"Expediency" tends to be a dirty word in the human rights field. Search the word on the Anti-Defamation League's Web site, and you find a long list of unkind references to individuals and groups that ADL has lambasted for putting their political and diplomatic considerations ahead of doing the right thing.

For weeks the ADL had been on the receiving end of similar criticism for refusing to use the word "genocide" to describe the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman empire and for opposing a proposed congressional resolution that would do so. When the ADL fired its Boston-area regional director for denouncing the ADL's stance, the pressure built on the organization from its regional leadership and outside Jewish observers.

On Tuesday, the ADL relented — after a fashion. In a dramatic news release, ADL national director Abraham Foxman said the organization, in the interest of Jewish unity, would acknowledge the historic consensus that Armenians suffered genocide. At the same time, he reiterated the ADL's opposition to the congressional resolution, calling it a "counterproductive diversion" that may put at risk "the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel, and the United States."

The ADL was faced with an unenviable balancing act, between its historic commitment to universal human rights and its advocacy for Israel, which has long nurtured its relationship with Turkey and their vital strategic and economic agreements. In the past, Foxman made the compelling case that what was a symbolic gesture for Armenians might have concrete negative repercussions for Israelis.

But if our premier human rights agency is unable to extend the lessons of the Holocaust in the matter of acknowledging historic consensus, then expediency wins over the truth. The ADL statement allows the Jewish group to debate the congressional resolution as a political and diplomatic measure, without distorting the historical record.

Pressure will now build on other Jewish groups to acknowledge the genocide and extend their hands to Turkey in a way that suggests that friendships must be built on truth and an ability to disagree. We pray the Turks reach back.