November 07, 2017 November 2, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a letter signed in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressing his country's support for the establishment of a national Jewish home in Palestine. While the UK and Israel celebrated the anniversary of this Declaration, which has become a symbol of international recognition of the Jewish right to self-determination, Palestinians and others have used the occasion to protest, and demand an…
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For parents, families and young people Topic SummaryIn recent years, there has been a lot of attention paid to the diversity of children’s books, shining a light on the lack of diversity and amplifying the need for more children’s and young adult literature that reflects our multicultural society. In 2014, an organization named We Need Diverse Books formed, following a regularly trending hashtag with the same name (#WeNeedDiverseBooks) that helped bring attention to the issue. We…
by: Kenneth Jacobson | October 20, 2017 JTA Here we go again: The issue of how and why the United States should engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is back in the news.
The announcement by the Trump administration that the U.S. will be pulling out of UNESCO over its biased treatment of Israel is only the latest manifestation of a fraught relationship between America and this U.N. body.
Established soon after World War II as an effort to…
Survey Shows Majority of Israeli Public Believes Society Will Continue to be Divided Over Next 30 Years
Jerusalem, Israel, October 20, 2017 … Nearly two in three Israelis believe their society today is divided or very divided with a large majority – 75 percent – identifying political leadership as the largest contributor to the nation’s divisiveness, according to a new…
New York, NY, October 9, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the Executive Board of UNESCO to choose a new Director General “who best exemplifies and champions the values and ideals of the institution,” and who will be a strong and constructive voice against discrimination, including ongoing efforts to isolate and denigrate Israel, and who continues UNESCO’s important work on Holocaust education.
ADL expressed concern that the front runner after…
September 18, 2017 By: Marvin D. Nathan, National Chair
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO & National Director
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is both a celebratory holiday and a time for serious introspection.
It is a celebration of the creation of the Universe and of G-d's sovereignty over that Universe. And, it is a time to look into oneself to examine where one has been and where one is going.
In this spirit, we offer on behalf of ADL, the…
August 29, 2017 Adults and children alike are grappling to make sense of current events. Discussions of racism, anti-Semitism and social injustice have become increasingly contentious as images of white supremacists carrying torches and chanting hateful rhetoric in Charlottesville fill our social media feeds and television screens. Children are attuned to these conversations and disturbing images of violence, hate and incivility, and are seeking comfort and answers from teachers, family…
August 29, 2017 In response to the recent events in Charlottesville, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Tolerance, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Federation of Teachers, and EduColor teamed up to support educators as they return to the classroom. Hosted and led by AFT, we asked educators what topics they were most concerned about and addressed them in a co-hosted webinar, “When Hate Is in the Headlines: Resources for K–12 Educators.” Together, we offered…
August 16, 2017 At the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, anti-Semitism was on full display. White supremacists marched through the streets shouting obscenities at crowds of protesters where they spewed Nazi slogans, anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic phrases. The chaos surrounding the event was significant for a number of reasons, even beyond the violence and hatred on display. Rally organizers convinced hundreds of white supremacists to overlook their ideological…
August 13, 2017 Racial hatred, bias and white supremacy were on full display in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.
In the largest and most violent gathering of white supremacists in decades, “Unite the Right” brought together white supremacist groups including the alt-right, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Their stated goal was to save the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, because like other places in the South, there are still monuments there celebrating heroes…
What is the source of our free speech rights? Free speech rights emanate from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[1] and from state constitutions. The U.S. Constitution limits the government’s ability to regulate speech based on content and it applies to all public colleges and universities. It serves as a floor, not a ceiling. State constitutions may grant more robust free speech rights than the U.S. Constitution, but never fewer. Is there a distinction between private and…
July 26, 2017 The Arab-language media routinely features anti-Semitic cartoons suggesting that Israel is attempting to take over control of Muslim holy sites. In these depictions Israel is frequently portrayed as an octopus or snake which is taking over holy sites in Jerusalem such as the Temple Mount in bodily form. These cartoons stoke anti-Semitic sentiment in the Arab world.
This was no different after the recent attack by three Israeli Arab terrorists on the Temple Mount, which…
July 18, 2017 Introduction:
Following the July 14th attack on al-Aqsa mosque, during which three Israeli-Arab gunmen shot and killed two Israeli police officers, tensions mounted as police canceled Friday prayers at the mosque for the first time in nearly two decades. Many international terror groups issued statements praising the attack, denouncing the closure, and inciting further violence against Jewish people and institutions.
Further analysis showed an extraordinary amount of…
New York, NY, June 15, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) ratification of a resolution saying the association will “refrain from endorsing the boycott” of Israeli academic institutions.
The resolution, which was passed by the MLA Delegate Assembly in January, was ratified by the MLA membership by a vote of 1954 to 885.
“The MLA’s vote to reject academic boycotts of Israel is a demonstration…
by: Kenneth Jacobson June 08, 2017 This blog originally appeared in The Times of Israel
As we remember the Six-Day War fifty years ago this week, there has already been much conversation about how to view that war decades later.
Yossi Klein-Halevi made a significant contribution to that discussion when he identified what he called the “May” Israelis and the “June” Israelis. The “May” Israelis are those whose memories focus on the days leading up to…
ADL reacted to an op-ed in The New York Times which "bears no resemblance to the complicated reality" between Israel and the Palestinians. Letters to the Editor
The New York Times
To the Editor:
Re “Israel’s Everlasting Occupation” (Sunday Review, June 4):
Nathan Thrall attributes to Israel an early determination to hold on to the territories. In fact, from the outset after the Six-Day War, Israel saw its winning territory as a perfect bargaining chip…
Urges Sec. General Guterres to Clarify Remarks New York, NY, June 5, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed regret regarding what it called an “incomplete and misleading” statement issued by United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Six Day War.
In an official statement, the Secretary General focusses solely on the impact of the war on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Syrians in the…
by: Kenneth Jacobson May 17, 2017 This blog originally appeared in The Times of Israel
With the announcement of Donald Trump's first visit to Israel next week, it is useful to consider what would constitute a successful trip.
President Trump has been talking, in his inimitable way, about restarting peace negotiations and even solving this decades-old conflict that has confounded so many others.
In this respect, he is exhibiting similarities to other Presidents who looking out for…
Israel preemptively attacked Egypt on June 5, 1967. After a month of increasing regional tensions escalated by Egypt (spurred on by the Soviets) and failed diplomatic efforts to calm the situation, Israel’s leaders believed they had no choice but to strike first. Within hours, Jordan and Syrian forces attacked Israelis forces.
In May 1967, events in the region led Israel to expect that an Arab attack was imminent. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had ordered a withdrawal of the…
Following the end of the Six Day War there was great debate within Israel about what to do with the territories gained during the war, which included East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
Some in Israel advocated an immediate withdrawal from the territories. Others supported a withdrawal only in exchange for peace with the surrounding Arab countries. And some, euphoric over the reunification of Jerusalem and control over Judaism’s…