Dear Massachusetts Human Rights and Relations Commissions,
In a recent letter to you, the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace stated its support for “those communities that have severed ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in the face of their failure to support US recognition of the Armenian genocide.” I write today to reinforce this with the support of the entire national organization of Jewish Voice for Peace.
We are a nation-wide Jewish-American organization, with over 1,200 members and a supporter list of over 20,000. We speak for the many Jews who believe that “Never Again” applies to everyone, not just Jews.
While the Anti-Defamation League has unquestionably done some very important work in fighting hate groups and bigotry, their blind spot when it comes to Israel renders them an inappropriate choice for the “No Place for Hate” campaign. We applaud the many Massachusetts groups that have come to the same conclusion.
ADL has repeatedly conflated criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, severely undermining their credibility in this supremely important aspect of their work. But more to the point, their elevation of Israeli political interests above the ADL’s own stated values has led them to prioritize those political interests over a genuine recognition of the Armenian genocide.
While the ADL has finally recently come around to accepting that the Armenian people did suffer genocide a century ago, it continues to oppose a congressional resolution recognizing and commemorating that genocide.
The ADL says that such a resolution “…is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States.” One wonders what the ADL would say if someone objected to a congressional resolution condemning a terrorist attack on Israeli civilians based on similar considerations. They would surely be as outraged as we would be and as we are at the ADL’s statement.
In fact, an American resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide protects Jews, including the 26,000 Jews in Turkey as well as all ethnic, religious and other minorities, as it places the world’s sole superpower firmly against such atrocities. It frankly boggles the mind that any Jewish group could possibly justify any sort of minimization of atrocities committed against another group.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Plitnick
Director of Education and Policy,
Jewish Voice for Peace
Letter of Support by National Office of Jewish Voice for Peace
