Abe Foxman

Foxman’s opposition to the Auschwitz trip was first reported by Laura Rozen of Politico earlier this month:

Organizers of the trip say they were dismayed that the Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman lobbied U.S. officials against participating. They also say the Investigative Project’s Steve Emerson, author of “American Jihad,” lobbied against the trip, arguing that one of the imams planning to participate had made Holocaust denial statements a decade ago.

(UPDATE: Emerson disputes that he lobbied against the trip, saying that he only provided background material on some of the imams involved. See full note at the bottom of the Politico story.)

Foxman didn’t respond to Rozen’s requests for comment, but the ADL gave a statement to Salon today confirming that Foxman lobbied against the participation of the Obama officials.

“Mr. Foxman raised the question of the appropriateness of the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism to accompany individually and privately sponsored trips,” the statement says. “Given that there are many places in the world where anti-Semitism remains a problem, we believe that her leadership role in fighting anti-Semitism is best done government to government.”

That refers to Rosenthal, the State Department official, whose grandparents were killed in the Holocaust. Given that the trip resulted in such a strong statement, in which Muslim leaders from around the U.S. publicly denounced anti-Semitism in the strongest terms, the trip organizers saw it as a major success.

One person familiar with the trip told Salon that Foxman called both Rosenthal and the White House to object. When it went forward anyway, he went beyond objecting to the participation of the U.S. officials and called a Polish rabbi who had a scheduled meeting with the imams and asked the rabbi not to see the group, the person said.

Below is the ADL’s statement in full and the imams’ statement below that:

Mr. Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League are not opposed to imams visiting Auschwitz. Indeed, we are delighted a group of imams recently visited two camps in which the Nazis implemented their final solution for the extermination of European Jewry. We are hopeful that through this experience the imams can now help educate Muslims in America and abroad about the horrors of the Holocaust, its lessons for today and the perniciousness of Holocaust denial

Mr. Foxman raised the question of the appropriateness of the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism to accompany individually and privately sponsored trips. Given that there are many places in the world where anti-Semitism remains a problem, we believe that her leadership role in fighting anti-Semitism is best done government to government.

And the imams:

‘O you who believe, stand up firmly for justice as witnesses to Almighty God.” (Holy Qu’ran, al-Nisa “The Women” 4:135)

On August 7-11, 2010, we the undersigned Muslim American faith and community leaders visited Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps where we witnessed firsthand the historical injustice of the Holocaust.

We met survivors who, several decades later, vividly and bravely shared their horrific experience of discrimination, suffering, and loss. We saw the many chilling places where men, women and children were systematically and brutally murdered by the millions because of their faith, race, disability and political affiliation.

In Islam, the destruction of one innocent life is like the destruction of the whole of humanity and the saving of one life is like the saving of the whole of humanity (Holy Qu’ran, al-Ma’idah “the Tablespread” 5:32). While entire communities perished by the many millions, we know that righteous Muslims from Bosnia, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, and Albania saved many Jews from brutal repression, torture and senseless destruction.

We bear witness to the absolute horror and tragedy of the Holocaust where over twelve million human souls perished, including six million Jews.

We condemn any attempts to deny this historical reality and declare such denials or any justification of this tragedy as against the Islamic code of ethics.

We condemn anti-Semitism in any form. No creation of Almighty God should face discrimination based on his or her faith or religious conviction.

We stand united as Muslim American faith and community leaders and recognize that we have a shared responsibility to continue to work together with leaders of all faiths and their communities to fight the dehumanization of all peoples based on their religion, race or ethnicity. With the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hatred, rhetoric and bigotry, now more than ever, people of faith must stand together for truth.

Together, we pledge to make real the commitment of “never again” and to stand united against injustice wherever it may be found in the world today.

Imam Muzammil Siddiqi

Islamic Society of Orange County, Calif.

Chairman, Fiqh Council of North America

Imam Muhamad Maged

All-Dulles-Area Muslim Society

Dulles, Va.

Vice President, Islamic Society of North America

Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed

National Director

Office of Interfaith & Community Services

Islamic Society of North America

Washington, D.C.

Imam Suhaib Webb

Muslim Community Association

Santa Clara, Calif.

Ms. Laila Muhammad

Daughter of the late Imam W.D. Muhammad

Chicago, Ill.

Shaikh Yasir Qadhi

Dean of Academics

Al Maghrib Institute

New Haven, Conn.

Imam Syed Naqvi

Director

Islamic Information Center

Washington, D.C.

Imam Abdullah T. Antepli

Muslim Chaplain

Duke University

Durham, N.C.

 

Though much of the opposition to the mosques in Murfreesboro and Temecula alleges that the projects violate local zoning laws because of expected traffic or noise, the ADL says such complaints can be smokescreens for anti-Islamic bigotry.

“If a community is expressing hatred, the burden is on them to show that there are compelling issues” that should prevent the projects, said Deborah Lauter, the ADL’s civil rights director, who is active on the group’s coalition on mosque construction.

For the mosque construction projections is has supported so far, the ADL’s legal arguments revolve around the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a 1990 law requiring government to show a compelling interest if it imposes land use regulations on houses of worship.

Does this mean the ADL has suddenly become a Jewish ACLU? Hardly. It’s still primarily a pro-Israel advocacy group that also does some civil rights work. (The current feature story on the group’s home page reads, “Israel’s Flotilla Raid Justified.”)

ADL chief Abe Foxman will no doubt continue to do things like condemn Jewish Voice for Peace. Or support Glenn Beck because Beck supports Israel. Or oppose the trip of a group of imams to Auschwitz. But the mosque initiative seems honorable, and credit should be given where it’s due.

It was after that conversation that Foxman softened his criticism of Beck, telling Salon that while Beck is sometimes insensitive, he is in the end “a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.”

ADL has had good relations with Fox for some time. The group recently honored News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch with its International Leadership Award. (And in this picture from last month, Ailes and Foxman posed for a picture together.) In his acceptance speech, Murdoch called for an end to what he called “the soft war that seeks to isolate Israel.”

The question of the Middle East — and Fox’s pro-Israel coverage — goes far in explaining why the ADL backed off Beck, despite serious charges of anti-Semitism.

“But I also believe that there are certain things he doesn’t understand, which have led him to make insensitive remarks,” Foxman continued.

Foxman had criticized Beck this week on fairly narrow grounds — that the Fox host went too far when he (falsely) accused Soros, who as a boy survived the Holocaust by posing as a Christian, of helping send Jews to the death camps. Beck also called Soros a “puppet master” who, he claimed, was personally responsible for many of the catastrophes of the 20th century and who is now setting his sights on America.

In response to the ADL’s criticism, Beck’s news website today posted a letter from Foxman sent on Oct. 22 in which he apologized to Beck for mistakenly including him in a list of celebrities who had made anti-Semitic comments. Foxman wrote: “Even though we disagree from time to time, I know that you are a friend of the Jewish people, and a friend of Israel.” (See the full letter below.)

Salon asked the ADL if Foxman still felt that way in the wake of the Soros documentary. In response Foxman offered the affirmation quoted above.

The dynamic here is a tension between the ADL’s dual identities as a civil rights organization and a pro-Israel advocacy organization. This same dynamic was at play earlier this week when Foxman came to Soros’ defense but was careful to note that the ADL often disagrees with Soros, who is not a Zionist.

On his anti-Soros show Thursday, Beck himself preemptively invoked his support for Israel against charges of anti-Semitism:

I think the most popular is going to be – if I had to guess, their attack is going to be that I’m anti-Semite, which does not even make any sense. First of all, no one is a bigger defender of Jews and Israel than me. Name them on television.

I’ll tell you what – George, you and I will walk down the streets of Israel together. Let’s go to Jerusalem – you and me. Let’s see which one of us is more popular. It doesn’t make sense.

The basic argument is that support for Israel and anti-Semitism are mutually exclusive. 

Foxman called Beck’s remark, made on his radio show Wednesday, “completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top.” 

Beck has been attacking Soros all week as part of a series called “The Puppet Master?” which has blamed Soros personally for most of the world’s problems in the past half-century. Writing in the Daily Beast, Michelle Goldberg called Beck’s Soros documentary “a symphony of anti-Semitic dog-whistles.”

Foxman is conspicuously silent on the whole of Beck’s show. And Foxman is careful to mention his own disagreement with Soros on many issues (read: Israel). 

The full press release:

New York, NY, November 11, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today criticized as “completely inappropriate and offensive” remarks by Glenn Beck on his radio and television programs, in which he inaccurately connected George Soros, who was then a young boy, to the actions of others in sending Jews to death camps during the Holocaust.

On his October 10 radio show, Beck described how Soros, who was born in Hungary to Orthodox Jewish parents, “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.”

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor, issued the following statement:

Glenn Beck’s description of George Soros’ actions during the Holocaust is completely inappropriate, offensive and over the top. For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say – inaccurately – that there’s a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, that’s horrific.

While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros’ views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable. To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.

The Holocaust was a horrific time, and many people had to make excruciating choices to ensure their survival. George Soros has been forthright about his childhood experiences and his family’s history, and there the matter should rest.