11/08 Globe West: Community Briefing: Newton No Place for Hate

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NEWTON

NO PLACE FOR HATE - With a recent decision by the Anti-Defamation League's national board to take no further action on a congressional resolution acknowledging an Armenian genocide, Newton Mayor David Cohen must decide whether to sever ties with the ADL's No Place for Hate Program permanently. Earlier this fall, Cohen dropped the program, saying it was a matter of conscience, and asked the group's national director, Abraham Foxman, to unequivocally acknowledge the Ottoman Empire's massacre of Armenians as a genocide by supporting the congressional resolution. Last summer, Foxman, under pressure from ADL members, issued a statement calling the forcible deportation and massacre of perhaps 1.5 million Armenians in 1915-17 as "tantamount to genocide." Many criticized his wording as unclear, and seven communities, including Newton, discontinued the No Place for Hate program awaiting a more concise statement by Foxman. Foxman has said he feared international repercussions by Turkey, which as the Ottoman Empire's successor denies the genocide label. Jeremy Solomon, Cohen's spokesman, said the mayor will discuss the national ADL's decision at the city's next Human Rights Commission meeting. A date had not yet been scheduled, he said. "We're going to evaluate the actions taken in their entirety," Solomon said. "Perhaps it is not as black and white as it was when we issued the demand."

- Megan Woolhouse

Source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/08/honors_for_stroke_treatments/