Thursday, 4:30 PM
Anti-Defamation League rehires New England director
By Keith O'Brien, Globe Staff
The national Anti-Defamation League rehired its New England regional director today, barely a week after firing him for publicly breaking with the national leadership and acknowledging the Armenian genocide that began in 1915.
The move to rehire Andrew H. Tarsy as regional director marked the second time in a week that the human rights organization has reversed course under pressure from the Jewish and Armenian-American communities. But Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL's national director, said he did not rehire Tarsy simply to appease critics.
What mattered, Foxman said in an interview with the Globe today, was that the two men "see eye to eye." Tarsy was rehired, effective immediately, after conversations held over the last week. Both men said they are now moving forward together, rather than apart, and were happy to put their public rift behind them.
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"Andy's back," Foxman said, sitting next to Tarsy today in a waterfront office in Boston. "Andy and I talked. And after our conversation, I decided to take him back, to reinstate him. And I'm delighted he's back."
The two declined to say what exactly they had discussed leading up to today's decision. But key to the process was clearly the regional board's unanimous request that Foxman rehire Tarsy and Foxman's decision last week to acknowledge after decades of refusal the genocide of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1923.
In a statement last week, Foxman said what had happened to Armenians was "tantamount to genocide" despite his refusal to say so before. Tarsy, 38, said Foxman's decision to acknowledge that made him "proud" and helped pave the way for his return.
"The ADL has confronted the moral issue and acknowledged the genocide and I think that is something that speaks for itself," Tarsy said yesterday. "I'm ready to move on. I'm glad to be back."
