CHALLENGER BLASTS WEXLER OVER STANCE ON 1915 MASSACRE
By Larry Lipman

Palm Beach Post, FL
April 25 2007

WASHINGTON – It’s an issue that is splitting the Jewish community and
has entered a South Florida congressional primary: How can a Jewish
congressman not recognize the 1915 massacre of possibly 1.5 million
Armenian civilians as genocide?

The issue was raised Tuesday, which many countries recognize
as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, by Ben Graber, a former state
representative and former Broward County mayor who plans to challenge
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Delray Beach in next year’s Democratic
primary.

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Graber, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, called
Wexler an "embarrassment" to the Jewish community for opposing a
resolution in the House that recognizes the deportation and killing
of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from
California who is Jewish.

Wexler, who is also Jewish and is co-chairman of the Congressional
Turkey Caucus, said there is debate among historians about whether
the killings should be classified as genocide.

Wexler said his position is in line with those that have been adopted
by most major Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation
League, the American Jewish Committee and the Israeli government.

He said it would be unfair to describe his position or those taken
by the Jewish organizations or Israel as being "deniers" of genocide.

But Graber said the record is clear. He cited reports and comments
from leading figures of the time, including then-U.S. Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau Sr., who later wrote: "When the Turkish authorities gave
the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death
warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their
conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal
the fact."

David Shneer, director of the University of Denver Center for Judaic
Studies, said, "serious historians of the history of 20th-century
genocide would agree that the Armenian genocide happened."

Wexler said he is strongly supports the Bush administration’s efforts
to convene a commission of experts, including representatives from
Armenia and Turkey, to examine the historical record and seek a
resolution to the issue.

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