[NYTr] Abe Foxman's Genocide Denial Roadshow, Parts 1,2

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Counterpunch - Aug 22, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh08222007.html

Bombing in Boston

Abe Foxman's Genocide Denial Road Show

By JOHN WALSH

It seemed innocuous enough at first. Watertown, a suburb of Boston,
sported a sign on the Town Hall, proclaiming the town a participant in
an anti-bigotry program "No Place for Hate." But one of the good
citizens of Watertown with libertarian inclinations objected that the
sign seemed like some kind of PC thought control. His objections set in
motion investigations by the town mothers and fathers into the program.
Lo and behold, it was sponsored by Abe Foman's Jewish Anti-Defamation
League (ADL).

In itself this sponsorship might not be a problem, unless you are a
Muslim, an Arab or a Palestinian and know full well the ADL's positions
on bigotry. But there are over 8000 Armenian-Americans in Watertown,
and the ADL has long denied that the Turkish massacre of 1.5 million
Armenians from 1915 to 1923 amounted to genocide. Turkey is of course
an ally and arms purchaser of Israel's, but the denial antedates this
alliance. A good friend of mine, an Israeli expatriate, tells me that
when he went to school in Israel, mention of the Armenian genocide was
verboten so as not to detract from the "uniqueness" of the Jewish
genocide under the Nazis and to maintain a "monopoly on suffering," as
he puts it. Shoah business does not like the competition.

The whole matter in Watertown was given added urgency by a resolution
now pending in Congress calling on Turkey to recognize the Armenian
genocide. This resolution is supported by the Armenian community and
opposed by the national ADL.

Anger began to mount in Watertown and the citizens called on the city
mothers and fathers to withdraw from the ADL-sponsored program. (ADL
Dollars and awards flow to participating towns.) The Watertown Town
Council called a meeting which was packed with a lot of angry
Armenians. Regional ADL director Andrew Tarsey came to the meeting to
defend the ADL genocide denial, (as had the ADL's national director,
Abe Foxman, in an interview with the Boston Globe,) and to call on the
town to stick with the "No Place for Hate" program. Tarsey was booed
out of the hall with hisses and catcalls. At that the town mothers and
fathers voted unanimously to quit the program, and at the cost of
overtime for two city workers the sign was gone before dawn.

Tarsey was unable to prevail with his genocide denial and couldn't move
Foxman and the national ADL to reverse course. Tarsey then reversed his
position and agreed that Armenians had indeed endured a genocide.They
then cut through the Gordian Knot by firing Tarsey. Two local ADL board
members duly resigned in protest. The rest stood by their man, Foxman.
Tarsey is now hailed repeatedly as a "hero" by local Jewish leaders. If
armies were composed of such heroes, every battle would culminate in
mutual mass retreat. Notably and unusually, the city of Watertown and
its council were not labeled anti-semitic by the ADL and its assorted
acolytes. Even Alan Dershowitz did not raise a peep. This seems to be a
kind of sea change, and it may have something to do with the Lobby's
weaker position now that it is more widely seen. post Mearsheimer and
Walt, as a principal instigator of the disastrous war on Iraq.

At this point the Boston Jewish community was divided. Foxman was under
pressure, and Armenian-Americans from across the country were getting
involved. How to respond? With a big expensive newspaper ad of course.
And how did Foxman's ad make his case? By blaming it on the Jews!
Specificially the Jews of Turkey whom Foxman and company claim would be
endangered by a change in the ADL position. But there have been many
reports of the tolerance shown to Jews in Turkey, as one letter writer
to the Boston Globe noted. The Foxman ad also let the Israeli cat out
of the bag, saying, "We are also aware that Turkey is a key strategic
ally and friend of the United States and a staunch friend of
Israel." (Some staunch friend if it were true that Turkey was
persecuting Turkish Jews. What a tangled web has been woven by ADL.)
But of course the ADL was only stating its long-time position that
Israel comes first ­ way before any consideration of human rights.

Two days ago, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
(JCRC) known for its pro-Iraq war stance, its Iran bashing and its
opposition to Palestinian rights joined the fray. It sent out a letter
repudiating Foxmam's genocide denial ­ and claiming it recognized the
Armenian genocide long long ago ­ in fact in 2005, although this
received scant notice until now. Let's see; the genocide happened in
1915 and the JCRC recognized it in 2005 ­ after the passage of 90
years. By that logic Holocaust denial should be OK for another 13 years.

Today Foxman and his national ADL, hastily joining the local ADL in
full retreat, have pronounced the Armenian slaughter is a genocide
after all. Upon reflection and with the help of that great
humanitarian, Elie Wiesel, who seems to be acting as a kind of Jewish
Billy Graham and who has never acknowledged the injustice done the
Palestinians, Foxman thinks that it was a genocide after all. (Of
course according to their newspaper ad of several days back this means
that the national ADL is now abandoning Turkish Jewry to a horrible
fate.) ADL was in fact founded in 1913 just before the onset of the
Armenian genocide, so ADL's acknowledgement is not overly hasty.
Perhaps the ADL's new slogan could be "Building on 100 years of
Genocide Denial."

But Foxman and company have not given up yet. National ADL still
refuses to support the Congressional resolution put forward by Rep.
Adam Schiff of California to recognize the Armenian genocide. (ADL in
fact has lobbied against the resolution.) But the Armenian community is
not buying it. Schiff wants ADL to support the resolution. And
Watertown Councilor Marilyn Pettito Devaney said that she and others
will accept nothing less than full ADL support for the resolution.
Meanwhile she said that she and others will lobby other towns to pull
out of the ADL's bigoted, "anti-bigotry" No Place for Hate" program.
(You may want to look at that site to see whether you can find any
statement about the slow genocide being wrought on the Palestinians.)
This program is found in cities and towns all over the United States.
Do you have one in your town?

[John V. Walsh can be reached at john.endwar at gmail.com. This story
continues to develop with Foxman making a personal visit to Beantown
today. CounterPunch will keep an eye on the situation as it unwinds.]


                            ***

Counterpunch - Aug 27, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh08272007.html

Abe Foxman's Genocide Denial Roadshow, Part 2


ADL's Foxman Forges Impossible Alliance 
of Armenians, Turks and Boston-Area Jews

By JOHN V. WALSH

Last week CounterPunch was the only national outlet, to the best of our
knowledge, to report the disturbances caused in the Boston suburb of
Watertown over denial of the Armenian genocide by the national
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its director, Abe Foxman. The brouhaha
was set off by an investigation into Watertown's participation in "No
Place for Hate," an "anti-bigotry" program of uncertain origin.
Mirabile dictu, the program turned out to be sponsored by the national
ADL which denies that the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians at the
hands of the Turks from 1915 to 1923 amounted to a genocide. This was
quite disconcerting to the town mothers and fathers since Watertown
boasts an Armenian-American population in excess of 8000. The town
council met to consider the program and the local director of ADL, one
Andrew Tarsey, showed up to implore them not to withdraw from the
program. Met with boos and hisses by the duly assembled Watertown
citizenry, Tarsey beat a hasty retreat from the Council chambers. The
Watertown mothers and fathers then unanimously voted to drop the ADL
program.

The next day Tarsey, now in full rout, reversed his position, labeling
the killing of 1.5 million Armenians a genocide after all. Problem is
that this local ADL position contradicts the position of national ADL
headed by Abe Foxman, which persists in denying the Armenian genocide.
Foxman's solution ­ fire local ADL leader Tarsey. And for good measure,
he labeled the Watertown position as "bigoted," thus playing the "race
card." Obviously the Watertownians must be anti-Semites, a charge
Foxman cannot resist, if they will not sponsor an ADL program. However,
in a challenge to Foxman, the local ADL and Jewish establishment,
seeing their credibility slip sliding away here in the Athens of
America, decided to affirm the Armenian genocide.

But the House of Reps. in US Congress has a resolution pending with 227
co-sponsors (a clear majority) recognizing the Armenian genocide, much
to the consternation of Turkey, an ally of Israel's and also an avid
buyer of Israeli arms and an ally of the U.S. So what was Foxman to do?
Like Solomon, Foxman opted for a split decision, but unlike Solomon,
Foxman has tried to execute it. He said in Boston that he has reversed
his decision and the ADL now considers the Armenian massacre
"tantamount to genocide." ("Tantamount"?) But in Washington national
ADL will continue to oppose the Congressional resolution, recognizing
the Armenian genocide. So in Boston the massacre of Armenians is
genocide but in Washington it is not. What the status will be in NYC or
Baltimore, Foxman has yet to decide.

The Armenians, both locally and nationally, will have none of this.
They want the ADL to support the Congressional resolution recognizing
the Armenian genocide or else stand accused as genocide deniers. So now
both the Armenians and the local Boston ADL are at odds with Foxman and
national ADL.

Enter the Turks. They too have denounced Foxman for admitting genocide
in Boston even if he has not done so in Washington. And they are angry
about it. Foxman laid his original genocide denial at the feet of the
Turks, saying he feared for the safety of Jewish Turks if he crossed
the Turks. Friday the Turkish Foreign Ministry responded, "The Jewish
community in Turkey is part of our society, and its members do not have
any reason to worry." Clearly the Turks do not like Foxman's
accusations of anti-Semitism, any more than the Watertownians did. The
Turks then one-upped Foxman, claiming that his Boston recognition of
the Armenian genocide denies the special nature of the Holocaust. "We
consider the statement of the ADL as an injustice to the unique
character of the Holocaust, as well as to the memories of its victims,"
the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Washington said in a statement. "We
expect it to be rectified." There you have it, Abe Foxman, Holocaust
denier! So Foxman now has accomplished what has eluded diplomats for
nearly a century, bringing Armenians and Turks together ­ in this case
in opposition to national ADL. And he has even brought down a Turkish
charge against his own proper respect for the Holocaust!

Foxman of course is little more than an intellectual bully, sliming
with charges of anti-Semitism whomever dares challenge the policies of
Isreal. But his defamatory, anti-defamation league is in trouble.
Foxman's actions now put the fabled and hitherto invincible Isreali
Lobby on the line. The Turks certainly must have thought that the Lobby
could "deliver" Congress on genocide denial, and Foxman's ADL is a key
component of that Lobby. The Turks have already complained to Israel
about the ADL's Boston-Washington split decision. This is very
important to them, having hired both Dick Gephardt, former House
Majority Leader and Bob Livingston (Remember him?) former Speaker of
the House at considerable cost to get Congress on their side. So the
battle lines are drawn. CounterPunch will keep you posted.

[John V. Walsh can be reached at John.Endwar at gmail.com.]