50 shades of Abe Foxman

In honor of the Anti-Defamation League chief’s impending retirement, here are 50 shades of Abraham Foxman’s disapproval.

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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

2. deeply concerned

3. greatly concerned

4. seriously concerned

5.increasingly concerned 

6. profoundly offensive

7. offensive, inflammatory and totally without any basis

8. deeply offensive

9.  alarming 

10.  deep disappointment

11.increasingly disappointed and alarmed

12. profoundly disappointed 

13. an insult

14. anger, shock and disbelief

15. unbalanced and counterproductive

16. a sense of profound sadness and revulsion

17. strongly denounce 

18. bigoted

19. deeply troubling 

20.extremely troubling 

21. more out of sadness than anger

22. reeks of hypocrisy  

23.  damaging, misguided tactics 

24. heinous attack

25.  should know better 

26. unfair and misguided

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 

35.  extremely unfortunate

36. have shown great insensitivity 

37. untenable

38. ill-conceived 

39. distressing

40.  wholly unjustified

41. abhorrent

42. shameful

43. problematic

44.  affront to individuals’ human dignity

45.  outrageous

46. strongly disagree

47.  murderous reign of terror

48. unsupportable

49. classical anti-Semitic conspiracy

50. painful 

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