Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League had a moment last week on MSNBC where he was exasperated and said, “I love this network but who is writing your scripts – Hamas?” The dichotomy in this sentence is revealing because Jonathan Greenblatt has been spending the past several years ignoring – or sometimes defending - some of the guests that go on MSNBC and dabble in antisemitic rhetoric. To attack this network or, in fact, some of their anchors and guests, does not suit the ADL narrative that the real Jew haters in America are from the right and are followers of Donald Trump. Perhaps this is most apparent in the way the ADL has protected the Democrat Party “Squad” - not necessarily by what ADL says, but by their lack of interest in specifically calling them out every time they spew their anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric. You’d think Greenblatt would at least go after all the university Presidents who have remained silent in the face of antisemitic student group statements and protests across American campuses glorifying terrorists and making Jewish students feel threatened. But aside from posting a blog on the matter, ADL’s main press release following the horrendous attack had to do with right wing white supremacists being happy about the atrocities Hamas committed. Despicable statements? Of course. Nobody is saying that that there aren’t those on the right who hate Jews so much that they’ll walk into a synagogue and shoot the place up - it’s happened. But as we’ve seen in the past week, the real danger to Israel – and to Jews in America – is coming from the left because it is institutionalized and has great influence with the public. Because organizations like the ADL have not proportionately been calling them out, they have become emboldened. Leaders is Congress have become unafraid. When Ilhan Omar was initially called out for her disgusting antisemitic remarks about the “Benjamins”, there was a push by many to censure her personally. But Greenblatt went along and was satisfied with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi watering down the statement to make it more universal, calling out any hateful remarks against Jews, Muslims, and/or other oppressed groups. A clear opportunity to an antisemite in her place, and Greenblatt went along with the interests of his party – not the Jews. Same goes for Rashida Tlaib and the rest of the Squad who have continued to push for BDS against Israel and in Tlaib’s case, knowingly making false statements regarding Israel’s role in the bombing of the Gaza hospital. One would expect Greenblatt and ADL to put out a stronger statement than Joe Biden, but so far, it’s been crickets. The list of individuals and organization that ADL has protected is long: from Black Lives Matter’s – Chicago Chapter who put out a statement blaming Israel for the Hamas raid, to Jewish writer Peter Beinart who has selectively chosen facts to make Israel look like the pariah and believes Israel should not exist as a Jewish state. But if you’re looking for a pure comparison of how the ADL has handled antisemitism from the right and the left, one clear-cut example is how ADL handled a photograph that was released of Barak Obama with Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, and how they reacted to Donald Trump’s meeting at Mar Largo with Kanye West who brought along his antisemitic friend, Nick Fuentes. Both were equally disturbing acts, but guess which incident received no pushback? The fruits of ADL’s policy are playing out in real time on American streets and college campuses this week. Jews all over this country are scared from the antisemitism coming from the left because it is not a small group of individuals, but large institutions that hold power. There’s a real fear that in 20 years those Ivy League students who are marching on campuses will be in influential positions and leading the country. If Jonathan Greenblatt is not as interested in fighting antisemitism as he is in protecting the Democrat party, then perhaps he should quit the ADL and go back into politics, because he is not keeping Jews safe. Quite the opposite. Oren Safdie is a Canadian-American-Israeli playwright and screenwriter
