FACT: ADL deliberately avoids partisanship. ADL calls out antisemitism on both the left and the right. We are principled and nonpartisan, and we will not be daunted by those who seek to criticize us or attempt to portray us as being tainted by politics.

As a registered 501c3 nonprofit organization, ADL never endorses candidates for office. We call out candidates and politicians from both sides of the aisle when their actions or rhetoric veers into extremism, antisemitism or anti-Zionism – from the left or the right.

FACT: For more than 100 years, ADL has kept true to its mission to “fight the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Being in the business of fighting hate means that there will always be critics who direct hate back on us or toward other marginalized groups. In a political culture that increasingly attacks personalities and not policies, Jonathan Greenblatt is frequently criticized in this manner.

Prior to ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt spent most of his career in business, not in government. He worked on innovation policy in the Obama Administration, which was a non-political position, and he is not a personal associate of the former President.

Since taking the helm at ADL, he has differed with the Democratic and Republican administrations on critical issues. Jonathan Greenblatt and ADL speak to policies and not personalities.

FACT: At ADL, we call out antisemitism regardless of the source. This is as true for presidents and members of Congress, as it is true for local school boards and mayors.

In 2019, ADL called out U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar for a series of remarks that played on longstanding and harmful antisemitic tropes, such as Jewish financial control of the U.S. government and accusations of dual loyalty. We condemned those publicly and in private conversations with her office. ADL also publicly defended her against vile anti-Muslim slurs. We can both call her out for antisemitism and stand against Islamophobic attacks targeting her.

ADL places principles over politics. Whether it’s urging Congress to censure white nationalist Rep. Steve King, to strip conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of her Congressional committee assignments, or calling for the impeachment of Trump for fueling an insurrection on Jan. 6 with election falsehoods, we remain consistent with our values.

FACT: ADL is among the most vocal groups in calling out anti-Zionists, anti-Israel officials and anti-Israel rhetoric and we publish on it extensively. ADL has repeatedly warned about antisemitism from the left; recent examples include in The Washington Post , Newsweek, TIME, and in Jonathan Greenblatt’s the 2022 National Leadership Summit speech and 2021’s ‘Never is Now’ speech.

FACT: The claim that ADL supports antisemites and racists runs counter to the core of our work. To the contrary, we are the leading organization tracking, reporting on and exposing extremists. In the United States over the past 10 years, the threat from violent extremism, as we have shown, is overwhelmingly from rightwing extremists and in particular white supremacists. Antisemitism, as well as racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny, are integrally intertwined in the virulently racist ideologies of these extremists. ADL is on the forefront of exposing extremist rhetoric as well as extremist candidates running for office.

ADL has published reports detailing that the leaked membership list for the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government extremist group, included hundreds of elected officials, law enforcement officers, members of the military and first responders, thus educating the American public about the reach of extremism within their own communities.

ADL joined as co-counsel in filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of the District of Columbia to hold two violent groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, and their leaders and key members accountable for the role they played in planning and carrying out the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

And as part of its work fighting antisemitism, ADL recently created a groundbreaking  research arm that deepens understanding of the world’s oldest hatred through a combination of scholarly investigation and empirical research. In addition to this, ADL funds fellowships to bring some of the world’s leading experts in the field to work alongside the organization in combating and researching antisemitism.

FACT: This is false. ADL produces research documenting the challenge of antisemitic and extremist content across social media and demonstrating how major platforms are failing to adequately protect targets.

While speech – including hate speech – is largely protected from government regulation, private platforms are not obligated to tolerate hate speech and are well within their right to implement policies that prohibit such activities.

FACT: We speak out against all forms of antisemitism and hate especially when propagated by some of the most high-profile people in the world when they parrot tropes of antisemitic canards of Jewish control of Hollywood and the media. For example, ADL has recently been vocal concerning Kanye West for his toxic and antisemitic behavior, Kyrie Irving for tweeting information on a controversial and antisemitic documentary. and Donald Trump for dining with a notorious white supremacist. We speak out when we have a reason to do so.

The idea that we only call people out or label them antisemitic, and not actually attempt to educate people, is wrong. If you take one look at our website, you will see the countless educational resources that help contextualize things. ADL provides multiple educational resources including Table Talks for parents and educators on real-life incidents; Antisemitism Uncovered, our recent guide to identifying and understanding how age-old antisemitic myths manifest in today’s world; and countless other research & reports in addition to tools and other resources to educate about and fight against hate.
 

FACT: ADL does not teach Critical Race Theory. After a Fox News story was published about ADL’s education materials, the organization launched a thorough review of all our offerings to ensure they are still meeting the mark and in line with our historic mission to fight antisemitism and hate.

That said, we are proud we have helped millions of children across America learn to challenge bias, discrimination and hate against all people. ADL has not and will not waver from our long-standing support for marginalized communities, and we strongly believe that students should continue to grapple with difficult subjects, such as anti-Black racism, or the Holocaust and its legacy.

FACT: In the incident at Bloomfield High School in Michigan, Huwaida Araf, a Palestinian lawyer and former candidate for Congress, used a “No Place For Hate” Assembly (a self-directed program in which schools pursue their own activities) as an opportunity to espouse anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric.

The speaker chose to go off topic, ignoring the clear prompt she was provided.   Moreover, no supervising teacher or administrator intervened. 

The school invited this incredibly divisive speaker without ADL input for this assembly. Had ADL been consulted, we would have pushed back strongly against her inclusion in this event and educated organizers how anti-Zionism equates to antisemitism. ADL is a staunchly pro-Israel organization.

ADL Michigan raised the alarm here, led the charge to have the district fully acknowledge its error and made it clear to all concerned that the choice of this speaker was outrageous. 

ADL has held thousands of programs without incident.  This problem highlights the need for increased vigilance, but it is also an exception that show that the programs work well.  

FACT: ADL works every single day on issues of concern to marginalized communities. This work takes place in direct coordination with the leaders of mainstream civil rights organizations for these communities. For ADL’s entire history we have supported other justice movements and marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. It’s outrageous to claim that we do not.

One clear example is our trailblazing work on hate crimes, including our partnership with the NAACP and Georgia Equality that was critical to securing the passage of a new hate crime law in Georgia recently in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks. ADL is often the first organization to speak out when hate crimes affect Muslim, Black, Hispanic, Asian, immigrant, and other minority communities and people of color.

FACT: ADL proudly stands in solidarity with the Black community and deeply believes that Black lives matter. ADL also holds individuals and organizations accountable for espousing antisemitism, including within the Black Lives Matter movement, especially M4BL.

FACT: As an organization that has historically fought for fair admissions policies for Jewish students – and forcefully objected to the use of anti-Jewish quotas at institutions of higher learning in the 1920s and 1930s – ADL has an important perspective on affirmative action and its use in schools today.

When the Supreme Court took up the question of whether universities may consider race as a factor in college admissions, ADL thoroughly reviewed the facts and filed an amicus brief, as we have done many times in the past, to make our position clear to the Court and the American public.

We noted that decades ago, Harvard intentionally discriminated against Jewish applicants by design and through quotas. The ceiling on Jewish enrollment that Harvard implemented, effectively an anti-Jewish quota, remained in place for decades. 

It's also important to note that the leading Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) advocacy groups came out on the same side as ADL in supporting Harvard. Asian Americans continue to be underrepresented in higher education and in American society at large. It’s also true that Asian Americans, like other racial and ethnic minorities, actually benefit from affirmative action.

When a university has completely reversed course, rejected anti-Jewish quotas that tarnished its reputation for many years, and implemented a policy that is fair and legally sound, it is appropriate for ADL both to note that offensive history and also to welcome the transformation.

FACT: This is patently false and contrary to our mission. We have been outspoken in our defense of civil rights for American Muslims for decades and the record is clear. For example, after the 9/11 terror attacks, ADL took out a full page ad in the New York Times with a message, “Let’s not fight hatred with hatred,” calling for Americans to come together in the aftermath of hate and not seek to scapegoat Muslims, Sikhs or other minority groups.

And when there was talk of creating a public registry of Muslims during the 2016 presidential campaign, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, spoke out forcefully, declaring that, “The day they create a Muslim registry is the day I register as a Muslim.”

ADL has filed amicus briefs in numerous civil rights cases on behalf of Muslim communities, including opposing the Muslim Ban. And we share our expertise on anti-Muslim extremists and on protecting religious institutions with local mosques in our regions to help protect them from threats.

Prominent Muslim organizations partner with ADL on legislative advocacy such as calling for the enactment of and strengthening of hate crime laws, and better training for law enforcement on combating and recording hate crimes.

FACT: ADL has been critical of both Palestinian and Israeli policies at times, including speaking out about the inclusion of extremists in Israeli coalition government, opposing efforts by the Israeli government to annex areas of the West Bank and joining in coalition with other American Jewish organizations to urge the Israeli government to build consensus regarding any judicial reform.

FACT: ADL supports the Jewish and democratic state of Israel. ADL is a strong advocate of a mutually negotiated two-state solution, because a Jewish state alongside an independent Palestinian state will provide security and dignity to both peoples.
 

FACT: As the leading organization fighting antisemitism, ADL educates about criticisms of Israel that use age-old antisemitic stereotypes and tropes. ADL has worked to combat one-sided, biased, and at times, antisemitic, approaches to the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has exposed campaigns aimed at delegitimizing, and ultimately seeking to destroy the Jewish state.

For example, the founding goals of the BDS movement, including denying the Jewish people the universal right of self-determination, along with some of the tactics and rhetoric employed in BDS campaigns, are antisemitic. Some of the founders of BDS have also been clear in their goal of using BDS to help eliminate the state of Israel.

While ADL does not necessarily consider all BDS supporters to be antisemitic, we certainly believe that anti-Zionists are antisemitic and that BDS is usually in support of anti-Zionist ends.  We believe it important to expose distortions when they occur and groups that promote them, that said we will not tolerate antisemitism dressed up as a foreign policy critique even when it comes from people – Jewish or not – who claim to be our allies. Instead, we will continue to advocate against antisemitism in all forms and we will fight to achieve the hate-free world that our children deserve.
 

No, his words are being taken out of context. In an appearance March 29 on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, where he was discussing a surge in far-right propaganda, ADL’s CEO noted that while ADL is currently seeing a rise in threats from the far right, we are also seeing an increase in threats from those on the extreme left, such as people calling for “death to Jews.” He said that just as we shouldn’t tolerate people who wear swastika armbands calling for killing Jews, people on the left making similar statements shouldn’t be exempted from accountability just because they are wearing a keffiyeh, or anything else.

CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has said: "Comments I made weeks ago are unsurprisingly being taken entirely out of context by CAIR, an organization that seems to specialize in fiction rather than fact,” he said. “To be crystal clear: hate speech calling for the death of people should not be tolerated whether the person is wearing a Nazi armband or a keffiyeh, a kippah or a cross, or anything else for that matter.”

“I’m not comparing the garb. I’m comparing the hate speech and how it shouldn’t be tolerated from anyone, period.”

The keffiyeh is a traditional Arab headdress that long has been worn by people in many parts of the Middle East. Jonathan did not denigrate the keffiyeh, nor did he suggest that it is a symbol of hate. His meaning was clear during the interview, but some activists and ideologues with ulterior motives intentionally have misrepresented what he said.

FACT: There’s nothing inconsistent with being a pro-Israel organization that fights antisemitism and hatred in all forms, while also working “to secure justice and fair treatment to all” by fighting hatred against other marginalized groups. We believe that you cannot separate the fight for civil rights from the fight for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. The Jewish people have a right to speak out and defend against those who call for the destruction of the state of Israel.
 

FACT: This is idle speculation and is plain wrong. ADL is, and always has been, a proud and unapologetic supporter of the democratic, Jewish state of Israel and that’s clear from our longstanding record.

There’s nothing inconsistent with being a pro-Israel organization that fights antisemitism and hatred in all forms, while also working “to secure justice and fair treatment to all” by fighting hatred against other marginalized groups. 

ADL believes, strongly, that you cannot separate the fight for civil rights from the fight for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. The Jewish people have a right to defend against those who call for the destruction of the state of Israel.
 

FACT: This is plain wrong. ADL is, and always has been, a proud and unapologetic supporter of the democratic, Jewish state of Israel.
 

FACT: There is no litmus test and employees were not directed to leave. As with any mission-driven organization, we expect our employees to carry out our mission and positions. If an employee decides they cannot do this, then they may choose to leave. We are not aware of any employee who has left the organization and cited our position on anti-Zionism as the reason for their departure. We provide ample room for employees' concerns to be heard and for questions to be answered on specific policies, including regular standing office hours with members of the executive management team.
 

FACT: ADL is a leader in fighting BDS. We vehemently oppose the BDS movement and efforts to single-out Israel on the international stage, and we call it what it is: anti-Jewish hate. Moreover, we recently acquired JLens, an organization that opposes, among other things, the creeping infiltration of BDS into the ESG movement.

We believe that the founding goals of the BDS movement, including denying the Jewish people the universal right of self-determination, along with some of the tactics and rhetoric employed in BDS campaigns, are antisemitic. Some of the founders of BDS have also been clear in their goal of using BDS to help eliminate the state of Israel.

While ADL does not necessarily consider all BDS supporters to be antisemitic, we certainly believe that anti-Zionists are antisemitic and that BDS is usually in support of anti-Zionist ends.  We believe it important to expose distortions when they occur and groups that promote them, that said we will not tolerate antisemitism dressed up as a foreign policy critique even when it comes from people – Jewish or not – who claim to be our allies. Instead, we will continue to advocate against antisemitism in all forms and we will fight to achieve the hate-free world that our children deserve.

FACT: We do not blacklist organizations. We believe there is no rational connection between the challenge of racism in America and the situation facing the Palestinians, and we have said so.

FACT: The ADL Law Enforcement Situational Report, called a “Sitrep” includes articles and resources on all sorts of hate and extremism, and these resources are publicly available on our website.  At no point does the situational report call on law enforcement to investigate anyone or any organization. The Situational Report is a voluntary e-newsletter. Law enforcement agencies can subscribe and unsubscribe to the report.

FACT: Since 2004, ADL has brought small groups of senior American law enforcement leaders to Israel for a week-long seminar designed to increase their understanding of extremist and terrorist violence, mass casualty attacks and community resilience.

International exchanges between US law enforcement and their counterparts in many countries around the globe are common and facilitate sharing of best practices and strategies to combat threats to public safety, including drug trafficking, violent extremism, and counter-terrorism.

The seminar in Israel consists of briefings, presentations and site visits, which allow participants to meet with their counterparts in the Israel National Police (INP), and gain insights into the lessons they have learned in preventing and responding to terror attacks and strengthening community resilience in the face of terrorist attacks. They are exposed to the INP’s efforts to serve Israeli, Arab, and other minority communities in Israel. Participants also meet with Palestinian law enforcement leaders, and over the course of their visit hear a variety of perspectives on contemporary issues related to law enforcement, extremism and terrorism.

This seminar is educational in nature and the itinerary includes a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s renowned Holocaust museum and research center, as well as visits to Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy sites.

The seminar provides participants with insight into how Israel responds to terrorism, including best practices in information sharing, building societal resilience and quickly returning affected communities to a normal state of operations after an incident. In addition, through meeting with Palestinian law enforcement leaders, participants learn about the importance of cooperation in such complex settings, and learn about specific local complexities in the law enforcement context. The seminar enables the U.S. law enforcement leaders to better consider the prevention, preparation and response to terrorist threats, active shooters, and mass casualty attacks in their own communities.

More Responses to Allegations Regarding Israel Trips for U.S. Law Enforcement:

• Blaming Israel for U.S. police brutality doesn’t make sense
• My trip to Israel did not involve protest-suppression training at all
• I Am the Architect of the U.S.-Israel Police Exchange. Don’t Believe the Lies
• GILEE: Enhancing public safety through law enforcement executive development (Video)

Read more about ADL’s partnerships with law enforcement agencies