InternationalLetters from Watertown: Anti-Defamation League is the real bully
Published: Thursday March 31, 2011
The following letters were published in the Watertown Tab (Watertown, Mass.) on March 25, 2011 and also submitted to The Armenian Reporter:
I am disgusted that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) just put up a billboard ad about "anti-bullying" on Mt. Auburn St. near Armenian-American stores and churches.
It's the ADL that's the bully, working with that other bully, Turkey, to deny the Armenian genocide (that Turkey perpetrated) and to defeat Armenian genocide resolutions in the U.S. Congress.
That's why the Watertown Town Council threw out the ADL's so-called "No Place for Hate" program in August of 2007, a shot heard around the world.
The ADL had no credibility then and still doesn't, when it comes to human rights or morality. That's why Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Easton, Lexington, Medford, Needham, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, Peabody, Somerville, Westwood and the Massachusetts Municipal Association also threw out "No Place for Hate."
The ADL and its hypocritical director, Abe Foxman, have still not unambiguously recognized the Armenian genocide, and they still lobby against Congressional genocide resolutions.
The ADL billboard ad must come down. It's an insult to the citizens of this country and to the Watertown Town Council. Those who are concerned about human rights -- for everyone, not just for a few -- must insist on this.
The Town Council must send a strong message to the billboard's manager, Clear Channel, to not provide space to a genocide-denying organization like ADL, whose morality is conveniently limited to whatever fits their self-centered political agenda.
Kamer Minassian
Lexington Street
Watertown
ADL dropped the 'A' from its name and called itself the Defamation League
To the editor,
The avowed purpose of the Anti-Defamation League is to fight discrimination. The group has no expertise in international history or affairs.
Thus, although it has no expert knowledge of the Genocide of Armenians, the ADL claims Turkey did not commit genocide against Armenians.
It's obvious that ADL's interest in this debate is not to advance historic truth but to protect the tarnished reputation of Turkey, a long-time friend of Israel--although that friendship is strained these days.
When the ADL denies the veracity of the Genocide of Armenians, it is calling Armenians, historians and scholars (mostly non-Armenian), and eye witnesses to the genocide liars.
In other words, ADL is defaming Armenians, historians and scholars and eye witnesses. It's high time the ADL dropped the 'A' from its name and called itself the Defamation League.
Jirair Tutunjian
Toronto
The following letters were published in the Watertown Tab on March 27, 2011 and also submitted to The Armenian Reporter:
March 27, 2011
Dear Editor of the Watertown Tab,
Watertown gave the national Anti-Defamation League a strong message more than 3 years ago: you and your opposition to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 - 23 are hypocritical and immoral, and you are unwelcome here.
Now I walk down Mount Auburn Street, and I see a huge advertisement by the ADL about "bullying." Looks like the ADL is poking its finger in Watertown's eye as revenge.
Didn't the national ADL get the message when more than a dozen cities tossed out the ADL's No Place For Hate program because the ADL had lost all credibility on human rights? Didn't the ADL understand that principled Jewish Americans were embarrassed by the ADL's actions against Armenians?
And it still has not reversed its stance against Armenians. No organization that claims to believe in justice and human rights would ever sit down with a major human rights violator such as Turkey, as the national ADL has done, to cook up a plan to target a group, in this case Armenians, that suffered a holocaust.
Due to its sponsor, the billboard is offensive and not credible.
The ADL should take its act to a more appropriate place. I suggest Turkey.
Sincerely,
Vany Tashjian
Wells Avenue
Watertown
I, too, am appalled by the ADL billboard about bullying on Mt. Auburn Street.
The ADL and its national director Abe Foxman have no credibility when it comes to anti-bullying or any other program when they themselves, without justification, continue to bully Congress into not recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
While it's OK to have a billboard against bullying and harassment, the ADL is totally unqualified to deliver that message.
Just as many cities and the Massachusetts Municipal Association tossed out the ADL's "No Place for Hate" program, they should not be fooled by the ADL's attempt to get back in using an anti-bullying program.
Neither young people, parents, teachers, nor school administrators will take seriously any lesson about bullying that is delivered by genocide deniers and hypocrites, namely Mr. Foxman and the ADL.
Lily Ordoubeigian
Concord Rd.
Watertown
The following letter to the editor was sent to the Watertown TAB and to The Armenian Reporter on April 5, 2011:
Dear Editor:
The Anti-Defamation League's billboards that have been advertising its version of an "anti-bullying" program are no different than its discredited "No Place for Hate" program that the Mass. Municipal Association and a dozen cities across Massachusetts cut ties with.
As the ADL continues to fail to unambiguously acknowledge the Armenian genocide, hurt Armenian-Americans, work against US recognition of that genocide, and damage the cause of genocide prevention, the ADL and its programs are not credible.
I agree with others that the ADL is a bully and a hypocrite.
Genocide is the worst crime in all of humanity. That means that the ADL’s work against genocide recognition is a hate crime. The word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent, to describe the annihilation of the Armenians.
