The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a powerful Jewish and Zionist lobby organization, primarily based in the United States, but with presence also in some other countries.

The organization describes itself as a civil rights organization that fights anti-Semitism and bigotry more generally. Critics of Jewish influence and others have been highly critical of the ADL.

Controversies

Censorship

The ADL has been criticized for involvement in various forms of censorship, such by as directing major Internet companies to censor various disliked organizations.^[1][2][3][4]

See also The Alt-Right and censorship.

Hate crime reports

In 2019, “right-wing” hate crime reports by the ADL were criticized. “The reports are fraudulent. The 2016 version does not even describe all the murders it claims were “right wing”; we are supposed to take their word for it. For 2017 and 2018, however, the ADL at least listed every killing. A cursory reading is all it takes to see that the reports are bunk, but the ADL probably knew it could count on friendly media to help perpetuate the fraud. This is nothing more than collusion for the purpose of justifying even more censorship of racial dissidents.“^[5]

Mass immigration

The organization has been criticized for a double standard by promoting mass immigration to the United States while ignoring or supporting Israel‘s strict policy against non-Jewish mass immigration.^[6]

See also Jews and immigration.

Leo Frank

The ADL states that it was founded in 1913, in response to the perceived anti-Semitism against the Jewish Leo Frank, who was convicted of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan that year. Controversy has continued regarding the case, with continued attempts to turn Leo Frank into an innocent martyr.

B’nai B’rith and the World Jewish Congress

The organization was founded by the B’nai B’rith, a Jews-only organization with similarities to Freemasonry, although the ADL is now stated to be independent.

Both organizations are affiliated with the World Jewish Congress.

Morton Sobel

In the 1950s, the ADL campaigned to free the Jewish Morton Sobell from charges of espionage. In 2008, Sobell admitted to spying for the Soviet Union.^[7]

Israel

The ADL claims to be an international civil rights organization working for equal civil rights for all, but the organization supports Israel and its often Jewish supremacist policies.

ADL undercover agents, such as Abraham Feinberg, have been stated to have been investigated by the FBI, as agents of a foreign government and for stopping investigations regarding illegal arms-smuggling from the US to Israel. Feinberg became well-known as financing Harry Truman and helping him to victory in the 1948 presidential elections. Truman recognized Israel minutes after the declaration of independence. Feinberg was also one of the financiers of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.^[8][9]

Espionage and infiltration

One of the earliest activities was the establishment of what has been described as a private intelligence agency, and sending spies, infiltrators, disruptors, and agents provocateurs against perceived opponents (including other Jews). In the early 1940s, they had over 50,000 files on American citizens and their political associations. Declassified FBI files state that in 1940, the ADL supplied contact information of nearly 1,600 ADL members to the FBI, to serve as informants and undercover sources. An FBI letter advised that “the Anti-Defamation League does not wish it to become generally known that they do employ private investigators“. A 1947 Congressional hearing revealed that the ADL had begun providing information to the original House Committee on Un-American Activities.^{[7][8][10][11]}

See also the article on the Great Sedition Trial of 1944.

“An ADL operative using illicit press credentials was arrested at a Madison Square Garden disrupting an anti-war rally in 1941. “The ADL had then brought ‘tremendous pressure to bear on Commissioner Seery and the Mayor’s Committee on Press Cards to drop the Forster incident the preceding night.” The effort to quash prosecution included offering payoffs and planting hostile news reports, according to the FBI report.“^[7]>

“In 1993, Roy Bullock, was exposed as an ADL agent. He was San Francisco art dealer who was fairly well-known in the homosexual community and whose specialty was the infiltration of patriotic, Arab-American, and other organizations on behalf of the League. Bullock was found to have in his possession illegally obtained and highly private and personal data on his targets — data which could only have been obtained from police and other confidential government files. These data were also discovered in the files of the ADL itself when police raided ADL headquarters in San Francisco and Los Angeles as result of Bullock’s exposure…seizing evidence of a nationwide intelligence network accused of keeping files on more than 950 political groups, newspapers, and labor unions and as many as 12,000 people…operatives of the Anti-Defamation League searched through trash and infiltrated organizations to gather intelligence an Arab-American, right-wing, and what they called pinko organizations…the organization maintains undercover operatives to gather political intelligence in at least seven cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco“. Jewish organizations that had taken positions critical of Israeli policies were included in the “Pinko” section. There were also files on members of Congress. The ADL or persons working for the ADL also tapped into phone systems, worked closely and likely often illegally with several police officers, and from police sources obtained privileged and personal information on thousands of people. 75% of the information was estimated to had been obtained illegally. It has been alleged that the DA in charge dropped the charges, due to needing Jewish support in coming elections. Sensitive information is stated to have been shared with Israel.^[8][11][12]

Organizations that the ADL kept files on in 1993 span the political spectrum and included Ku Klux Klan, the White Aryan Resistance, Greenpeace, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Farm Workers, the Jewish Defense League, the American Civil Liberties Union, Earth Island Institute, the United Auto Workers, Jews for Jesus, Mother Jones magazine, the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Bo Gritz for President Committee, the Asian Law Caucus, the AIDS activist group ACT UP, Centro Legal de la Raza, Irish Northern Aid, National Indian Treaty Council, and Japanese-and American Citizens League.^[8][11][12]

Claimed funding of “anti-Semitic” and “neo-nazi” organizations and use of agents provocateurs

H. Keith Thompson claimed that “anti-Semitism in the United States is in no small measure directed and financed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League (NANL)” and “Thompson then discovered how the ADL operated as agents provocateurs among the Right, and why they are often “the most dependable source of funds.”” See the article on H. Keith Thompson.

Anti-Arab activity

While the ADL has publicly focused on US “neo-Nazi” groups without any power, it has been argued that this has been mainly in order to scare rich Jewish fund-raisers, while many of the ADL’s more clandestine activities have also targeted perceived enemies of Israel, such as Palestinians, their solidarity groups, Arab-Americans, Arab students, and Arab delegations to the United Nations.^[8]

In 1951, the FBI judged material regarding the Arab League and activities of Egypt and Saudi Arabia that the ADL brought to the FBI “to be absolutely unreliable“.^[7]

The National Director of the ADL in 1961 stated that “[T]he Anti-Defamation League for many years has maintained a very important, confidential investigative coverage of Arab activities and propaganda….Our information, in addition to being essential for our own operations, has been of great value and service to both the United States State Department and the Israeli government. All data have been made available to both countries with full knowledge to each that we were the source” and “we have maintained an information-gathering operation since 1948 relating to activities emanating from the Arab Consular Offices, Arab United Nations Delegations, Arab Information Center, Arab Refugee Office and the Organization of Arab Students“.^[8]

In 1969, the FBI proposed investigating the ADL as an Israeli foreign agent, after three ADL undercover operatives infiltrated and strategized the takeover of the Organization of Arab Students.^[7]

In 1983, the ADL published a 49 page “confidential” booklet for use by Jewish students, listing the names of individuals such as Arab-American professors and organizations classified as “pro-Arab propagandists.” After it became public, the ADL stated that the booklet was an “unfortunate incident”.^[8]

Jeffrey Blankfort has argued that the above mentioned Bullock “succeeded in not only becoming a member of the local chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee but, because of his size and weight, he would be in charge of “security” at all its events” and that “One of the targets Bullock “befriended” was Palestinian-American Alex Odeh, the head of the Orange County chapter of the ADC who would be killed by a terrorist bomb when he opened the door to his Santa Ana office on October 11, 1985. In Bullock’s files, police found a key to Odeh’s office as well as the floor plan.” Bullock has not officially been linked with the unresolved murder.^[8]

Anti-apartheid organizations

The ADL kept files on 48 anti-apartheid organizations, possibly due to fear that they would make comparisons between apartheid and Israeli policies. ADL agents were also paid by South Africa to supply information regarding anti-apartheid organizations in the USA.^[8]

“One individual the South African agents were particularly interested in was Chris Hani, the man who was expected to succeed Nelson Mandela as the country’s president. Hani was assassinated in South Africa shortly after a speaking tour in California during which he was trailed by Bullock who prepared a lengthy report on it for the South African government, a copy of which was found in his files.“^[8]

The Black Civil Rights Movement

The NAACP was one of the organizations that the ADL kept files on 1993.^[8]

Jews have been stated to be a major source of funding, also in the post civil rights era, which prevented the NAACP from taking political positions that would offend the Jewish establishment, such as expressing sympathy with the Palestinian cause, or criticizing Israel’s arms sales to South Africa. “This was typified by the attitude of long-time NAACP Director Roy Wilkins, widely characterized as an “Uncle Tom” by black activists, who withdrew the NAACP from the National Black Political Convention in 1972, taking exception to a resolution that condemned Israel for “expansionist policies and forceful occupation of the sovereign territories of another state.”“^[8]

In 1992, the ADL issued a 50-page “ADL Research Report” entitled “The Anti-Semitism of Black Demagogues and Extremists.” Heading the list were Min. Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, Illinois Congressman Gus Savage, Rev. Al Sharpton, Kwame Ture (the former Stokely Carmichael), poet Amiri Baraka, and rappers Ice Cube and Professor Griff and Public Enemy. Certain black newspapers and radio stations were also criticized.^[8]

When the NAACP installed Benjamin Chavis as new director and he reached out to Farrakhan, the ADL responded by causing the NAACP’s major Jewish funders to cut of funding, until Chavis resigned.^[8]

The Talmud

One debated passage in the Talmud states “A heathen who studies the Torah deserves death“. The Anti-Defamation League has criticized David Duke for allegedly using this quote out of context, by omitting important surrounding parts. However, this has in turn been criticized, with the full surrounding context stated to be supporting David Duke. The Anti-Defamation League has been criticized for using very selective citations and selectively omitting important parts in order to create a misleading impression.^[13]

Armenian genocide

The ADL for a long time opposed recognition of the Armenian Genocide that took place 1915-1917, since this could negatively affect the situation for Jews in Turkey and Israeli-Turkish relations. Turkey was one of Israel’s few regional allies. The ADL reversed their official position in 2007, after a public outcry, but still refused to support a resolution in Congress formally acknowledging the Armenian genocide.^[14]

Criticism by Jews

Even some Jews have criticized the ADL for hypocrisy, for false charges of antisemitism for political purposes, and for attacking some Jews with not politically correct opinions. Even Jewish community leaders with dissenting views have been stated to fear speaking out, lest the ADL accuse them of some crime against the Jewish people. The ADL has also been accused of trying to scare rich Jews with false threats (such as from American Christians), in order to receive large donations. The criticisms against Christians have been seen as instead being harmful to Jewish interests, since Christian Zionists often support pro-Jewish neoconservatism.^[15][16]

Government ties

In addition to earlier mentioned information sharing, the ADL has ties with police across the country through its LEARN program (Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network), in which it trains police in dealing with “extremist groups” and “hate crimes.”^[8]

See also Project Megiddo.

Web traffic

In 2017, circumstantial evidence was argued to show that the ADL was heavily buying web traffic from Google.^[17]

Abraham Foxman

Regarding criticisms of former National Director Abraham Foxman, see the article on Abraham Foxman and the external links there.

See also

• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Quotes

The Holocaust is something different. It is a singular event. It is not simply one example of genocide but a nearly successful attempt on the life of God’s chosen children and, thus, on God himself.

—Abraham Foxman.^[18]