Letter: ‘Do not let the ADL’s spin deter you’
Andrew Tarsy’s column of Oct. 3 is total spin. He did the right thing by resigning, but now he is backtracking. After a short period of stunned silence, the quiet of summertime, and then the Jewish holidays, the ADL has now awoken and rather than admit that there is a deeply moral issue here — how can a human rights organization call itself a human rights organization if it denies this genoicde? — it is simply recasting the argument as pitting a local issue, No Place for Hate against a national and international one, U.S. House Resolution 106.
The national ADL has yet to acknowledge publicly and unambiguously the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, it has actively lobbied against Congressional affirmation of this genocide on behalf of the Turkish government.
Why does Abe Foxman, ADL national director, hold these views? The answer is: Israel and possibly the fate of Turkish Jews. He honestly believes, as does Tarsy, that Israel will be harmed, that Turkish Jews will be harmed, in fact, that American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will be harmed if Turkey retaliates over this issue.
But we have seen over and over that this a bluff. Turkey could not harm the head of a single Jew in Istanbul if it wishes to join the family of nations and the European Union.
Yet, the bluff work and continues to work. We urge citizens to write to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Tom Lantos, and other government officials, both local and national, to stay firm against ADL tactics and to support H.R. 106.
Do not let the ADL spin deter you. This is an internal ADL power struggle between Foxman and the locals. It is an existential moment in their history. Either Foxman retires or the ADL falls from grace and can never call itself a human rights organization ever again.
Jack Nusan Porter
Newtonville
Treasurer
International Assoc. of Genocide Scholars
Newton Tab: Letter to the Editor: ‘Do not let the ADL’s spin deter you’
