Armenian Holocaust And Jewish Response

Jews Face the Armenian Genocide * By Dr. Stephen Scheinberg .Dr. Scheinberg is emeritus professor of history,Concordia University, and co-chair of Canadian Friendsof Peace Now. His editorials can be heard on Montreal'sRadio Shalom 1650AM on Monday at 7:15A.M. and Wednesday at 6:14P.M..There is a controversy raging among American Jews which may get even hotter in the coming days. The issue arises because the U.S. Congress will once again beasked to vote for a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide of 1915. One might think that this would notbe a difficult issue for the Jewish community butunfortunately several of the major Jewish organizationsin the United States have seen fit to intervene against the bill.First, let me explain to those of you who are not well acquainted with the events of 1915 that an overwhelming number of historians recognize that the Turkishgovernment of the day engaged in the pre-meditated murder of between 1 and 1.5 million Armenians. Jewish holocaust scholars including Raul Hilberg, Elie Wiesel, Yehuda Bauer, Daniel Goldhagen and Deborah Lipstadt have all signed ads urging the Congress to pass there solution. The scholarship is overwhelming; including even some Turkish writers, but the Turkish government persists in its refusal to acknowledge responsibility.Armenian genocide denial is close kin to holocaust denial and as morally reprehensible.The current bill in the Congress was introduced inJanuary 2007 by Representative Adam Schiff ofCalifornia and has wide Jewish support in both theHouse and Senate, from Democrats and Republicans.However, it is not clear if or when the bill will cometo a vote. The Turkish government has been active in supporting opposition to the bill, hiring prominent lobbyists and meeting with Jewish leaders. This leadership was obviously reminded, at a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdula Gul, of Turkey's good relations with Israel as well as with the UnitedStates, her support for her own Jewish community numbering approximately 40,000, and her record as asanctuary for Jewish refugees over the centuries. It is difficult to say whether it was Turkish lobbying, theirown sentiments, or possibly direct intervention fromIsrael which led the Anti-Defamation League, B'naiBrith International, the American Jewish Committee andthe Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs topass along to members of Congress a letter from TurkishJews opposing the resolution, thus implicitly takingthe side of Turkey.It was the ADL's Abraham Foxman who was the mostoutspoken of the Jewish leaders, declaring that "this is an issue that needs to be resolved by the parties,not by us. We are neither historians nor arbiters." One has never heard Foxman, a child survivor of the holocaust, make such a cavalier reference to the deathof six million Jews. He has given further fuel to his critics by firing the ADL's New England regional director who had urged that the organization recognize the genocide. A former ADL regional board member condemned the firing as "a vindictive, intolerant, and destructive act" by an organization and leader whose"fundamental mission - is to promote tolerance." Foxman has subsequently, following much criticism and a conversation with Elie Wiesel, recognized that the events of 1915 constituted genocide but continues to oppose the bill as counterproductive.For her part, Israel has not made any public reference to the Armenian genocide and has carefully deleted such references from text books and even withdrawn support from international conferences at which the genocide would have been a subject for discussion. Before a trip to Turkey then-foreign minister Shimon Peres said of the genocide, that it was "a matter for historians todecide." There are many prominent Israelis who deploret heir government's failure to act on a significant moral issue. However, in the case of a nation state,realpolitik often triumphs over morality. Israel obviously considers that her relations with Turkey are too important to be possibly undermined by taking the moral road, though Israelis from across the political spectrum have disagreed on the consequences of such actions.Nevertheless, the American Jewish leadership is not and should not be tied to Israeli realpolitik. Individual morality cannot be waived in the interest of Israel,the United States or Canada. Perhaps if the Armenian genocide resolution is again defeated these same community leaders will be at pains to deny the influence of the Jewish lobby. Neither Israel nor theAmerican Jewish community will be well served by a community leadership that abandons elementary standards of behavior for a misguided assessment of the needs of Israel or Turkish Jewry. Perhaps they should recall the infamous words attributed to Adolph Hitler, calling on his troops to pursue their destructive work, he stated:"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" As Jews, we are obliged to speak, and our voices must be heard on the side of justice and morality.* Credit : Wikipedia - The Armenian Genocide Memorialin the Marcelin-Wilson Park in Montreal.(c) 2007 Tolerance.ca(R) Inc. Tous droits de reproductionreserves.Toutes les informations reproduites sur le site dewww.tolerance.ca (articles, images, photos, logos) sontprotegees par des droits de propriete intellectuelledetenus par Tolerance.ca(R) Inc. ou, dans certains cas,par leurs auteurs. Aucune de ces informations ne peutetre reproduite pour un usage autre que personnel.Toute modification, reproduction a large diffusion,traduction, vente, exploitation commerciale oureutilisation du
2. Turkey and the Armenians / Today's Denial Is Tomorrow's Holocaust By Yossi Sarid http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/912094.html Congressman Adam Schiff, who proposed the resolution to name the Armenian massacre a genocide, is Jewish.The Jewish nation should be grateful for Schiff'sinitiative, for he has saved Jewish honor in America,Israel and everywhere. He restored our humane image,in contrast to the cynics and genocide deniers who are forever demanding payment for being perpetual victims.Congressman Schiff is following in the footsteps ofanother Jew, Henry Morgenthau, who served as U.S.ambassador in Turkey in those days. He called the massacre "the greatest crime in modern history."AdvertisementSchiff is also the student of another Jew, FranzWerfel, who on his way to the Land of Israel stopped in Damascus and was appalled to see "the starving,mutilated and sick Armenian refugee children." Hepublished the novel "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh"(1933), which shocked the world.In 1918 Shmuel Talkovsky, then secretary of HaimWeizmann, wrote with Weizmann's approval: "Is there any nation whose fate is more similar to ours than the Armenians?"But in Israel today there are Jews who are less than Jewish and Zionists who are less than Zionist -including heads of state and heads of government.Denying another nation's Holocaust is no less uglythan denying ours. It is also dangerous. Today'sdenial is tomorrow's Holocaust. The Armenian genocidewasn't the first in this era. The German imperial armyslaughtered 100,000 Namibians in 1904. In 1915, theArmenian genocide began; the Ottomans killed 1.5million of them in various ways. If the world hadrisen up in protest against the genocide of theNamibians and Armenians, the Holocaust of the Jewsmight also have been averted. This is not a mereassumption; it's probably a fact. A week before invading Poland, Hitler addressed his officers (August24, 1939): "It's a matter of indifference to me what aweak western European civilization will say about me... I have ordered my Death-Head Formation to killmercilessly and without compassion men, women andchildren of Polish derivation and language. Who, afterall, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"Such was Hitler's calming message to his troops.The next time some Israel hater - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,for example - denies the Jewish Holocaust, and we raise a hue and cry about it, there will be someself-righteous Gentiles ready to say, "You're right,but we have our own Turkeys."As natural and historic victims, we should be the ones to spread the message from one end of the world to another: what happened to us can happen again, to us and to the people of Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Sudan, Burma.There is no need to compare between holocausts to recognize other nations' suffering.