The ADL has finally accepted the fact of the Armenian Genocide, which was transmitted to the world via an awkward statement released today. By the way, why say “tantamount to genocide” and not just say it was genocide?
Unfortunately, the ADL fell short of giving its support to the Armenian Genocide resolution before the US Congress. The legislation will ensure that the historical fact will be part of US foreign policy thinking and put pressure on Turkey to face its demons.
Interestingly, the Jerusalem Post today reports:
Neither Jerusalem nor Ankara had any official comment on the matter, with the foreign ministries in both capitals taken completely by surprise by the [ADL] statement. (source)
While Armenian American groups & individuals did a great job pushing the ADL to face the truth, I think it’s time to remember that without the countless non-Armenians that also put pressure on Foxman & the ADL, the ADL about-face wouldn’t have been possible.
One of the commentators on my site last week clarified things:
Just for the record, while the Armenian community was heavily involved in giving the ADL the boot, it was the entire community who stood shoulder to shoulder with our Armenian friends and neighbors. The Council vote was 8-0, not one member of the Council is an Armenian.
Iām a 1st generation Italian American and have written 3 columns on the subject.
One of the Councilors that worked tirelessly behind the seens is Mark Sideris to resolve the matter is a 1st generation Greek American. And the Council President is an African American.
So this was Watertown at its best. Watertown is a town of 4 square miles. We wrote the book on diversity before diversity was in the book. (source)
Today, the ADL has bumped up the small link they had on their site yesterday (web snapshot) to something a little more prominent and this time used the words “Armenian Genocide” in the link (the Boston Globe‘s permalink to the statement).
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