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Jews Blast Editor Calling for Obama's Murder
Date: Monday, January 23, 2012, 6:18 am
By: F. Finley McRae, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
Scores of rattled Jewish leaders have condemned Andrew Adler, the Atlanta newspaper columnist who suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu consider ordering a hit squad to assassinate President Barack Obama.
Adler's column is in sharp contrast to the spectrum of articles produced over time by the nation's highly diverse political writers. Many observers believe it is the first such column to broach, much less even suggest, that a head of state contemplate ordering the assassination of the president of the United States.
It ranks above the photo emailed last fall by the Loudon County, Virginia Republican Committee, depicting half of President Obama's skull blown off and the tweet sent by the president of the Young Republicans of the University of Texas, Austin. In it, she said, "I know its hard, but try not to assassinate Obama, y'all."
Among the leaders taking Adler to task were Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wisenthal Center in Los Angeles, and Dov Wilker, director of the Atllanta office of American Jewish Commitee.
The reverberations from Adler's column, titled "What Would You Do," went viral Friday and traveled around the globe. In Israel, the reverberations prompted denunciations posted by two leading newspapers, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.
While the leaders expressed disgust and dismay over the column, the extent of its damage, if any, to black-Jewish relations, has yet to be disected or ascertained.
"There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, no rationalization, for this kind of rhetoric," Foxman said. "It doesn't even belong in fiction. These are irresponsible and extremist words. It is outrageous and beyond the pale. An apology couldn't possibly repair the damage. Irresponsible rhetoric metastasizes into more dangerous rhetoric."
The ideas expressed in Adler's column, Foxman said, "reflect some of the extremist rhetoric that unfortunately exists - even in some segments of our community - that maliciously labels President Obama as 'an enemy of the Jewish people.' Mr. Adler's lack of judgement as a publisher, editor and columnist raises serious questions as to whether he's fit to run a newspaper."
Wilker, the Atlanta AJC director, said he wondered how Adler "could even conceive such a twisted idea." He further said "Adler surely owes immediate apologies to President Obama, as well as the state of Israel and his readership, the Atlanta Jewish community."
BlackAmericaWeb.com, without success, attempted to reach major African-American political and religious leaderships for comment. Calls were placed to The Leadership conference on Civil Rights, the national office of the NAACP and several influential black ministers in New York and Atlanta.
Additional calls were placed to the Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, vice president of the National Action Network and the Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tyler Guidry, presiding bishop, the Eighth Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church. Guidry chairs the denomination's Social Action Commission.
Also called for comment were the Georgia Democratic Party and the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the nation's most vigilant monitors of hate crime and hate speech.
Adler, the publisher and editor of the Atlanta Jewish Times, in his Jan. 13 column offered three scenarios around which Netanyahu might order President Obama's assassination. Although Adler has apologized, the fallout over his column, albeit unmeasured, continues to draw attention.
In his column, which was exposed by Gawker.com, Adler listed three options for Netanyahu to "counter Iran's nuclear weapons," which it has not yet acquired, according to virtually all respected observers. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah. The second is to attack Irans's nuclear facilties," where nuclear weapons are allegedly being created. Adler's third option is to "give the go-ahead for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel, in order for the current vice-president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States' policy (must) include helping the Jewish State obliterate its enemies."
And, apparently to ensure that his intent would not be misunderstood, Adler said, "yes, you read correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence? Think about it. If I have thought about this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?"
Anthony Samad, a nationally respected syndicated columnist and author, was not impressed by the disgust expressed by the Jewish leaders.
"What Jewish opinion leaders say doesn't matter; what does matter is that we never seem to have the leadership to defend African-American interests, political or economic. If a black opinion leader had suggested considering whether Benyamin Netanyahu should be assassinated, the Anti-Defamation League would have demanded that person's censure or firing."
Samad said that he, "as an opinion leader, can write about any and everything, but I've never written a column suggesting that a head of state should be assassinated. My publishers wouldn't print that."
Adler's column, Samad said, "is just another example of the extremism waved at Barack Obama, who's been able to stabilize the relationship between the United States and the Arab world. Even the Bush adminstration moved to the middle and demanded that Israel negotiate Palestinian statehood, but nobody called for George W. Bush's assassination."
Very few leaders, Samad lamented, "rise up in protest when you take liberties with African-Americans that aren't taken with anybody else - and the president is no exception - because hardly anybody really cares about what you say about black people."
The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Phelps, interim senior minister of New York City's influential Riverside Church, took another tack when reached for comment by BlackAmericaWeb.com late Sunday evening.
"Persons of small minds sometimes say extremely damaging things," he said. "I would be very careful about putting all of our very important resources into worrying about this man (Adler). I think he should be shunned, but I don't think we should become too involved in his very outrageous statements."
Date: Monday, January 23, 2012, 6:18 am
By: F. Finley McRae, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com
Scores of rattled Jewish leaders have condemned Andrew Adler, the Atlanta newspaper columnist who suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu consider ordering a hit squad to assassinate President Barack Obama.
Adler's column is in sharp contrast to the spectrum of articles produced over time by the nation's highly diverse political writers. Many observers believe it is the first such column to broach, much less even suggest, that a head of state contemplate ordering the assassination of the president of the United States.
It ranks above the photo emailed last fall by the Loudon County, Virginia Republican Committee, depicting half of President Obama's skull blown off and the tweet sent by the president of the Young Republicans of the University of Texas, Austin. In it, she said, "I know its hard, but try not to assassinate Obama, y'all."
Among the leaders taking Adler to task were Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wisenthal Center in Los Angeles, and Dov Wilker, director of the Atllanta office of American Jewish Commitee.
The reverberations from Adler's column, titled "What Would You Do," went viral Friday and traveled around the globe. In Israel, the reverberations prompted denunciations posted by two leading newspapers, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz.
While the leaders expressed disgust and dismay over the column, the extent of its damage, if any, to black-Jewish relations, has yet to be disected or ascertained.
"There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, no rationalization, for this kind of rhetoric," Foxman said. "It doesn't even belong in fiction. These are irresponsible and extremist words. It is outrageous and beyond the pale. An apology couldn't possibly repair the damage. Irresponsible rhetoric metastasizes into more dangerous rhetoric."
The ideas expressed in Adler's column, Foxman said, "reflect some of the extremist rhetoric that unfortunately exists - even in some segments of our community - that maliciously labels President Obama as 'an enemy of the Jewish people.' Mr. Adler's lack of judgement as a publisher, editor and columnist raises serious questions as to whether he's fit to run a newspaper."
Wilker, the Atlanta AJC director, said he wondered how Adler "could even conceive such a twisted idea." He further said "Adler surely owes immediate apologies to President Obama, as well as the state of Israel and his readership, the Atlanta Jewish community."
BlackAmericaWeb.com, without success, attempted to reach major African-American political and religious leaderships for comment. Calls were placed to The Leadership conference on Civil Rights, the national office of the NAACP and several influential black ministers in New York and Atlanta.
Additional calls were placed to the Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, vice president of the National Action Network and the Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tyler Guidry, presiding bishop, the Eighth Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church. Guidry chairs the denomination's Social Action Commission.
Also called for comment were the Georgia Democratic Party and the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the nation's most vigilant monitors of hate crime and hate speech.
Adler, the publisher and editor of the Atlanta Jewish Times, in his Jan. 13 column offered three scenarios around which Netanyahu might order President Obama's assassination. Although Adler has apologized, the fallout over his column, albeit unmeasured, continues to draw attention.
In his column, which was exposed by Gawker.com, Adler listed three options for Netanyahu to "counter Iran's nuclear weapons," which it has not yet acquired, according to virtually all respected observers. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah. The second is to attack Irans's nuclear facilties," where nuclear weapons are allegedly being created. Adler's third option is to "give the go-ahead for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel, in order for the current vice-president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States' policy (must) include helping the Jewish State obliterate its enemies."
And, apparently to ensure that his intent would not be misunderstood, Adler said, "yes, you read correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence? Think about it. If I have thought about this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?"
Anthony Samad, a nationally respected syndicated columnist and author, was not impressed by the disgust expressed by the Jewish leaders.
"What Jewish opinion leaders say doesn't matter; what does matter is that we never seem to have the leadership to defend African-American interests, political or economic. If a black opinion leader had suggested considering whether Benyamin Netanyahu should be assassinated, the Anti-Defamation League would have demanded that person's censure or firing."
Samad said that he, "as an opinion leader, can write about any and everything, but I've never written a column suggesting that a head of state should be assassinated. My publishers wouldn't print that."
Adler's column, Samad said, "is just another example of the extremism waved at Barack Obama, who's been able to stabilize the relationship between the United States and the Arab world. Even the Bush adminstration moved to the middle and demanded that Israel negotiate Palestinian statehood, but nobody called for George W. Bush's assassination."
Very few leaders, Samad lamented, "rise up in protest when you take liberties with African-Americans that aren't taken with anybody else - and the president is no exception - because hardly anybody really cares about what you say about black people."
The Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Phelps, interim senior minister of New York City's influential Riverside Church, took another tack when reached for comment by BlackAmericaWeb.com late Sunday evening.
"Persons of small minds sometimes say extremely damaging things," he said. "I would be very careful about putting all of our very important resources into worrying about this man (Adler). I think he should be shunned, but I don't think we should become too involved in his very outrageous statements."
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