Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1984 Page: 2 of 32
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ADL And The Wiesenthal Center
Differ on Extent of Anti-Semitism
In The United States and In Europe
•ADL Memorandum Rebuts The Center’s Contentions
BY KEVIN FREEMAN
NEW YORK [JTA] - The
Anti-Defamation League of
B’nai B’rith has issued a
memorandum rebutting con-
tentions of a recently re-is-
sued promotional six-page
fund raising letter by the
Simon Wiesenthal Center of
Los Angeles, accusing the
Center of exaggerating
claims of a “new wave of
anti-Semitism” in the United
States and Europe.
Statements By The
Wiesenthal Center
The Center said in a
separate statement issued in
Los Angeles that “it never
participates in public de-
bates with other Jewish
organizations over the ser-
iousness of hate or anti-Sem-
itism in our society. We
believe such debate
strengthens the very forces
we are all dedicated to com-
batting.”
Continuing, the Center
said: “No single organi-
zation should lay claim to a
monolithic approach in de-
termining the threat of anti-
Semitism. The events of this
century show that world
Jewry’s ability to analyze
that data has been imper-
The six-page, updated fun-
raising letter was signed by
the Center’s counsel in
Washington, Martin Mendel-
sohn, a former head of the
Justice Department’s Spec-
ial Litigations Unit on Nazi
war criminals.
Mendelsohn Defends The
Letter
office in Alabama a number
of times. Messages asking
that he return the JTA’s
inquiries went unanswered.
He was quoted in a press
report as saying the ADL is
“10 years behind the times”
and its statistics are not an
accurate reflection of anti-
Semitism today.
Saying the Center’s letter
is “replete with factual
misstatements and exagger-
ations about the situa-
tion with respect to anti-
Semitism and organized
Nazi activity in the United
States and abroad,” the
ADL, in an internal memor-
andum to its regional direc-
tors, asserted:
' “This letter was inac-
curate and misleading when
originally circulated in 1983,
but is even more so today
than it was back then,
especially when one consid-
ers ADL’s recently issued
report on the KKK and the
neo-Nazis.” The memorand-
um was issued by Justin
Finger, director of the
ADL’s civil rights division.
A copy of the memorandum
was sent to the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency and its
authenticity was confirmed
by Finger.
Mendelsohn told the JTA
in a telephone interview that
“it is a fine letter ... issued
by the Center for a good
purpose.” He said he approv-
ed the contents of the letter
when he signed it in 1983,
but said he believed it was
not necessary for the Center
to seek his approval a second
time when it was re-
issued last April. “I think
the ADL would like to claim
having a monopoly” in what
Hier described as “defend-
ers of the Jewish people.”
According to Hier, the
Center serves a consti-
tuency of 260,000 families,
and has other facilities and
programs related to the Cen-
ter’s activities in Canada
and several cities in the U.S.
Elements In The ADL
Analysis
The ADL, in its analysis of
the Center’s letter, claims
that the image presented of
a “new wave of anti-Semi-
tism ... sweeping Europe”
is “inaccurate.” The ADL
said that “to promote the
image of Europe’s Jews
engulfed in anti-Semitism is
clearly off target.”
The Center’s assertion
that “hatred and anti-Semi-
tism are shockingly on the
rise” in the U.S., “threaten-
ing all that we hold dear” is,
according to the ADL, “not
borne out by any meaning-
ful criteria and is clearly a
statement long on shock
value but short on fact.”
Finger stated in the
memorandum that it was
issued as “background in-
formation” for its regional
directors to aid “in respond-
ing to inquiries” regarding
the letter’s contents.
“The interests of the
Jewish community are cer-
tainly not served by the
kinds of divisiveness that
puts one Jewish organiza-
tion against another,” Hier
said in the telphone inter-
view recently. He said
officials and lay leaders
involved with the Center in
Los Angeles view the
memorandum as part of an
effort to “delegitimize” the
Center’s activities.
The ADL notes that is
statistics compiled annually
indicate that anti-Semitic
vandalism declined over the
past few years, “with only a
handful of incidents which
have been shown to have
been perpetrated by organi-
zed hate groups.”
But Rabbi Marvin Hier,
dean of the Wiesenthal
Center, suggested in a tele-
phone interview with the
JTA that the memorandum
is part of an attempt by the
ADL to counter the Center’s
inroads onto the ADL’s
“historic turf.” Hier called
the attack “unprecedented,
undeserved and a disgrace.”
The Center said in its
separate statement released
that it does “not reveal its
sources and methods of
gathering and analyzing
data” on anti-Semitic inci-
dents and trends through-
out the country. But Hier
told the JTA that along with
Mendelsohn, Morris Dees,
chief trial counsel of the
Southern Poverty Law Cen-
ter in Alabama, was involv-
ed in the statistical data for
the letter’s analysis.
The letter stated, “We
have learned the rise of
anti-Semitism is spearhead-
ed by networks of neo-Nazis
which reach out all over the
country.” The ADL said
“We know of no credible
evidence to support this
statement.”
The JTA called Dees’
The ADL also accused the
Center of using “both dated
and erroneous” facts in the
fund-raising letter. The let-
ter, for example, refers to the
National Socialist Party of
America and its “chapters in
33 American cities.” Accord-
ing to the ADL, the NSPA
“fell by the wayside in 1982
and in effect no longer
exists.”
Rabbi Marvin Hier/Wiesenthal Center
Say: 'Indicators On Anti-Semitism
Remain Potent and Constant. .Foolish
I
I
For Jewish People To Let Guard Down’
(Editor's Note: Following a telephone
conversation pertaining to the ADL criti-
cism ' the Wiesenthal Center, issued
the following statement to the 77 P.
During the first week of
December 1984, the Anti-
Defamation League deliber-
ately provided the national
and Jewish media with an
“internal memorandum” at-
tacking the Simon Wiesen-
thal Center for “exaggerat-
ed claims” about the serious-
ness of anti-Semitism here
and abroad.
The Simon Wiesenthal
Center, as previously stated,
never participates in public
debate with other Jewish
organizations over the ser-
iousness of hate and anti-
Semitism in our society. We
believe such debate
strengthens the very forces
we are all dedicated to
combatting. Suffice it to say
that the Center is the fastest
growing organization of its
kind in the world today. Its
growth is attributable in
part to its ability to
vigorously confront anti-
Semitism in the United
States and around the
world. No single organiza-
tion should lay claim to a
monolithic approach in de-
termining the threat of
anti-Semitism. The events of
this century show that
World Jewry’s ability to
analyse that data has been
imperfect.
Analysis: Anti-Semitism
Today
The Wiesenthal Center
considers it more accurate to
gauge fundamental attitudes
of societies and people, and
in that context we believe
that anti-Semitism has in-
deed risen, both at home and
abroad. Others measure by
the quantification of neo-
Nazi and Klan groups, and
the desecreation of build-
ings. Our approach is to in-
corporate such data, placing
special emphasis on the
proliferation of dangerous
ideas.
£ZL
Peres Invited To Rumania For 'Urgent Talks’
BY DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM [JTA] -
President Nicolae Ceausescu
of Rumania has invited to
Premier Shimon Peres to
Bucharest for “urgent
talks,” Peres informed the
Knesset’s Foreign Affairs
and Security Committee.
economic crisis remains ur-
gent. Nevertheless, he is
expected to go to Buchar-
est early next year.
The Premier said he had
replied to Ceausescu that he
wanted to go to Rumania but
could not leave Israel at this
time. Peres is anxious not to
be away as long as the
The invitation is consid-
ered of special importance
because of Ceausescu’s close
ties with several key Arab
leaders and his long stand-
ing desire that Rumania play
a significant role in the
Middle East peace process.
It is recalled here that the
Rumanian President met
separately in the fall of 1977
with President Anwar Sadat
of Egypt and Israeli Pre-
in Europe has decreased ,
Professor Yehuda Bauer,
Head of the International
Center for the Study of
anti-Semitism at the Heb-
rew University, who does
not place much credence in
the reports of pollsters, says
that “The Jewish world
seems to be avoiding its real
problem — the existence of a
wave of anti-Semitism that
engulfs the world at large
.. .” “We do face a world
anti-Semitic wave ... an
atmosphere receptive to
anti-Semetic ideology does
exist, a fact that is perhaps
more worrisome than a
planned attack would be.”
(Midstream, October 1984).
Indeed, a 1984 released
study by Dr. Hilde Weiss of
the University of Vienna,
recently reported in the
press, reveals “anti-Jewish
bias among 85 percent of the
population” in Austria. The
survey initially began in
1976, expanded in 1980, and
further supported by new
data following the Lebanese
War, found that anti-Semi-
tism has strengthened since
1980. It matters little to the
Wiesenthal Center that
these people have not yet
acquired their brushes at
the paint store to use in acts
of vandalism.
Rabbi Marvin Hier
Presidency? And how many
swastikas for those who are
adamant on Christianizing
America? And what of the
new policies of hate, physi-
cal and psychological, mani-
fested by the Soviet Union
against its Jewish citizens
and their religious beliefs?
How does one measure the
anti-Semitism expressed
openly by diplomats at the
United Nations and other
world forums? And how
many confirmed bigots have
re-registered as anti-Zion-
ists?
The Center is also worried
about the ignorant and
apathetic who are suscep-
tible to the lies of the
revisionists who daily seek
to whitewash the crimes of
the Nazi era. It is difficul-
ty to quantify such concerns.
How many swastikas do you
balance against the likes of a
Farrakhan and his support-
ers? How many against a
Jesse Jackson, who attract-
ed such tremendous Black
support in his bid for the
In every confrontation
with the forces of evil, the
Jews have always been the
first victims. Today, the
world stands poised to
attack democratic institu-
tions and their freedoms.
There are fewer democra-
cies in the 1980’s than there
were in the 1930’s, and there
is a danger that there will be
still fewer by the year 2000.
This very real threat to
the survival of democratic
ideals was clearly demon-
See Wiesenthal Center, page 28
With reference to certain
assertions that anti-Semi-
tism in North America and
mier Menachem Begin. His
intervention is believed to
have helped pave the way
for Sadat’s historic trip to
Jerusalem in November,
1977.
Peres told the Knesset
committee that he also has
an invitation to Rome and
would go there when a
propitious occasion offered.
Italy is expected to take a
more active role in the
Middle East when it as-
sumes the rotating Presi-
dency of the European Econ-
omic Community (EEC) next
m
fsa.r.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 20, 1984, newspaper, December 20, 1984; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth834880/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .