ADL leader rehires New England director after policy dispute

By Associated Press

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 – Updated: 06:29 AM EST

BOSTON – The Anti-Defamation League has rehired its New England
regional director a week after he was fired for publicly saying the
group should change its national policy by recognizing the 1915
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.
Andrew Tarsy got his job back Monday after talks with national
director Abraham Foxman.
Foxman, after criticism over Tarsy’s firing from Jewish and
Armenian-American groups, said last week the Armenian killings "were
indeed tantamount to genocide."
But he said his human rights group would not support a pending
Congressional resolution that calls the massacre a genocide, saying it
was "a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation
between Turks and Armenians."
Foxman said in an interview with The Boston Globe on Monday that
he and Tarsy "see eye to eye" after talks held over the last week.
"And after our conversation, I decided to take him back, to reinstate
him. And I’m delighted he’s back."
The ADL’s regional board had unanimously asked Foxman to bring Tarsy back.
Tarsy said in a statement Monday that he is "delighted to be back
on the job."
"I am proud that ADL has made a very significant change
confronting a moral issue and acknowledging the Armenian genocide for
what it was," Tarsy said. "This was an act of leadership by Mr. Foxman
and ADL."
The ADL’s governing body will also take up the Armenian issue when
it meets in November, he said.

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