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Anti-Defamation League Cited As Hate Group

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  • Anti-Defamation League Cited As Hate Group

    ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE CITED AS HATE GROUP

    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/09/29/anti-defamation-league-cited-for-backing-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


    From: Baghdasarian
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