JEWISH WORLD WATCH CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

ArmRadio.am
19.02.2007 12:50

The ANCA-WR this week welcomed a letter authored by Jewish World Watch
in support of H. Res. 106 (the Armenian Genocide Resolution). The
correspondence, addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA),
urges her to support the passage of H. Res. 106, which affirms the
US record on the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

ANCA-WR informs that Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis and Janice
Kamenir-Reznik, co-founders of Jewish World Watch expressed the
critical importance of holding perpetrators of genocide accountable for
their acts of inhumanity. Janice Kamenir-Reznik noted, "Accountability
is a seminal factor in deterring future genocides. As Hitler was
designing his final solution he was asked why he thought he would
be able to murder millions of Jews. Only twenty years after the
Armenian genocide, Hitler responded by noting that no one cared and
no one remembered the Armenian genocide. We all know what happened
next. Our humanity and collective conscience demand that we care and
our very existence requires that we remember and hold perpetrators
responsible. We are proud to stand with the Armenian community and
with all people of conscience to insist that their suffering and
their history be acknowledged by the civilized world."

Jewish World Watch is a project of a coalition of synagogues working
together to mobilize synagogues, their schools, members and the
community to combat genocide and other egregious violations of human
rights around the world.

Earlier this year, the organization held a screening of the genocide
film Screamers at Valley Beth Shalom in California’s San Fernando
Valley. Although Jewish World Watch currently focuses on ending
the genocide in Darfur, the organization’s letter to Speaker Pelosi
states that "it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge and commemorate
past genocides, in particular, the Armenian Genocide, which has
been denied for almost a century – we cannot criticize those who are
committing genocide today, without acknowledging and commemorating
the unacknowledged genocide of the Armenian community in 191[5]."

In October of 2006, then-Representative Pelosi stated that, "I have
supported legislation, including H. Res. 316, that would properly
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that the US
recognize this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate
genocide whenever and wherever it exists. This effort enjoys strong
bipartisan support in the House, and I will continue to support these
efforts in the 110th Congress."