Jerusalem, September 21, 2004...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is distressed by the continued issuance of statements by some settler activists that are provocative and threatening. The recent statements by Nadia Matar, the leader of the group Women in Green, in which she likened the official in charge of implementing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement plan" to a Nazi collaborator, were particularly distressing and intolerable.

In a letter to the head of the disengagement administration responsible for evacuating settlements, Ms. Matar wrote, "The truth is that you are a modern version of the Judenrat."

ADL's Israel Office issued the following statement:

Leaders and opinion makers must understand that evoking Nazi imagery is offensive, demeaning to victims of the Holocaust and is an unacceptable and inexcusable perversion of history. The usage of such symbolism and language is inciteful and can serve to legitimize violence toward anyone who is called upon to lawfully implement the policies of the government.

While it is not surprising nor illegitimate that strongly held views in opposition to the disengagement plan have and will continue to be expressed, ADL calls upon all responsible religious and civic leaders of the settlement movement to communicate forcefully with their supporters about the wide-ranging damage such words and images impart on their own movement, Israel and the Jewish people.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.