The Foxman Fiasco: ADL President Finally Changes Course

I don't write much about Israel. The situation is too complicated. Make no mistake about it. Israel and the Palestinians are in an existentical struggle. As a nation, Israel could cease to exist, if not from the actions of its enemies then the growing population of Palestinians who will eventually outnumber Jews. Americans' reactionary views on immigration (fears of immigrants spreading leprosy) should give most of us an idea of the fears involved, and our nation doesn't face much of a threat.

When I read about organizations like AIPAC working against the free exchange of ideas concerning Israel or the Anti-Defamation League president refusing to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, I see organizations motivated by deep-seated fears. Fears so deep that those who hold them can't tolerate dissent or easily relinquish a perceived advantage. It is this kind of conservatism, the kind that admits no wrong on the part of Israel and cringes at the humanization of Palestinians, that separates many a liberal from sympathy with a natural ally.

The travails of ADL president Abraham Foxman began when Armenian-Americans in Watertown learned that the ADL was sponsoring the town's anti-bigotry program "No Place for Hate" and refused to participate. The Watertown Town Council pulled out of the program. These events led "Andrew H. Tarsy, who had served as regional director for about two years and as civil rights counsel for about five years before," to break ranks with national ADL leadership saying that the organization should acknowledge the genocide. Tarsy was fired the next day.

The national director of the Anti-Defamation League bowed to pressure from both the Jewish and Armenian-American communities yesterday and officially acknowledged the genocide of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks more than 90 years ago.

In doing so, Abraham H. Foxman reversed years of ADL policy and a position he had reaffirmed as recently as Friday when he fired the ADL's New England regional director, Andrew H. Tarsy, for defying the national organization and acknowledging the genocide.

"We have never negated but have always described the painful events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against Armenians as massacres and atrocities," Foxman said in a written statement yesterday. But upon reflection, Foxman continued, "the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide."

In an interview with the Globe, Foxman said that for some time he has privately believed that the mass killings constituted a genocide, but thought that describing them as atrocities or massacres was enough. Yesterday, he said, he realized this description was dividing the Jewish community and the ADL changed its position.

"So if that word [genocide] brings the community together, that's fine," Foxman added.

He refused to say for just how long he had privately recognized the genocide and also declined to comment on whether Tarsy would be reinstated, given the new national position.

"That's a management decision," he said. "And when we make it, you'll know about it."

While Foxman's statement acknowledging the genocide appeased many, including some regional board members scheduled to meet this morning to discuss the rift between the regional and national offices, others, in both the Jewish and Armenian-American communities, felt Foxman's statement did not go far enough. He stopped short of saying that the national ADL would support a resolution pending in Congress to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide, a crucial point for Armenian-Americans.

--Mb