Letter: ADL's apologia blurs the real issue
August 11, 2007
By beginning an otherwise fine editorial ("A genocide not to be denied," Aug. 3) with the nonsensical statement, "The Anti-Defamation League is caught in a controversy not of its making," the Globe left an easy opening for the self-justifying Aug. 8 letter from ADL New England's regional director Andrew Tarsy and regional chairman James Rudolph. Still, the ADL cannot provide any rational reason for the refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide, and skirts around the real reason: support for Israel in its relationship with Turkey. Yet anyone who refused to use the term genocide to describe the destruction of European Jewry would be rightly excoriated by local and national ADL leadership.
It is irrelevant that No Place for Hate may be a good and productive program. Communities have the human resources to develop such programs on their own. Every town that posts an ADL-identified No Place for Hate sign provides added luster to the reputation of an organization which, in addition to what amounts to genocide denial, has, under the rubric of fighting anti-Semitism, long fomented fear, anger, and, yes, hatred mainly against Arabs (especially Palestinians), Muslims, and anyone who would seriously criticize the policies of the state of Israel.
HILDA B. SILVERMAN
Arlington
2007.08.11 -- Boston Globe: Letter to the Editor Published on August 11, 2007
