Chris Helms reports the Massachusetts Municipal Association is no longer a co-sponsor of the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program, which seemed like such an inoffensive thing (hate is, indeed, bad), until the national ADL decided it couldn't officially believe Turks slaughtered more than a million Armenians.
The Tab posts Mayor David Cohen's announcement that he is severing the city's ties with the ADL's "No Place to Hate" program because of the Armenian genocide issue and the ADL's reluctance to call the deaths of more than 1 million people "genocide:"
... The recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step along the path of freedom and justice, and crucial in combating other genocides now and in the future. ...
The Newton Tab has the details:
... Choosing their words very carefully, members of Newton's Human Rights Commission decided to "cease participation" with the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate program in an unanimous vote tonight. ...
Mayor David Cohen will supposedly make a final decision within a few days.
ADL national honcho Abe Foxman apparently thinks nobody in Watertown would ever read this op-ed piece on the Jerusalem Post Web site, in whch he basically says he only called what happened to Armenians "tantamount to genocide" to get Armenians and some annoying Jews off his back while he deals with more important issues.
Guess what? Armenians in Watertown know how to use Web browsers:
Seth Gitell breaks the news that Andrew Tarsy, fired as regional ADL director for breaking with the national organization over the Armenian genocide issue, is back.
Chuck wouldn't be surprised to see the whole ADL thing become an issue in the presidential elections, especially as it touches on our relations with Israel.
Earlier:
Watertown causes international incident.
Jerusalem Post: Turkish envoy returns to deal with ADL.
Ooh, is he going to send Abe Foxman to bed without dinner?
Via Greg Reibman.
Chrissie Long reports the Newton Human Rights Commission voted last night to wait a few weeks before deciding whether to withdraw from the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program over the Armenian-genocide issue.
Still won't back a Congressional resolution to that effect, but still. Sco, who lives in Watertown, writes:
... A 94-year old organization referred to the killings of Armenians during World War I as a genocide for the first time today in large part because our town council stood up to them.
Chris Helms notes the exact phrase in ADL honcho Foxman's statement was "tantamount to genocide:"
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston supports Andrew Tarsy, fired by the national ADL for daring to agree Armendians died in a genocide by the Ottoman Empire:
Today we join together with the Armenian community remember the darkest chapter of Armenian history, when, in 1915, the Ottoman Empire initiated a policy of genocide that continued until 1922. More than one and a half million Armenian men, women and children were systematically murdered and the survivors scattered around the world. ...
The Outraged Liberal considers the national ADL's firing of the New England regional ADL's director for daring to suggest the death of 1.5 million Armenians was genocide:
... There's a certain irony that this is transpiring as the name of one of Tarsy's predecessors hits the news again in a different context.
The span over the Charles River was named after Leonard Zakim to honor his unyielding belief in social justice, trying to right wrongs and ensure they do not re-occur.
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