Founded in 1913, the Anti-Defamation League has played an important role in protecting the Jewish community and fighting for civil rights. But in recent years, many believe it has lurched too Left and promoted content that ends up harming Jews. I sat down with its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, to discuss what the ADL has gotten right and debate where it's gone wrong.
Jonathan started his career in President Clinton's administration before finding success as an entrepreneur and later returning to the Obama White House. We don't align on politics, but we have mutual respect and I visited him at the White House during Obama's tenure to discuss policy issues. Many of the ADL's core activities are noble: report illegal threats against Jews, push back aggressively on anti-Semitism, and provide legal assistance for Jewish students harmed or threatened on college campuses. But recently, many on the Center and Right have taken serious issue with some of the ADL's actions, including its pressure campaigns against social media platforms and embrace of progressive politics that may be making Jews more vulnerable.
In our candid discussion, I challenged Greenblatt on ADL's Left-wing stances and its promotion of critical race theory and Ta-Nehisi Coates' earlier work. I was encouraged to hear about the ADL's aggressive actions against Harvard, Penn, and other institutions after October 7; his agreement that oppressor vs oppressed frameworks foment hate against Jews; and his call for regime change in Iran, not appeasement.
I’d like to see the ADL stop demonizing many on the Right and promoting woke nonsense on their site, distracting from its core purpose of fighting the actual enemies of Jews. But Jonathan and I agree that the ADL is an organization with a storied history and a valuable role to continue to play, especially given the pressing need to combat antisemitism today.
00:00 Episode Intro
02:15 Jonathan's background
05:14 ADL's History
08:39 Lessons from October 7
15:33 Have things improved on college campuses?
17:20 Iran funding antisemitism in the US
20:20 Has ADL gone hard Left? Does ADL teach CRT?
24:00 Will ADL stop promoting Ta-Nehisi Coates?
28:36 How wokeness causes antisemitism
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Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist