Arnold Forster (ADL)
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Arnold Forster (1912–2010) was a prominent Anti-Defamation League attorney.


Personal life

Forster was born on June 25, 1912, in Brooklyn as Arnold Fastenberg. Forster attended college and law school at St. John's University. At law school, Forster participated in a local play at the
Provincetown Playhouse The Provincetown Playhouse is a historic theatre at 133 MacDougal Street between West 3rd and 4th streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is named for the Provincetown Players, who converted the forme ...
, and the director suggested he change his name to Forster from its original Fastenberg. Forster married May Kasner in 1940. She died in 2005. They lived in
New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...
. The Forsters had a son, Stuart who died in 1991. As of 2010, Forster was survived by his daughter and four grandchildren. He died in Brooklyn in 2010 at age 97.


Career

Forster developed a volunteer, pro bono legal team for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in 1938. He formally joined the ADL in 1940, constructing the organization's legal department and civil rights program with his title as associate national directory. He was appointed general counsel in January 1946, maintaining the role through 2003. In 1965 Forster hired Abe Foxman as an ADL legal assistant. Foxman would later become the ADL's director. Forster retired from the ADL in 1979 and moved to private practice, working with the law firms Shea & Gould and Baer Marks & Upham. He maintained an office at the ADL at least as late as 1988. At the time he joined in 1940, Forster concentrated his ADL activities on opposing pro-Nazi organizations. Forster pioneered the ADL's Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, starting the project in 1947 as an annual audit of religious prejudice. Harry Wall, director of the ADL's Jerusalem office, says that Forster was among the earliest Jewish leaders to campaign for Israel and to warn about a rise in anti-Zionism, which Forster considered a form of antisemitism. Wall says Forster was instrumental in developing the opposition to the Arab boycott of Israel and pushing the subsequent legislation making the boycott illegal. Wall says Forster frequently visited Israel and his Labor Party leadership contacts,
Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...
,
Abba Eban Abba Solomon Meir Eban (; ; born Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; 2 February 1915 – 17 November 2002) was a History of the Jews in South Africa, South African-born Israeli diplomat and politician, and a scholar of the Arabic and Hebrew languages. D ...
and
Teddy Kollek Theodor "Teddy" Kollek (; 27 May 1911 – 2 January 2007) was an Israeli politician who served as the mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation. Kollek was re-elected five times, in 1969, 1973, 1978 Jerusalem ...
, and that Forster continued aggressive Israel advocacy and outreach after the rise of the
Likud Likud (, ), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement (), is a major Right-wing politics, right-wing, political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing par ...
party in 1977. Wall says Forster was a factor in the development of an ADL headquarters in Jerusalem in 1977 and an early proponent of '' hasbara'', PR for Israel. Wall says that, Forster continued practicing law after his retirement from the ADL, for instance representing
Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...
in his successful 1983 libel suit against ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine.


Creative works

* Forster co-authored the 1952 book ''The Troublemakers: An Anti-defamation League Report'' with Benjamin Epstein. ''The New York Times'' R. L. Duffus was highly critical of the book's overall argument, saying that it "does not succeed in answering the basic question" of why prejudice exists. Though the book succeeds in describing many examples of white supremacist extremism and stupidity, Duffus says, it becomes highly repetitive in these examples without providing analysis or explanation. * In 1961, Forster released ''Dateline Israel'', a series of radio reports that covered the 1960 capture of Nazi war criminal
Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...
and the subsequent trial in Israel. At the time, the ADL was concerned that the nature of Eichmann's abduction and the nature of his trial might lead to condemnations of Israel. * Forster co-authored the 1962 book ''Some of My Best Friends...'' with Benjamin Epstein. * Forster co-authored the 1974 book ''The New Anti-Semitism'' with Benjamin Epstein. The book argued that
left-wing antisemitism New antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, typically manifesting itself as anti-Zionism. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism, such as the working d ...
was emerging. * Forster publish his memoir ''Square One'' in 1988. ''New York Times'' journalist Marcy Oster described the book as "weak on explaining the reasons for the continued existence of anti-Semitism" but "an earnest chronicle of the useful life of a dedicated man".


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Arnold 2010 deaths 1912 births Anti-Defamation League members