Abe Foxman, one of America’s longest-standing Jewish leaders and a titan of the press release, has announced his impending retirement after 27 years as director of the Anti-Defamation League.
We at JTA thought we’d pay tribute to one of Foxman’s singular talents: In his tireless leadership of the ADL, Foxman has shown a unique capacity to express disapproval. So we combed through ADL press releases to find 50 shades of Abe Foxman. Without further ado, here is a sample of the many, many expressions he’s used to tell the nations, organizations and individuals of the world — from Joan Rivers to Hezbollah — that they’ve been very, very naughty:
1. concerned
7. offensive, inflammatory and totally without any basis
11.increasingly disappointed and alarmed
13. an insult
14. anger, shock and disbelief
15. unbalanced and counterproductive
16. a sense of profound sadness and revulsion
18. bigoted
19. deeply troubling
21. more out of sadness than anger
23. damaging, misguided tactics
24. heinous attack
27. stubborn insensitivity and callousness
28. deeply disturbed
29. strongly condemn
30. inappropriate
31. inappropriate and over-the-top
32. especially disturbing
33. outrageous, but not surprising
34. ominous
36. have shown great insensitivity
37. untenable
39. distressing
41. abhorrent
42. shameful
43. problematic
44. affront to individuals’ human dignity
45. outrageous
48. unsupportable
49. classical anti-Semitic conspiracy
50. painful
