Recent Programs at the US Holocaust Museum

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual dinner in October 2004 was billed as showcasing its directions for the Museum’s second decade. The dinner did not address the elephant in the room- Arab anti-Semitism. Neither of the two main speakers were known for work in fighting anti-Semitism. The main speaker, Stan Tucci, was a movie personality whose public affairs activities revolve around abortion rights The other speaker was National Public Radio’s Scott Simon. National Public Radio is a news organization with a consistently anti-Israel bias. It is widely considered the most anti-Israel main stream broadcaster in the country. Community protests to the Museum over the inclusion of Simon who had only a few months before questioned on his program the continued need for Israel’s existence, were dismissed. Protestors were told that Simon was considered a friend of the museum because he had been helpful with their program about Rwanda. The museum has run three major programs in the last two years about African racism (in Rwanda, Sudan and Darfur), but it has run no programs or research on the call for genocide against the Jews or on the widespread Holocuast denial in Arab countries.

This dinner seemed to throw down the gauntlet that the Museum was going to continue its direction of ignoring current threats to world Jewry while taking up the cause of all other groups as its mandate.