Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Needham Times: Letter: Returning To The ADL's Noble Mission

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Needham Times: Letter: Returning To The ADL's Noble Mission

    NEEDHAM LETTERS: RETURNING TO THE ADL'S NOBLE MISSION

    Wicked Local Needham
    http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/news/x599438478/Needham-Letters-Returning-to-the-ADL-s-noble-mission
    Posted Jul 28, 2010 @ 05:05 PM

    Needham - I was appalled to read Michael Sheetz of the Anti-Defamation
    League stating, "I think the controversy that led to the [No Place
    for Hate] program's demise in Needham is over and been over for a
    long time." ("Needham man, Michael Sheetz, joins ADL New England
    leadership," July 21.)

    Let me set the record straight. The ADL not only continues to deny the
    veracity of the ongoing Armenian Genocide, but also supports passage
    of congressional resolutions on all genocides except the Armenian one.

    In fact, the ADL's most recent formal statement (Aug. 21, 2007) on the
    Armenian Genocide employed language deliberately designed to contravene
    Article II of the U.N. Genocide Convention of 1948, which defines
    genocide as "the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
    ethnical, racial or religious group." The ADL statement said that
    "the consequences of those actions [by the Ottoman Turkish Empire]
    were indeed tantamount to genocide." The ADL knows full well that
    "consequences" is the functional opposite of "intent," the latter of
    which is required for an action to legally be termed genocide.

    Thus, the ADL statement was the very opposite of a genocide
    acknowledgment. Under these circumstances, no program sponsored by
    the ADL or any other genocide-denying entity is welcome in our town
    or in any other city or town nationwide and worldwide.

    There is nothing more appropriate on this the 95th anniversary of
    the start of the Armenian Genocide than for the ADL to steadfastly
    return to its noble mission of stopping "the defamation of the
    Jewish people and [securing] justice and fair treatment to all"
    and to forthrightly recognize the Armenian Genocide and openly back
    congressional legislation on this genocide. By doing so, the ADL will
    not only restore its moral credibility as a human rights organization,
    but also become a leading international partner in genocide prevention
    and restorative justice.

    As the esteemed Rabbi Hillel advised centuries ago, "What is hateful
    to you, do not do to your neighbor ... If I am not for myself, then
    who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And
    if not now, when?"




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X