AN INTERFAITH VIEW: ADL’S GENOCIDE DENIAL IS REPREHENSIBLE
By Lawrence Swaim, Columnist

Southern California InFocus, CA
Sep 11, 2007

Genocide denial is never acceptable, but when it is done by a civil
rights group, it is particularly reprehensible.

Sadly, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has long denied that the
systematic murder of over 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 constituted
genocide.

Leaders of other Jewish organizations – including B’nai B’rith and
the American Jewish Committee – have taken the same unconscionable
position, and are opposing a U.S. congressional bill recognizing the
1915 genocide.

This puts them at odds with virtually every other civil and human
rights group in the world.

There may be situations in which premature charges of genocide can
put people at risk, but recognition of past genocide is different.

Without recognition of past abuses, tyrants are emboldened, and future
genocide becomes more likely.

"Who remembers the Armenians?" Adolph Hitler scoffed when planning the
systematic extermination of Jews and Roma (Gypsies) in his death camps.

So why does the ADL engage in genocide denial?

Cynics say it might be partly because genocide against Armenians
(or Muslims in Bosnia) detracts from the Nazi holocaust.

A second and more important reason is that the government of Israel
does not recognize the Armenian genocide because it is fearful of
offending elements within Turkey’s rigidly secular political and
military elites.

American Jewish leaders are expected to docilely fall in line to
promote the Israeli position.

But, in so doing, the ADL invalidates its own claim to be an
independent American civil rights organization.

Genocide denial is rightly despised in the United States, and it
isn’t good for Israel, either.

This is yet another instance in which the ADL works against American
interests – not to mention the greater cause of civil and human rights
– to promote the perceived interests of rightwing Israeli politicians.

But the ADL didn’t count on the courageous Armenian community in
Massachusetts.

On Tuesday, Aug. 14, the Watertown Town Council voted to withdraw
from an ADL program called ‘No Place for Hate.’

The town council voted 8-0 that there was no place in Watertown for
genocide denial, either, severing their relationship with the ADL.

The following Monday, the Arlington, Mass., ‘No Place for Hate’ group
also ended its relationship with the ADL; and on Tuesday, the Newton,
Mass., Human Rights Commission similarly prepared to sever all ties
to the Anti-Defamation League.

uIn response to this, Andrew Tarsy, the New England regional ADL
director, publicly broke with national director Abraham Foxman on
the Armenian genocide issue.

Foxman angrily fired Tarsy, only to hire him back a few days later.

But pressure on Foxman grew.

On Tuesday, Aug. 21, he announced that what happened to the Armenians
in 1915 was "tantamount to genocide" – an equivocation that infuriated
Armenians.

Furthermore, Foxman made it clear that he and other Jewish leaders
would continue to actively lobby against a U.S. congressional
resolution recognizing the 1915 genocide.

Underscoring the connection to Israel, on Aug. 24, the Israeli
newspaper Ha’aretz reported that Turkey had been scolding Israel
about ADL waffling on the Armenian issue.

But how did an American civil rights organization become a wholly-owned
subsidiary of another country’s government, and a pro-apartheid
government at that?

"Armenians are not the only victims of denial," writes Jewish Voice
for Peace’s Cecilie Surasky. "The ADL is an active apologist for the
government of Israel’s worst human rights abuses. Palestinians are
victims of an insidious form of denial that is not just about memory
and recognition, but flesh and blood and life itself."

She concludes: "The ADL should decide to either be an Israel advocacy
organization, or a pro-tolerance and anti-bigotry organization,
but it has proven time and time again that it is impossible for it
to be both."

Lawrence Swaim is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Freedom
Foundation. He taught for eight years at Pacific Union College,
and his academic specialties are American Studies and American
literature. His column addresses current affairs from an American
Christian and Interfaith perspective.
From: Baghdasarian