Challenger blasts Wexler over stance on 1915 massacre
Challenger blasts Wexler over stance on 1915 massacre
By Larry Lipman
Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
WASHINGTON — It's an issue that is splitting the Jewish community and has entered a South Florida congressional primary: How can a Jewish congressman not recognize the 1915 massacre of possibly 1.5 million Armenian civilians as genocide?
The issue was raised Tuesday, which many countries recognize as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day, by Ben Graber, a former state representative and former Broward County mayor who plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler of Delray Beach in next year's Democratic primary.
Graber, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, called Wexler an "embarrassment" to the Jewish community for opposing a resolution in the House that recognizes the deportation and killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California who is Jewish.
Wexler, who is also Jewish and is co-chairman of the Congressional Turkey Caucus, said there is debate among historians about whether the killings should be classified as genocide.
Wexler said his position is in line with those that have been adopted by most major Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Israeli government.
He said it would be unfair to describe his position or those taken by the Jewish organizations or Israel as being "deniers" of genocide.
But Graber said the record is clear. He cited reports and comments from leading figures of the time, including then-U.S. Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr., who later wrote: "When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact."
David Shneer, director of the University of Denver Center for Judaic Studies, said, "serious historians of the history of 20th-century genocide would agree that the Armenian genocide happened."
Wexler said he is strongly supports the Bush administration's efforts to convene a commission of experts, including representatives from Armenia and Turkey, to examine the historical record and seek a resolution to the issue.
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