Once Again, Abe Foxman and the ADL Oppose Israel
by Ronn Torossian
Uncle Abe Foxman is at it again – undermining the democratically elected Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, urged Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel his upcoming March 17 speech to a joint session of Congress about the Iranian nuclear threat, saying that the speech is “….a tragedy of unintended consequences.”
Foxman claimed that the speech, “…has been hijacked by politics. Now is a time to recalibrate, restart, and find a new platform and new timing to take away the distractions.”
What has been hijacked by politics is Foxman’s ADL – which is a left-wing, uber-liberal organization that backs the Democratic party on their policies, irrespective of what is good for the Jews. On domestic and foreign policy issues, the ADL has moved so far away from its purported purpose of combating “anti-Semitism,” that it leaves many wondering what they do.
As an aside, Foxman’s criticism of Netanyahu’s pre-election speech is also because Netanyahu is a conservative – and Foxman has stated that those who oppose a two-state solution encourage anti-Semitism, boycotts against Israel, and are bad for Israel.
The ADL’s blind support of Obama will naturally continue with Jonathan Greenblatt, who will become the organization’s new President in July 2015. A current White House staffer in one of the most anti-Israel administrations in history, Greenblatt is Special Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the Domestic Policy Council. Surely this liberal will continue with Foxman’s left-wing agenda.
It’s sad to see the ADL in constant lock-step with the Obama Administration. In a separate incident this week, Jonathan Tobin, an editor at Commentary Magazine, noted that the ADL has crossed the line with their new report, which claims that Obama’s critics have unleashed a”toxic atmosphere of rage in America” since Obama’s election. As Tobin notes, free-speech and criticism is not hateful and “the ADL has stepped over a line that a nonpartisan group should never cross.” He is right.
For so long, the ADL – and countless other liberal American-Jewish organizations – have blindly supported Democratic policies. Whether one supports Netanyahu politically or not, he has the obligation to constantly fight against a nuclear Iran. As Netanyahu once said, “The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms, there would be no more war.”