The Anti-Defamation League agreed to put its position on a possible congressional resolution on the Armenian to a vote of its national governing body.
The move came Wednesday after a request from the league’s New England regional board, which has been fiercely critical of National Director Abraham Foxman’s stance on the issue and his firing of the organization’s regional director. The ADL’s national commission will meet in November.
On Tuesday, Foxman reversed himself and said massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I were “tantamount to genocide.” He continued to stand by his earlier position concerning the Congressional resolution, which, along with other Jewish groups, ADL has called “counterproductive.”
Foxman earlier claimed he didn’t know whether the killings constituted genocide, a position which generated tremendous anger among Boston’s Jews who have strong ties to the city’s substantial Armenian population.
Foxman refused to say whether the regional director, Andrew Tarsy, would be reinstated, a move also requested Wednesday by the New England board. Tarsy publicly broke ranks with the national ADL position last week and was summarily fired.
