The ADL’s Antisemitism Findings, Explained (Jewish Currents)
“Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), said she was struck that the report devoted more space to explaining how anti-Zionist groups operate than to analyzing white supremacist activity, despite the comparatively small number of incidents related to anti-Zionism. ‘Even if you accept the ADL’s conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, their own numbers demonstrate that [leftist anti-Zionism] is not the largest problem. The fact that they give more space to this than to white supremacy or actual assaults on Jews really does disclose the political agenda that is underlining the ADL’s approach on this issue,’ she said. …Some of the ADL’s policy recommendations reference Israel advocacy explicitly. The audit calls on its readers to ‘mobilize’ against the BDS movement, and also recommends support for the Abraham Accords, a series of peace deals between Israel and Arab states, in order to ‘promote tolerance and fight antisemitism in the region.’ Many progressives have criticized the accords for failing to hold Israel accountable for the occupation. ‘This has become red meat for the Jewish community to say, ‘If you don’t support normalization of Israel’s relationships with the Arab world, that proves you’re anti-peace and antisemitic,’ Friedman of FMEP said. ‘If you won’t marginalize or erase Palestinians from the public narrative, then that’s antisemitism.’”