Abe Foxman

In response to the ADL’s objection, Rosenthal explained: “My reason for going was simple – Anti-Semitism is growing in places for different reasons, but Holocaust denial is growing in parts of the Muslim communities and must be confronted in order to combat the anti-Semitism that accompanies it.”

It’s also worth noting that the imams’ trip to Auschwitz ended with a strong joint statement denouncing anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

Here’s Rosenthal’s full statement:

My reason for going was simple – Anti-Semitism is growing in places for different reasons, but Holocaust denial is growing in parts of the Muslim communities and must be confronted in order to combat the anti-Semitism that accompanies it.

The response to my participation on the trip has been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging. As I travel to countries facing increased anti-Semitism, I regularly meet with Jewish organizations, and interfaith and interethnic organizations, in addition to meeting with government leaders. I recognize that this age-old hatred will take a multi-faceted approach: calling for government leadership in condemning anti-Semitism; better education for the younger generation; interfaith understanding and advocacy; and good old-fashioned relationship building. I am trying hard to do just that.

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.