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ADL won't back US resolution recognizing Armenian genocide
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michal lando, jerusalem post correspondent , THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23,
2007
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Despite the Anti-Defamation League's reversal this week of its longstanding
refusal to recognize the massacre of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks
almost 90 years ago as genocide, it has stopped short of supporting a
resolution currently before Congress that calls on the Bush administration
to give it formal recognition.
Talking to *The Jerusalem Post* on Wednesday, ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman said: "Most Jews understand it's a very difficult choice. There's
very little I can do [for the Armenians, who can't be brought back to
life]."
"[But] I can put at jeopardy [ties with Turkey]," he said.
By siding with the Armenians, "we put at risk some very important
relationships that are important to the Jewish community worldwide," because
it could endanger the Turkish Jewish community and relations between Israel
and Turkey, Foxman said.
Foxman's earlier refusal to change the ADL stance sparked division within
the organization last week, when Foxman fired New England regional director
Andrew Tarsy for his public recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Two other members of the ADL's regional board - Boston City Council member
Mike Ross and former Polaroid Corp chairman Stewart Cohen - resigned in
protest.
Foxman said he reversed the ADL's position because "what I was seeing in
Boston was the Jewish community being ripped apart."
It was "a gesture to try to save our unity."
Following the resignation of the two board members, several Boston-based
Jewish organizations - including the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the
Russian Community Association of Massachusetts, the Hillel Council of New
England, the Bureau of Jewish Education, and the David Project Center for
Jewish Leadership - signed a petition to support Tarsy and to recognize the
genocide.
"I think he saw this issue dividing the Jewish community in a very
significant and potentially harmful way," said Steven Grossman, a former ADL
board member and ex-AIPAC chairman. "He recognized potentially losing the
moral high ground they have occupied for so many years, and relations with
other communities possibly eroding."
The "rock solid unanimity" of Boston's Jewish community paved the way for
Foxman's change of heart, Grossman said. "Such unified and highly charged
emotional consensus that failure to call this genocide, when most historians
have referred to it as genocide, became an untenable position," Grossman
said. "Considering the potential damage to ADL's effectiveness, it was
impossible to maintain their long-held position."
Nancy Kaufman, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston, also welcomed Foxman's reversal.
"We think it's terrific," Kaufman said. "The willingness to change his
position is admirable and surprising, and we are delighted here that it
happened."
The New England Regional ADL met Wednesday, and was expected to approve a
resolution calling for Tarsy to return as regional director.
Although it welcomed the ADL's decision to use the genocide label, the
Armenian National Committee of America called the organization's continued
opposition to the Congressional resolution a "gesture intended to appease
the Turkish government."
Boston-based Jewish organizations continued to back the resolution. "I think
ADL should support the congressional bill. As much as I understand taking
into consideration relations between Israel and Turkey, this is something
you have to do even though it's politically difficult," said Samuel
Mendales, director of Hillel Council of New England.
Other Jewish groups, however, refrained from supporting the resolution.
Earlier this year, the ADL - along with the American Jewish Committee, B'nai
B'rith International and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
- opposed the legislation in a letter sent to congressional leaders.
"We've said this before - the issue is best resolved by the interested
parties not by a third party," said Kenneth Bandler, AJC communications
director. "It's not going to be helpful for an arm of the US government to
lay in with a resolution declaring genocide."
*Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.*
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c id=1187779137768&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2F ShowFull
------------------------------
michal lando, jerusalem post correspondent , THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 23,
2007
------------------------------
Despite the Anti-Defamation League's reversal this week of its longstanding
refusal to recognize the massacre of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks
almost 90 years ago as genocide, it has stopped short of supporting a
resolution currently before Congress that calls on the Bush administration
to give it formal recognition.
Talking to *The Jerusalem Post* on Wednesday, ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman said: "Most Jews understand it's a very difficult choice. There's
very little I can do [for the Armenians, who can't be brought back to
life]."
"[But] I can put at jeopardy [ties with Turkey]," he said.
By siding with the Armenians, "we put at risk some very important
relationships that are important to the Jewish community worldwide," because
it could endanger the Turkish Jewish community and relations between Israel
and Turkey, Foxman said.
Foxman's earlier refusal to change the ADL stance sparked division within
the organization last week, when Foxman fired New England regional director
Andrew Tarsy for his public recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Two other members of the ADL's regional board - Boston City Council member
Mike Ross and former Polaroid Corp chairman Stewart Cohen - resigned in
protest.
Foxman said he reversed the ADL's position because "what I was seeing in
Boston was the Jewish community being ripped apart."
It was "a gesture to try to save our unity."
Following the resignation of the two board members, several Boston-based
Jewish organizations - including the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the
Russian Community Association of Massachusetts, the Hillel Council of New
England, the Bureau of Jewish Education, and the David Project Center for
Jewish Leadership - signed a petition to support Tarsy and to recognize the
genocide.
"I think he saw this issue dividing the Jewish community in a very
significant and potentially harmful way," said Steven Grossman, a former ADL
board member and ex-AIPAC chairman. "He recognized potentially losing the
moral high ground they have occupied for so many years, and relations with
other communities possibly eroding."
The "rock solid unanimity" of Boston's Jewish community paved the way for
Foxman's change of heart, Grossman said. "Such unified and highly charged
emotional consensus that failure to call this genocide, when most historians
have referred to it as genocide, became an untenable position," Grossman
said. "Considering the potential damage to ADL's effectiveness, it was
impossible to maintain their long-held position."
Nancy Kaufman, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston, also welcomed Foxman's reversal.
"We think it's terrific," Kaufman said. "The willingness to change his
position is admirable and surprising, and we are delighted here that it
happened."
The New England Regional ADL met Wednesday, and was expected to approve a
resolution calling for Tarsy to return as regional director.
Although it welcomed the ADL's decision to use the genocide label, the
Armenian National Committee of America called the organization's continued
opposition to the Congressional resolution a "gesture intended to appease
the Turkish government."
Boston-based Jewish organizations continued to back the resolution. "I think
ADL should support the congressional bill. As much as I understand taking
into consideration relations between Israel and Turkey, this is something
you have to do even though it's politically difficult," said Samuel
Mendales, director of Hillel Council of New England.
Other Jewish groups, however, refrained from supporting the resolution.
Earlier this year, the ADL - along with the American Jewish Committee, B'nai
B'rith International and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
- opposed the legislation in a letter sent to congressional leaders.
"We've said this before - the issue is best resolved by the interested
parties not by a third party," said Kenneth Bandler, AJC communications
director. "It's not going to be helpful for an arm of the US government to
lay in with a resolution declaring genocide."
*Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.*
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c id=1187779137768&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2F ShowFull