WE SHOULD SPEAK OUT FOR HR 106
By Steven M. Goldberg
The Jewish Journal of greater L.A, CA
d=18119
Aug 30 2007
Notably absent from the disagreement over whether Jewish organizations
should support HR 106, the congressional resolution recognizing the
genocide of almost 2 million Armenians in the early 20th century,
is any debate about the truthfulness of the resolution.
Virtually every historian acknowledges that this genocide is
an irrefutable fact. Instead, the controversy swirls around the
question of whether it is in the interest of the Jewish community to
take a position that might provoke anti-Semitism in Turkey or harm
Turkish-Israeli relations.
HR 106 already has 227 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives
and is supported by a majority of Jewish senators and congressmen
across the nation, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara
Boxer (D-Calif.), and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), Howard
Berman (D-Van Nuys), Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Jane Harman
(D-Venice). Most of the Jewish organizational establishment, however,
is either waffling or desperately trying to avoid the issue. The
facts are embarrassing.
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League,
initially declined to take a position on whether the Armenian genocide
occurred. When the ADL’s executive director in Boston publicly
criticized the refusal to acknowledge the Armenian genocide and called
it "morally indefensible," Foxman fired him. Shortly thereafter,
two ADL board members resigned in protest.
As a result of the ensuing criticism, Foxman modified his position
to acknowledge that "there was an Armenian genocide," but continued
to refuse to support the congressional resolution that "there was an
Armenian genocide."
His rationale was that the congressional resolution is a
"counterproductive diversion" that would offend Turkey’s government
and people, which could lead to violence against Turkish Jews and
damage to Turkish-Israeli relations.
The ADL is not the only Jewish organization that has vacillated
or is paralyzed by fear of exacerbating anti-Semitism. The reason
these organizations have chosen to remain silent has nothing to do
with the merits of the congressional resolution. It has everything
to do with their being intimidated by anti-Semites, in this case
Muslim extremists.
It is a tragic truth of Jewish history that there is nothing unusual
about the inclination of Jewish leaders toward such appeasement. In the
years leading up to and during World War II, the Jewish establishment
– led by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise – refused to protest the Roosevelt
administration’s failure to take action to rescue the Jews of Europe.
They castigated and marginalized as extremists Jewish activists,
such as Peter Bergson and Ben Hecht, who publicly demanded that
the government take action to stop the ongoing Holocaust. The Jewish
establishment was fearful that it would make things worse to antagonize
the Nazi leadership and to embarrass the American government by
publicizing the terrible events unfolding in Europe.
In the 1970s, when the oppression of Soviet Jewry became an issue
of moment, the Jewish establishment again demonstrated its lack
of nerve. Most Jewish leaders were fearful of participating
in large public demonstrations and eschewed taking a position
on the Jackson-Vanik legislation that was designed to punish
the Soviets unless they relaxed their restrictions on Jewish
emigration. The rationale was that aggressive action would inflame
Soviet anti-Semitism. Once again the policy of timidity was proven
to be wrongheaded.
More recently, Jewish, Israeli and American leaders opposed
implementing federal law requiring that the U.S. Embassy in Israel
be moved to Jerusalem because of fear of provoking Arab terrorism.
Despite this capitulation to Muslim pressure, both Israel and the
West have experienced a dramatic increase in terrorism.
If a Christian leader were to refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust out
of fear of antagonizing Germany, Jews everywhere would justifiably
be outraged. We would reject as unacceptable the excuse that "the
Holocaust is only a Jewish issue."
The failure of the Jewish establishment to support congressional
recognition of the Armenian genocide is similarly shameful. Given
our history, the Jewish people should be in the forefront of speaking
out against genocide.
Jewish leaders should refuse to be blackmailed by Muslim extremism.
Turkish threats of retribution against Israel and Turkish Jews must
be confronted and condemned.
History teaches that flinching in the face of anti-Semitism is
cowardly, unprincipled, ineffective and dangerous. As Winston Churchill
observed, "Those who appease the crocodile will simply be eaten last."
Steven M. Goldberg, an attorney, is vice chairman of the board of
the Zionist Organization of America, Southern California Region.
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