How ADL creates 'antisemitism' while fundraising off fear

Eliyahu Tulshinski

August 16, 2023

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claims that its mission is, “To stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Some Jewish leaders say the group does the opposite, increasing antisemitism, while also damaging the nation as a whole.

Hurting the cause?

Nationally syndicated Jewish talk show host Dennis Prager opines that the ADL does more harm than good even in the area they claim to be the focus of their their mission, antisemitism.

[T]he Anti-Defamation League actually increases anti-Semitism more than it decreases it because it's just another left-wing organization that alienates half of this country by the positions that they take.

The founder of PragerU went on to advise his fellow Jews that, rather than look for antisemitism to condemn, they should simply befriend Gentiles.

[T]he best way for Jews to combat anti-Semitism is to invite a non-Jew to Shabbos dinner.

Jewish syndicated radio host Mark Levin adds that the driving force behind ADL policy is collectivism, not concern for Jewish causes, while labeling its current head, Jonathan Greenblatt, a “leftwing . . . hugely partisan activist.”

Making friends?

Prager likewise called out Greenblatt's extreme politics, despite leading a supposedly non-partisan group, in an article Prager published, during the Trump administration, calling on Greenblatt to apologize to millions of Americans for falsely accusing them and their president of antisemitism.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of what is supposed to be the leading American-Jewish organization dedicated to exposing and combating anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League . . . has played a leading role in disseminating the narrative that since the Trump election, America has been drenched in anti-Semitism — even comparing its levels to those of Nazi Germany. . . .

That whole charge — made by the left within and outside of Jewish life — was false. But the left has always believed it is OK to falsely accuse conservatives of racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, bigotry, xenophobia, hate, etc. It’s effective, after all. . . .

So, it turns out . . . [T]here is no wave of Trump-induced anti-Semitism or racism in America. This is only one more example of left-wing hysteria. . . .

Jews who think there is such a wave do so because they hate Donald Trump so much, they want to believe it. In other words, a lot of Jews want to believe that Jews are hated in America more than ever. Yet another way in which leftism has poisoned Jewish life.

That’s the “poison” that ought to concern Jonathan Greenblatt.

In the meantime, he owes the president of the United States and the American people an apology.

In addition to such false accusations making Americans less likely to believe actual claims of antisemitism, the mere accusations make citizens feel censored, a feeling that is more than just hypothetical in light of the undercover video recently published of ADL officials boasting of their work with social media and law enforcement to actually censor and even jail their political rivals. LifeSiteNews summarizes the ADL's modus operandi as hounding those guilty of “wrongthink.”

The admission suggests ADL has at least some degree of interest in combing through the online activities of private citizens not involved in political and social causes to hound them for any statements that they might make that ADL deems wrongthink.

Protecting murderers?

One of the extreme political positions taken by the ADL particularly carries the risk of alienating fellow citizens — condemning activists who advocate for more protection against murderers.

If it doesn't work, keep at it?

The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, considered by many as the leader of world Jewry from his New York City headquarters, was another adamant opponent of “crying antisemitism,” as recorded in a 1970 public address.

[T]he Rebbe said that he had asked a leading activist, “Why are you running around and crying antisemitism, when you see it’s simply not effective in creating change?”

The fellow replied, “I figured out ten years ago that it is a good modus operandi, and I don’t have time to rethink it. Stop telling me what to do.”

Follow the money

Why would “crying antisemitism" be a “good modus operandi” if it doesn't work? David Suissa, publisher of the Jewish Journal and moderator of the panel in which Prager criticized the ADL, finds the answer in fundraising.

[T]he most popular activity in the Jewish world now is to fight anti-Semitism and the way you fight it is to raise a lot of money by putting the fear into donors by uh having media companies that put fear and alarmism in the headlines because that triples our clicks. And it is by far the most popular activity. There's a good 200 million dollars a year that is being invested in fighting Jew hatred, right?

There are organizations, they email me every day, there's at least 20 organizations, and all they want to do, and they have, whether they call it "End Jew Hatred", “Combat Anti-Semitism Movement," there's a new one that starts every week.

They really don't like me because I wrote a piece recently quoting [Lubavitch], the most successful Jewish organization in history, [which] has never once demonstrated against anti-Semitism. The Rebbe never once asked his [emissaries] to demonstrate on the street against Jew hatred. What they do is they spread pro-Semitism, but that's not easy to do.

So what do you make of this obsession with fear and alarmism and this thing that has made American Jews look like pathetic whiners? We've lost our sense of humor, everything that made Jews attractive in the past hundred years. We've now come to this point where we are now becoming known as those who kvetch [complain]. [Emphases added].