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ADL and Lieberman Play Politics: Sully The Fight Against Antisemitism

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2006
Posted on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 07:15:26 AM EST
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(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

In a contemptible manuever, the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism, cynically sacrificed its principles to enable Joe Lieberman to again falsely cry antisemitism. The Murdoch-owned New York Post was the media vehicle for this despicable ploy:

A string of anti-Semitic rants about Sen. Joe Lieberman have popped up on the liberal MoveOn.org's open forum Web site, drawing criticism from the Anti-Defamation League.

. . . "We recognize that Action Forum is an open forum intended to foster the free flow of ideas," ADL head Abraham Foxman said in a letter dated Aug. 31 to MoveOn, which supported Lamont in the Democratic primary against Lieberman. "Nevertheless, since such profoundly offensive content is appearing on a board clearly linked to MoveOn.org, we believe you should assume some responsibility to respond to this hateful content," Foxman wrote in the letter, which was forwarded by Lieberman's campaign.

Foxman's ploy was almost certainly done at the behest of the Lieberman campign. The Foxman letter came 12 days AFTER Move On had removed the comments:

But in a statement posted on the MoveOn site Saturday, Pariser condemned the anti-Semitic rants. "Once in a while - as in any public forum - inappropriate material is posted," he wrote. "Recently, a few of the thousands of comments that are posted every week contained anti-Semitic language."The comments that were posted were abhorrent. We were dismayed to see them, and removed them as soon as they came to our attention 17 days ago."
He added that most of the comments were not made by MoveOn members and suggested it could be an effort by conservatives to "target" the group, and said any effort to tie the rants to MoveOn was "wrong."

There can be little doubt that Foxman's letter came at the behest of the Lieberman campaign and that Foxman knew exactly what he was doing when he sent that letter. He also certainly knew that the Lieberman campaign would try to falsely smear Move On with Foxman's false, cynical reprehensible smear of Move On.

That the Lieberman campaign would stoop so low is no surprise. That Abraham Foxman has decided that the ADL's fight against antisemitism is of such little importance that he would use its good name to forward the Lieberman campaign's false smear against Move On and Ned Lamont is surprising and utterly destroys Foxman's credibility.

For the good of the Antidefamaton League, Abraham Foxman should resign from the ADL. He has lost all credibility and moral standing.

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    ADL and Lieberman Play Politics: Sully The Fight Against Antisemitism | 2 comments (2 topical)
    Re: ADL and Lieberman Play Politics: Sully The Fig (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 08:09:58 AM EST
    Please respond to ADL politely, please...let's not give them grounds to ignore our concerns. If you would like to let ADL know that a groundless charge of anti-semitism was not good for ADL (it is not good when a great organization cries 'wolf') and that MoveOn a)had removed the abhorent comments 17 days earlier and b)deserves an apology from ADL, here's how to contact ADL .

    Re: ADL and Lieberman Play Politics: Sully The Fig (none / 0) (#2)
    by Andreas on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 10:04:24 AM EST
    The Anti-Defamation League is a right-wing organisation which is more decicated to Zionism than fighting antisemitism.
    On Tuesday, September 23, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the organization founded in the United States 90 years ago with the stated aim of fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, bestowed its Distinguished Statesman Award on a leading European political figure. The recipient of the award, at a gala fund-raising dinner held at New York City's luxurious Plaza Hotel, was none other than Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy who made headlines and sparked wide outrage recently when he came to the defense of the former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
    The ADL and Berlusconi: honoring a "flawed" friend of Zionism By Fred Mazelis, 25 September 2003 ***
    The Zionist-Christian right nexus embodies the deeply reactionary role played by the Israeli state, not only in the Middle East, but internationally. Another recent demonstration of its emergence is a half-page ad placed in the May 2 New York Times by the Anti-Defamation League. The ad consists of an article, published without comment, by Ralph Reed, a leading figure in the Christian right and current chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. The article is entitled "We People of Faith Stand Firmly With Israel."
    US Congress backs Israeli assault on Palestinians Resolutions highlight alliance of Zionism and Christian right By Barry Grey, 7 May 2002 *** One should also note that the ADL correctly attacked Lieberman in year 2000:
    Given the enormity of Lieberman's attack on core Constitutional issues, the response has been remarkably and disturbingly muted. An exception to the general unconcern is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which issued an open letter on August 28 denouncing Lieberman's use of the elections to promote religion. The signatories, ADL National Chairman Howard Berkowitz and National Director Abraham Foxman, correctly wrote, "The First Amendment requires that government neither support one religion over another nor the religious over the nonreligious." They went on to say, "The United States is made up of many different types of people from different backgrounds and different faiths, including individuals who do not believe in any god, and none of our citizens, including atheistic Americans, should be made to feel outside of the electoral or political process." Significantly, B'nai B'rith, the Jewish service organization and parent group of the ADL, came to the defense of Lieberman and disassociated itself from Berkowitz and Foxman.
    The US elections: Lieberman's holy war against the Bill of Rights By Barry Grey, 1 September 2000

    ADL and Lieberman Play Politics: Sully The Fight Against Antisemitism | 2 comments (2 topical)