Anti-Defamation League being selective
The term Anti-Defamation League seems to connote all-encompassing human rights abuses and wrongs perpetrated against certain ethnic groups or religions. A very noble and worthy cause, unless of course it is selective and does not serve their own purpose (“Nonviolence seminar is off,” Dec. 5).
VARS INJIJIAN
Phillips Ranch
ADL lost the moral authority to teach
While it is true that the Anti-Defamation League did not support a pending U.S. House resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide (“Nonviolence seminar is off,” Dec. 5), the reasons why the Armenian-American community demanded the cancellation of the nonviolence seminar at Hoover High School go far beyond the Anti-Defamation League’s opposition to that specific piece of human rights legislation.
Prior to the scandal that broke out this summer in Massachusetts, the Anti-Defamation League had long denied the Armenian Genocide. Abraham Foxman’s statement finally acknowledging the Armenian Genocide was highly ambiguous and hypocritical, since, as mentioned in your article, it reiterated the Anti-Defamation League’s opposition to wider recognition of this crime against humanity.
How can a human rights organization that has done so much to combat Holocaust denial side with the deniers of another people’s genocide? How can we allow an organization that actively works against the recognition of genocide, to teach our children about tolerance and nonviolence? The Anti-Defamation League’s own literature defines genocide as the ultimate hate crime and genocide denial as the highest form of hate speech.
Unfortunately, because of its unacceptable position and actions with regard to the Armenian Genocide, the Anti-Defamation League has lost the moral authority to sponsor any educational program in our communities.
GRISH DAVTIAN
Glendale
Glendale News Press: Letters to the Editor Published on December 12
