Fight against hate is ongoing, but winnable, says ADL head

Despite the resiliency of anti-Semites, the Anti-Defamation League's Abraham Foxman remains optimistic that good will triumph over evil.

"I think there are more good people out there than evil, hurtful people," said Foxman, while visiting the Central Pacific Region of the ADL in San Francisco on Monday. "Love and kindness will triumph over the bigots."

His words do not come from naiveté. From surviving the Holocaust as a child to attaining his current position as ADL national director in New York, Foxman has spent his lifetime fighting the hatred aimed at Jews.

Though he admits there is no antidote to bigotry, he vows to continue the struggle against it. "I don't think we have the luxury not to," he said. "We must stand up courageously" in the face of hate and the ignorance that causes it."

Following the tragedy of Sept. 11, many agencies found themselves redefining their missions. Not so for the ADL, said Foxman.

Whether fighting the surge of stereotyping against the Arab-American and Jewish communities, aiding in the search for terrorist groups here and abroad, or defending and supporting Israel, "the overwhelming majority of things we're doing are right on target."

Still, for Foxman, Sept. 11 was like a nightmare come true. His fear that something catastrophic would take place and that the Jews would be blamed was legitimized when various groups latched onto the tragedy as a way to promote their anti-Semitic agenda.

Foxman is certain, however, that the American people will reject the allegations of culpability aimed at Israel and the Jews, and that hatemongers will not prevail.

"Just as they rejected it during World War II...and the Gulf War, so will they reject the anti-Semitism now."

In fact, the Americans' run-in with extremists has given them, if anything, greater empathy and understanding for Israelis and Jews, because "the frustrations of what Israel has lived with," in terms of terrorism, "is no longer an abstract."