Foxman Excuses "Dabbling in Anti-Semitism"

June 20, 1999

In a recent article in the N.Y. Forward (06/18/99) describing the response to the the prominence of the notorious Al Sharpton at a recent Hillary Clinton-sponsored White House event honoring the New York Yankees, Abraham Foxman (exec. director of the Anti Defamation League) is quoted as saying that while he is not trying to "kosherize" Al Sharpton, what he can say in his defense is that "while Sharpton may have dabbled in anti-Semitism, he is not an anti-Semite".

Is there indeed a difference between one who dabbles in anti-Semitism and an anti-Semite? How is a full blown anti-Semite measured? According to Foxman "dabbling" doesn't count. Do anti-Semites have cards to identify themselves? Do the real ones "participate actively" and the wannabes only "dabble"?

By the ADL definition, could it then be said that Paul Bernardo only dabbled in rape, assault and murder, but he is not a rapist or murderer? That James Earl Ray only dabbled in assassination but is not an assassin? How about Hitler? Since the Jews were not his only target for mass murder could it be said that Hitler may have been a mass murderer but he only "dabbled" in anti-Semitism?

The mental/verbal gymnastics that the ADL continuously engages in, in order to vindicate the American Administration, beggars the imagination and shames the Jewish community, lending cover to a ruthlessly anti-Semitic CIA and giving a hechscher to the likes of Al Sharpton - the man who led the pogrom in Crown Heights, and ignited the inferno at Freddy's.

Fourteen years into the grossly disproportionate life sentence meted out to Jonathan Pollard for his actions on behalf of Israel, the ADL declines to take a position on the Pollard Case. Why? The ADL insists it can detect no anti-Semitism in the Pollard case. Small wonder. The ADL can't seem to see it any where else either...

See Also: ADL's Silence: THE LOUDEST VOICE