ADL calls on Rabbi Lau to block Effi Eitam as Yad Vashem chair
Eitam’s nomination has however generated strong opposition owing to highly controversial comments about Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
By JEREMY SHARONEffi Eitam, seen at the Jerusalem Supreme Court during a hearing on oil searching in the Golan Heights, on December 23, 2014.(photo credit: FLASH90)
The Anti-Defamation League has called on former chief rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau to intervene in order to halt the appointment of former IDF general and far Right politician Effi Eitam as the new chairman of Yad Vashem.Higher and Secondary Education and Water Resources Minister Ze’ev Elkin has nominated Eitam to take over the chairmanship of Yad Vashem and Netanyahu has supported this nomination.Eitam’s nomination has however generated strong opposition owing to highly controversial comments Eitam, a former cabinet minister and MK, has made about Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.In 2006, at a memorial event for a soldier killed in the First Lebanon War, Eitam said that Israel would need to “expel the large majority of Arabs of Judea and Samaria [things are] impossible with all these Arabs here and we cannot give up on the territory.”At the same event, Eitam said Israeli Arabs need to be “removed” from the Israeli political system,” describing the Israeli Arabs as “a fifth column,” and that “we cannot continue to allow such a large and hostile presence within the Israeli political system.Eitam’s critics have also noted that investigations in the IDF that found that he had ordered the beating of Palestinian rioters, bragged about it and was scolded by the IDF chief of staff. They said alleged abuses of human rights made him unfit for such a sensitive post.On Tuesday, head of the ADL in Israel Carole Nuriel called on Lau, who serves as chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, to intervene and halt the appointment due to Eitam’s extremist comments.“His problematic ethical record echoes amongst organizations and individuals who have sought to perpetuate the lessons of the Holocaust, including Yad Vashem and the ADL,” wrote Nuriel.“We feel the need to express our concern towards the appointment of Eitam, and to request from you to use your status and leadership to cancel his candidacy and find a more suitable candidate for the position,” she continued.Eitam did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
