Two national anti-discrimination organizations joined together and sent a formal letter to the Secretary of Defense asking that two lay Jewish leaders in the U.S. Army be immediately fired for making excuses for the attackers of a Jewish soldier after the brutal beating left him hospitalized with serious injuries, although the full extent of his injuries are still being assessed by military medical personnel.

One leader said the Jewish soldier "played the Jew card," and implied that he brought on the beating, and continued by saying, "everyone uses the 'N' word now and then to refer to African Americans," justifying the underlying racism for the attack.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have sent a joint letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates demanding that the U.S. Army remove the two religious leaders "from their voluntary, unpaid positions as co-Jewish lay leaders at Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia." MRFF Founder and President Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein and the President of the NAACP Georgia State Conference Edward O. DuBose jointly signed the letter.

The resignations are being sought after one of the co-Jewish lay leaders, Neil Block, made discriminatory remarks after the beating of a Jewish soldier. Richard Grifenhagen apparently supported Block's actions.

The soldier is Pvt. Michael C. Handman who is stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. Last month, Handman was lured into a laundry room and, in an act of hate, beaten badly. He required emergency medical treatment. Block publicly suggested that Handman used his "minority status" as a Jew to play the "Jew card," or in other words, a "victim."

"Any young Jew who uses his minority status to play the system is villainous," said Block.

"Such atrocious, shameful and blatantly racist comments must never be allowed to go unanswered," wrote Weinstein and DuBose in the letter to the Secretary of Defense. "The U.S. Army simply must not tolerate such a hateful screed from one of its own acting under the color of 'co-Jewish lay leader' authority or any other authority."

The MRFF web site for a full copy of the letter to the Secretary of Defense is at .