Rabbis Across Europe Call Upon The Armenian Government To Stop Using The Phrase Genocide
As tensions between the ADL and Elon Musk reach their apotheosis, the underlying subject of Jewish-led organizations and their influence on political discourse has arisen in an untimely coalescence with the ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the region of Artsakh. In the wake of several watchdog organizations including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention accusing the Azerbaijan regime of committing genocide of some 120,000 Armenian Christians living in Nagorno-Karaback, the Rabbinical Center of Europe has called upon Armenia's president and prime minister to refrain from using language it deems only appropriate in reference to the Holocaust to characterize the ongoing persecution of the Armenian people.
The Rabbinical Center of Europe, a Brussels-based organization aimed at galvanizing over 800 rabbis and Jewish communities in the European continent organized the directive. A letter was signed by 50 leading rabbis from 20 countries including, France, England, Germany, Austria, Italy, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Gibraltar, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, and Ukraine condemning the Armenian government for it's language. The letter's calls to chastise the Armenian government for its lexicon begin by stating:
“As rabbis serving the Jewish communities across the European continent, we are writing to you following interviews given by senior Armenian government officials in the international media on the matters related to the political conflict with the government of Azerbaijan in which usage was made of horrifying expressions only suitable for the intentional, systematic and largest genocide in the history of humanity which was suffered by the Jewish people. The Holocaust."
Terms that those rabbis deemed exclusivity over included the words ghetto, genocide, and holocaust. After demanding Armenian officials refrain from the usage of the aforementioned terms, the letters takes a tone that trivializes the plight of the Armenian people. In doing so, the Rabbinical Center of Europe makes the unnecessary comparison between the ethnic persecution of Armenians in Artsakh and that of Jews during Holocaust under the Third Reich, which the association of Rabbis deems "the largest tragedy ever experienced by a single group."
The Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) sends letter to Armenia’s leadership, demanding the Armenian people “immediately and utterly stop” use of the term genocide when referring to Azerbaijan’s nearly 9-month long blockade of Artsakh.
— 301🇦🇲 (@301arm) September 7, 2023
Furthermore, the RCE’s letter blatantly… pic.twitter.com/AQVyE1mJ0H
Following that designation, the letter accuses Armenian officials of belittling the suffering of the Jewish people to advance its cause in Artsakh. The letter then then goes on to dictate a political directive to the Armenian government by demanding it make explicit recognition of the history of suffering against the Jewish people and apologize for using the concept of genocide for its own political agenda. That political tenor reached its climax with the condemnation of the Armenian government for its "collaboration" with the Islamic Public of Iran in the interest of defending its own people from genocide.
The optics of the letter penned by leading rabbis across Europe come at a time where they risk furthering the very negative perception of world Jewry that has recently been decried against Elon Musk and advocates advancing this criticism of the ADL under the leadership of CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt. The war of words waged on X and across various legacy media outlets has reached its tipping point with Musk's declaration of exploring a potential civil lawsuit against the ADL for revenue the site has lost since its change in ownership and the reactionary response made to advertisers by the organization under Greenblatt. While Musk has stated that the ADL's campaign against X has cost it about 60% of its advertising revenue across the Americas, Europe, and Australia, Greenblatt contends that the claims are too frivolous to justify a legitimate lawsuit.
While no exchange has yet to arise in a court of law, the watershed moment between the ADL and its critics may first be fought in the court of public opinion. As shots are fired in the first battles of that culture war, the recent diplomatic exchange between the Rabbinical Center of Europe and the Armenian government may serve as a litmus test for how seriously public perception of organizations politicizing Jewish interests has changed. With the ADL, AIPAC, and countless other Jewish-led NGOs having operated under the radar despite their tremendous influence in the spheres of business and government, the spotlight the ADL has been thrust into may ultimately undermine their collective interests, invaluably damaging their cause more than any monetary award given to Elon Musk ever could.
