ADL’S DECISION DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH
By David N. Myers
The Jewish Journal of greater L.A, CA
d=18125
Aug 31 2007
Last week’s news that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had reversed
course and decided to recognize the Turkish massacres of Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 as a genocide is a necessary step forward for
that organization.
Unfortunately, it does not go far enough in rectifying the ADL’s
mystifying policy on this question. For while acknowledging that the
massacres were a genocide, the ADL and its national director, Abraham
Foxman, continue to refuse to support the congressional resolution
(HR 106) that officially recognizes the Armenian genocide.
This points to a logical inconsistency, as well as lingering obduracy,
on the part of the ADL. There is also a certain disingenuous quality
to the ADL’s half-shift.
For years Foxman has repeatedly stated, when asked why his organization
holds to its stance, that the issue of whether there was a genocide of
Armenians should not be decided by American Jewish communal leaders
but rather left to historians. And yet, he has repeatedly ignored
the opinion of an overwhelming majority of historians that the
Turkish massacres were a genocide. Moreover, his decision last week
to acknowledge the genocide was based less on any serious and sober
consultative process (precisely what he should have engaged in years
ago) than on a hurried decision to avoid intense public pressure and
calls for his resignation.
What precipitated this abrupt change of course was a spiraling set
of developments in the Boston area several weeks ago. Controversy
had been brewing for some time in Watertown, Mass., home to a large
number of Armenians, over the ADL’s sponsorship of its No Place for
Hate program in that town.
A groundswell of popular concern led the Watertown town council to
sever its relationship with the No Place for Hate program in light
of the ADL’s refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. Throughout
this controversy the ADL’s regional director, Andrew Tarsy, heeded
the ADL line that Armenians did not suffer a "genocide," ~K until on
Aug. 16 when he broke with the organization’s declared position and
decried it as "morally reprehensible."
For this brave act of conscience Tarsy was summarily fired, prompting
several members of the ADL’s New England board to resign in protest.
Shortly thereafter on Aug. 21, Foxman issued a statement asserting that
"the consequences of those (i.e., Turkish) actions were tantamount to
genocide." However, he continued by proclaiming that "a congressional
resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion."
But how, in light of the first statement, could acknowledgement of a
genocidal atrocity be a "counterproductive diversion?" And why should
Tarsy, whose courage and conviction set in motion the ADL’s shift,
be the victim of his own organization’s bad judgment?
These questions push to the surface a set of larger and troubling
concerns about American Jewish organizational life.
First, the ADL’s clumsy and insensitive handling of the Armenian
question exposes the way in which shortsighted political goals can
easily cloud the moral judgment of the organized Jewish community.
Foxman and others who resist HR 106 fear that the resolution will
antagonize the Turkish government and prompt it to rethink its military
alliance with Israel and the United States.
Yes, Turkey is Israel’s best friend in the Muslim world. But apart
from the improbability of that country severing its relations with
either Israel or the United States, we must ask whether supporting
those who falsify and distort the historical record is ever in our
or their interests.
Moreover, do not Jews, of all people, have a special responsibility to
raise their voices at the sight or prospect of genocide? The answer,
as groups such as Jewish World Watch make patently clear, is that we
can never abdicate our responsibility to act against ethnic cleansing
or genocide, whether committed by friend or foe.
Second, this episode reminds us of how detached and undemocratic our
Jewish communal leadership is. No referendum has ever been held in
the Jewish community on the question of the Armenian genocide or,
for that matter, on any other major issue of substance. And yet,
Foxman and his counterparts at other national Jewish organizations
routinely adopt policies and speak on behalf of the community based
on their own sense of what is best for the Jews.
Often, and surely in this case, their judgment rests on what they deem
to be in the best interests of the State of Israel. But who appointed
or elected them to speak in our name ~K either on the question of
what’s in Israel’s best interests or of whether to recognize the
Armenian genocide? The time has come to scrutinize anew the power
that these communal leaders arrogate to themselves.
Finally, this episode raises serious doubts about the leadership
of Foxman at the helm of one of the country’s most venerable Jewish
organizations.
There can be no question that Foxman has fought tirelessly against
anti-Semitism over the course of his career. For that he is to be
commended. But he has also grown imperious and detached, playing the
role of defender-in-chief of the Jews with a somewhat dictatorial air.
He has brusquely pushed out colleagues in the ADL, such as Tarsy in
Boston and David Lehrer in Los Angeles, talented and devoted community
leaders who dared to speak their mind. He has created an organization
in his own image, one that breeds obeisance rather than independence.
As the Armenian genocide debate makes so clear, what is needed from
our Jewish communal leaders is a different set of qualities than those
evinced by Foxman ~K open-mindedness, nuance, historical knowledge
and fealty to core Jewish values. Enough is enough. We deserve better.
Foxman should follow the logic of his own statement and take the
essential next step of supporting HR 106. Further, he should admit
the error of his abrupt action and restore Tarsy to his position.
In parallel, our local Anti-Defamation League board should either
announce its support for HR 106 –if not here in the heart of the
Armenian diaspora, then where? — or renounce the organization’s
declared mission "to secure justice and fair treatment to all."
David N. Myers teaches Jewish history at UCLA.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
