ARMENIANS VS. THE ADL

MidEastYouth.com
vs-the-adl/
Aug 22 2007

My hometown of Watertown, MA, home of the dubiously named Watertown
Raiders, is in the midst of an unexpected showdown with the
Anti-Defamation League. Last week, our Town Council voted last night to
oust the "No Place For Hate" campaign because it’s sponsoring body, the
Anti-Defamation League, refuses to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

Now here is where it gets interesting: the first strong voice of
dissent regarding No Place For Hate came from a Watertown native
named Mark Charalambous who wrote vitriolic letters to the Watertown
Tab asking that he be granted the right to hate homosexuals. No Place
For Hate, he argued, interfered with the First Amendment which gives
us the inalienable right to hate whoever we choose. His opinions are
supported in a blog called Mass Resistance which notes that it is
"ironic" that the ADL is behind a program that is pro-gay since it
should be a bastion of "Judeo-Christian values," and then notes,
"But then, the liberal Jews threw out their Bible-based beliefs
and values a long time ago. They’re wandering in the desert again,
ignoring the word of God."

One would hope that even in a state previously governed by presidential
Candidate Mitt Romney, Charalambous’ arcane value system would have
little currency in gay-rights-supporting Massachusetts.

But then the ADL’s admirable support of gay rights clashed with its
denial of any genocide other than, well ours. Here’s what the Jewcy
editorial staff has to say about it:

The ADL has made a monster of itself by denying a genocide. It has made
the entire Jewish community look morally incompetent for allowing
ourselves to be represented by someone who engages in Holocaust
denial. And it has earned the justified fury of the Armenian-American
community, which bears witness to the mass-murder of its forebears,
and refuses to see that memory trampled upon.

I could have told the ADL this: Don’t mess with Watertown, and also
don’t expect that the Jews of Watertown will come running to the
ADL’s defense. We live where we do because we appreciate the town’s
diversity and would never jeaopardize it. At the same time, rallying
to support our Armenian community in no way means that we agree with
Charalambous’ hate-speech towards gay people. And there is no doubt
that in terms of being a safe-zone for homosexual students and adults,
Watertown does still have a long way to go.

But there is no sense exchanging one kind of hate for another. Even
in a town where, at least circa 1998, cheerleaders imitate Native
American tribal chants and swing imaginary tomahawks at football games.