the hypocrisy
has been breathtaking.

Just imagine the ADL’s reaction had some Armenian American
organization questioned the Holocaust and lobbied against
Holocaust-related legislation.

Jewish and Israeli media have long candidly conceded that Turkey,
Israel, the ADL, and groups such as the American Jewish Committee,
B’nai B’rith, AIPAC, and others had mutually agreed to help Turkey
stop U.S. acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide. See
NoPlaceForDenial.com, “Press Kit.”

Consider Yola Habif Johnston, a director at JINSA (Jewish Institute
for National Security Affairs). In 2006 she explained that for over 15
years “the Jewish lobby has quite actively supported Turkey in their
efforts to prevent the so-called Armenian genocide resolution from
passing.”

The general public became aware of the ADL’s hypocrisy in the summer
of 2007. As a result, over a dozen Massachusetts cities – including
Arlington, Belmont, Medford, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton,
Peabody, Somerville, and Watertown – cut ties with ADL “anti-bias”
programs such as “No Place for Hate.” So did the Massachusetts
Municipal Association, which represents every city and town.

Human rights advocates and many principled Jewish Americans and
Israelis blasted the ADL. They also rejected ADL National Director
Abraham Foxman’s ambiguous statement that what happened to Armenians
was merely “tantamount” to genocide. Hundreds of editorials and
articles nationwide and around the world exposed the ADL.

But New England Regional Director Andrew Tarsy soon recognized the
Armenian Genocide. Foxman immediately fired him. Tarsy was rehired,
but later resigned. He has since criticized the ADL. Greenblatt’s
recent statement, says Tarsy, should have gone further: “Assets, land,
money, family heirlooms … everything that Holocaust reparations has
represented … should be on the table” for Armenians too.

In 2007 Foxman arrogantly declared that the Armenian genocide doesn’t
belong “in the U.S. Congress or the parliament of any other country.”
Yet Canada, France, Switzerland, Uruguay, the Vatican, a UN
sub-commission, the World Council of Churches, the European Union
Parliament, and many more have all acknowledged the Armenian Genocide.
What brought about the ADL’s seeming reversal?

Newton, Massachusetts School Superintendent David Fleishman recently
began sending students to an ADL “social justice” program. Hired in
2010, perhaps he was unaware that Newton had ceased its affiliation
with the ADL three years earlier.

After reading about this in March, I contacted Armenian American
organizations and individuals. Newton Mayor Setti Warren and many of
the city’s citizens and officials were made aware that Newton was
breaking its 2007 promise.

Only under renewed pressure and unwanted scrutiny did the ADL and
Greenblatt issue their May “blog” post. Greenblatt’s statement that
“We would support U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide” is a bit
suspicious, however, given the ADL’s past word games. Why not “do
support” or “will support” rather than “would support”?

Moreover, the official Armenian American website NoPlaceForDenial.com
has long contained this demand: “The ADL must support U.S. affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide, as it does with the Holocaust.”

In partial atonement, will the ADL lobby as hard for the Armenian
Genocide resolution as it has for Holocaust legislation? Highly
doubtful. Sadly, two American organizations — the Armenian Assembly
of America and the Armenian National Committee of America – have taken
the ADL’s bait. But many Armenian Americans have not. They’re
protesting the obvious sellout.

While the ADL claims to be concerned with human rights and genocide,
it has for decades consciously and grievously hurt not only the
Christian Armenian people but also the cause of genocide recognition
and prevention.

The ADL, therefore, also owes an explicit public apology to Armenians
and human rights and genocide prevention organizations. In 2007,
Abraham Foxman did apologize, but not to Armenians. He apologized to
Turkey because the publicity surrounding the ADL-Turkey collusion had
embarrassed that country.

The ADL must also make public the agreements and documents that
created and sustained the genocide denial pact among itself, Turkey,
and Israel.

Other organizations, including B’nai B’rith and the American Jewish
Committee (which has since apparently accepted the factuality of the
Armenian genocide and claimed it would support a Congressional
resolution on it) should do the same. They owe it to the American
people and their consciences.

As Yogi Berra, the late, great New York Yankees’ catcher, famously
noted: “It Ain’t Over till It’s Over.”

David Boyajian is a freelance journalist.

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