A recent Fox News investigation found that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)'s educational and "anti-bias" programs, which influence millions of American children, educators and officials, promote far-left and critical race theory (CRT) concepts including "white privilege" and "systemic racism," and promote groups such as the Women's March and BLM – despite those organizations or their leaders' virulent Jew-hating, Israel-hating and pro-Farrakhan positions. ADL programs call denying white privilege a "biased attitude"; encourage white children to view themselves as "oppressors"; and include an article indicating that white women are "justly seen as oppressive" and "enjoy unearned skin privilege," etc.
This problem a longstanding. Six years ago, ZOA documented that multiple ADL educational lesson plans: encouraged students to join BLM protests in Ferguson (the same protests that demanded ending Israel's existence, calling Israel an apartheid genocidal state); promoted BLM while ignoring the BLM/M4BL organizations' antisemitism and antisemitic platform; and repeated numerous BLM false claims.
Distinguished JNS Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tobin pointed out that ADL's announcement, following the Fox investigation, that ADL will review its educational content "misaligned" with ADL's values was "blatantly dishonest" – because ADL's woke leftist educational materials are aligned with ADL's woke far-left values, promoted under ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Tobin noted that ADL publicly endorsed BLM and BLM's racist "equity" [inequality] agenda; defended antisemitic Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar; downplays left-wing antisemitism; hired an outreach director who calls Jews racists; and works with tech firms to promote Internet censorship.
JNS/Tobin concluded: "If the ADL is to retain even a sliver of credibility, it will require more than a pro forma "review" about "misaligned" lesson plans. It's going to need a complete overhaul and a purge of the woke leftism and one-sidedness that now permeates almost everything it says and does. The only way to begin that effort is to fire Jonathan Greenblatt. Anything less than that will be a further betrayal of the organization's responsibilities to speak up for its founding principles and mission." ("After the ADL Gets Caught Spreading Woke Ideology, Greenblatt Must Go," Sept. 7, 2022.) ZOA concurs.
We also cannot forget that, after ZOA critiqued ADL's policies, Jonathan Greenblatt physically assaulted ZOA attorney Liz Berney in 2016. A few weeks later, at a Conference of Presidents meeting, after ZOA president Morton Klein politely reminded Greenblatt that he owed Ms. Berney an apology, Greenblatt shook his clenched fist within an inch of Mr. Klein's face while screaming, "If you want Shalom Bayit [peace] in the Conference of Presidents, you must throw Klein and ZOA out of the Conference." Greenblatt threatened Mr. Klein so uncontrollably that an ADL official dragged Greenblatt out of the room. Greenblatt has still not apologized. Those outrageous incidents alone should have resulted in ADL terminating Greenblatt.
ZOA's (and others') critiques of ADL included:
- ADL sought to defund and remove the tax exemptions from three pro-Israel organizations (including prominent Christian Zionist group PTNJ).
- ADL hired an outreach director who justified anti-Israel terrorism; said Jews need to "repent for Gaza's dead"; and, after Black extremists murdered innocent Jews in Jersey City, blamed Black antisemitism on "Jewish landlords, and pawnbrokers and small merchants" and on "systemic racism" against Blacks.
- ADL condemned the Pompeo/US State Department's appropriate plans to label as antisemitic three organizations that libel Israel – Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Oxfam.
- ADL's Black History Month celebration featured an Israel-hating BDS activist.
- ADL's 2002-2018 terror attacks report misleadingly undercounted Islamist migrants' terror attacks. ADL omitted Islamist terrorist murders of Jews at the Los Angeles El Al counter and Seattle Jewish Federation [ADL claimed these murders were not Islamist terrorism]; omitted Islamist terror allegedly unconnected to specific terrorist organizations; and limited the period to omit 9/11. ADL then misleadingly claimed that plots "motivated by right-wing extremism" exceeded plots motivated by Islamist extremism.
- After Ilhan Omar tweeted, "Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.", and gave an insulting "non-apology," claiming she reacted to Israeli "oppression," Greenblatt praised Ilhan Omar, saying: "Hats off to Rep Omar for her honest apology & commitment to a more just world."
- ADL's spokesperson stated in 2021: "Anti-Israel activism in and of itself is not antisemitism," and "A BDS resolution alone would not count as antisemitism," but "might" – [might ?!] – count as antisemitism if Jewish students were excluded from debating the resolution.
- During his 2016 J Street speech, Jonathan Greenblatt called BLM, refugee and LGBT rights "the struggles of our time." Greenblatt ignored BLM's rampant anti-Israel libels and BDS promotion. Jews are being slaughtered, attacked, boycotted, and defamed. This, the "real struggle of our time" for ADL should be that Jewish lives matter.
Greenblatt's J Street speech falsely accused fellow Jews of: "exhibit[ing] Islamophobia"; denying "marginalized Palestinians" rights; and failing to recognize the legitimacy of the "Palestinian narrative" [the false narrative denying Jewish history and Israel's right to exist]; and wrongly blamed both sides for the PA's refusal to make peace.
- ADL/Greenblatt falsely condemns as "antisemitic" people who criticize George Soros' extreme activities, including sending millions of dollars to anti-Israel NGOs; and Soros' admission on 60 Minutes that he feels no guilt about helping his Nazi godfather confiscate Jewish property. Notably, Greenblatt previously worked for the Soros-funded Aspen Institute.
- ADL's 2021 "Never is Now" conference featured hostile-to-Israel speakers, who had falsely accused Israel of perpetrating "ethnic cleansing" and "daily" human rights violations; called for Biden to use "sticks" against Israeli "settlements"; and downplayed the PFLP terrorist organization's brutal meat-cleaver massacre of five innocent Jewish worshipers and a security guard in a Jerusalem synagogue, as a "lone wolf attack by two cousins." Journalist Daniel Greenfield wrote: "ADL Summit on Jew-Hatred Features Who's Who of Antisemites."
- In May 2021, while Hamas launched 4,369 rockets at Israel and Israeli-Arabs attacked their Jewish neighbors, burnt and looted Jewish homes, synagogues and cars, ADL's May 10 statement wrongly cast blame on Israelis, by accusing "extremists, including far-right Jewish nationalists" of "exacerbating tensions."
- ADL defended Tides' former Chairman and the Soros-funded Tides Foundation – which openly supports and funds leading antisemitic, anti-Israel and BDS groups, including: CAIR; AROC; JVP; Code Pink; Bend the Arc; Adalah Justice Project; Solidaire Network; IfNotNow; J Street and more.
- ADL opposed anti-BDS laws, even though anti-BDS laws are highly effective for combatting BDS. ADL actively lobbied against a federal anti-BDS law and state anti-BDS laws in Maryland, South Carolina, Illinois and New York. ZOA's legal experts and others demonstrated that anti-BDS laws are legal, and condemned ADL's opposition. ADL's current BDS position statements say nothing about anti-BDS laws.
- ADL opposed Israel's anti-BDS law banning BDS activists from entering Israel, which was upheld by Israel's courts. Furthermore, in 2018, ADL said that Israel should allow antisemitic boycott activist, SJP-BDS hate group president and terrorism supporter Lara Alqasem to enter Israel.
- In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ADL/Greenblatt falsely accused pro-Israel Mike Pompeo (and associated pro-Israel groups) of Islamophobia, to try to block Pompeo's Secretary of State confirmation. ZOA wrote to the Senate committee, countering ADL's false "Islamophobia" claims. JNS' Tobin also explained that ADL's indictment of Pompeo as an anti-Muslim bigot was false, hypocritical, politically-motivated and a disgrace; and noted that ADL echoed the same attack on Pompeo made by Hamas-affiliated CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations). Commentary also condemned ADL's partisan smear against Pompeo.
- In September 2020, ADL co-signed a full-page New York Times advertisement promoting the antisemitic Israel-bashing BLM. ADL signed just four months after BLM burned, defaced and looted Los Angeles Jewish synagogues, schools and businesses; and despite BLM/M4BL falsely accusing Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing, training US police to murder Blacks, etc.
- ADL repeatedly co-signed joint letters with extreme Israel-hating groups, including 29 joint letters (opposing events sponsored by a pro-Israel group) co-signed with: MPAC [which called Israelis "the worst terrorists in the world," defends Hezbollah, and said Israel should not exist and should be suspected of perpetrating 9/11]; four JVP groups; CAIR; the Islamic Society of North America (named unindicted conspirators involved in funneling money to Hamas); Iranian regime arm NIAC; Bend the Arc; and BDS promoters AFSC and PC(USA).
- Greenblatt attacked Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for calling out the Palestinian Authority's ethnic cleansing of Jews. Jonathan Tobin explained ("The ADL Takes Sides Against Israel") that Greenblatt's attack ignored history and the Palestinian Authority's and Hamas' statements about ridding the country of Jews, and anti-Jewish incitement "in Palestinian media, schools and popular culture."
- ADL focuses on white supremacy, often while ignoring and downplaying Islamist and Black supremacist terrorism. ADL's 2019 "Antisemitism Summit" announcement stated it would focus on "extremism, white supremacy, cyber hate, campus activism and free speech" – but didn't mention Islamic antisemitism, despite Imams in certain US mosques calling for killing Jews; Islamist attacks targeting Jews including outside a US synagogue; Muslim plots to blow up American synagogues; etc.
- Greenblatt falsely praised antisemitic Congressman Keith Ellison as an "important ally in the fight against antisemitism" and "on record in support of Israel" when Ellison ran for DNC Chair – despite Ellison's long record of: Israel-bashing; antisemitism; attempting to insert anti-Israel planks and remove pro-Israel planks from the Democratic platform; blaming [non-existent] Israeli "occupation" for inadequate electricity in Gaza [actually due to Hamas diverting electricity to Hamas terror tunnels and operations]; voting against Iron Dome funding; speaking at and receiving contributions and travel from Muslim Brotherhood affiliates; and decade as spokesperson for Farrakhan's Nation of Islam.
Thus, ADL needs a complete overhaul, starting with Greenblatt's removal.
Morton A. Klein is the National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Liz Berney, Esq. is ZOA's Director of Research and Special Projects. An even more detailed version of this article is on ZOA's website.
