How very.
The kicker in the statement issued today, however, was this:
Having said that, we continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States.Oh, really? Why's that?
Turkey needs to grow up. And the ADL needs to shitcan Foxman. Enough is enough.
Looking from a Polish perspective, it seems that some Jewish human rights activists, such as those from the ADL or the SWC, have indeed their problems with recognizing other genocides than the Holocaust. The Armenian genocide is only one example, the argument about Auschwitz (the crosses, the Carmel) another. Only uniqueness guarantees the top position in victim ranking.
ReplyDeleteA problem arises in countries with Holocaust denial laws, when non-Jewish human rights activists, such as Africans, Ukrainians, Native Americans, and last but not least Armenians, dispute the uniqueness of the Holocaust, paralleling it to the genocides perpetrated in history against their people. German as well as French law makes "trivializing the Holocaust" punishable, and courts in both countries have decided that violation of the uniqueness axiom is such an offense.
France has found a way out. Law No.2001-70 from January 29, 2001, which already stated that "France publicly recognizes the Armenian genocide of 1915," was amended in October 2006 by two articles: #2 making "disputing the existence of the Armenian genocide of 1915" punishable with fines up to 45,000 Euro and/or one year of imprisonment (like Holocaust denial), and #3 defining which groups, in a case of a trial, can appear as civilian parties (and demand damages). So the Holocaust, which is punishable according to the Gayssot Law of 1990, is separated legally from the Armenian genocide.
On the continent, France, together with Germany, is the vanguard not only in persecuting Holocaust deniers by penal law. She also has the greatest number of laws that deal with history (critics say: that define history): about the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes, slavery, colonialism, and now the Armenian genocide. Mr. Foxman can be happy that he doesn't live in France. His half-hearted retraction would not help him in court.
Sorry, I have a correction to my above post (greetings from S. Freud!):
ReplyDeleteIn the last sentence of the third paragraph, after the first comma, insert "the denial of."
Thank you!