Asked why the opposition of the families was so pivotal in the decision, Mr. Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, said they were entitled to their emotions.
“Survivors of the Holocaust are entitled to feelings that are irrational,” he said. Referring to the loved ones of Sept. 11 victims, he said, “Their anguish entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.”
The ADL has long since abandoned its roots as an anti-discrimination organization, and functions essentially as a group of unregistered lobbyists for the state of Israel. In world where amateur Zionists frequently equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, these are the professional race-baiters. Still, they retain the shell of their past glories in a formal commitment to oppose racism -- the shallowness of which commitment Foxman's comment makes clear. Bigotry? Irrational hatred of the other? It's OK, Foxman has given himself a free pass, because he loves the victims of Hitler so damn much, he can't help being a bigot.
And his victimhood has also granted him the special power of evaluating the suffering of others and determining their worthiness to be deputized into the fellowship of those whose racist hate and irrational prejudices are excused, if not celebrated.
One wonders if the thousands of Palestinian widows and orphans Israel has made would qualify for Foxman's all-access pass to the concert of irrational bigotry.