To the editor

As Jews (in fact, rabbis) who are also proud and committed Zionists, we were shocked and dismayed to read the inaccurate and indefensible comments about the Armenian genocide in the editorial “Crybabies” by Stephen Kramer (Jewish Times, November 27).

There is no need or reason to engage in the denial of the genocide of another people in order to affirm the significance and the primacy of the Shoah. Mr. Kramer’s statement that there is no consensus on whether there was an Armenian genocide is simply wrong.

Genocide scholars are in virtually unanimous agreement that the events of 1915 and the years following were a genocide. In a letter to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, the past presidents of the International Association of Genocide Scholars reiterated the position they stated in an open letter in June of 2005 that outside of the Turkish government, “there is no doubt about the facts of the Armenian Genocide,” and “our concern is that your demand for a historical commission is political sleight of hand designed to deny those facts.”

That group of respected academics includes Israel Charny of Hebrew University, executive director of the Institute on Holocaust and Genocide (co-founded by Elie Wiesel).

That the Armenian government is willing to set aside the issue in favor of political expediency has outraged many Armenians, including those of the Armenian Diaspora, and does not support the unsupportable claim that what happened in Armenia was not a genocide.

Precisely because of our experience, Jews and Jewish groups need to be fighting genocide denial, not engaging in it as a way of validating the tragedies of our own history.
Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe
Temple Isaiah, Lexington, Massachusetts
Rabbi Elaine Zecher
Rabbi Ronne Friedman
Temple Israel, Boston, Massachusetts