Anti-Defamation League

For other uses, see Anti-Defamation League (disambiguation).

Anti-Defamation League
FormationSeptember 1913; 111 years ago (1913-09)
FounderSigmund Livingston
TypeCivil rights advocacy group
13-1818723 (EIN)[1]
Legal status501(c)(3) organization
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Chair
Ben Sax
CEO
Jonathan Greenblatt
Revenue (2021)
$101.1 million[2]
Expenses (2021)$81.5 million[2]
Staff (2021)
501[2]
Volunteers (2021)
3,500[2]
Websiteadl.org
Formerly called
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith
Part of a series on
Antisemitism
Definitions
Geography
Manifestations
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Category

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith,[a] is a New York–based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination.[4] ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy.[5][6][4][7] Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States[8] including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe.[9] In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants.[10] Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.[11]

It was founded in late September 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization, in the wake of the contentious murder conviction of Leo Frank. ADL subsequently split from B'nai B'rith and continued as an independent US section 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In an early campaign, ADL and allied groups pressured the automaker Henry Ford, who had published virulently antisemitic propaganda.[12][6] In the 1930s, ADL worked with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to oppose pro-Nazi activity in the United States.[13][4] It opposed McCarthyism during the Cold War,[6] and campaigned for major civil rights legislation in the 1960s.[6][4] It also worked with the NAACP to discredit the far right in a spy operation.[14] In the 1980s, it was involved in propaganda against Nelson Mandela of South Africa before embracing him the following decade.[15][16]

ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy.[17][6][4][18] It has advanced the concept of new antisemitism, including a definition that says anti-Zionism and some criticisms of Israel are antisemitic.[19][20][21][22] It has received criticism, including from members of its staff, that such advocacy has diverted ADL from its historical fight against antisemitism.[19][23][24]

  1. ^ "Anti Defamation League – Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "2021 Form 990" (PDF). ADL. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 11, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
  3. ^ "B'nai B'rith. Anti-defamation League". Amistad Research Center. Archived from the original on September 13, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference Golembeski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Craig, K. M. (2004). "Retaliation, Fear, or Rage". In Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld, Diana R. Grant (ed.). Crimes of Hate: Selected Readings. Sage. p. 58. ISBN 9780761929437. Archived from the original on November 3, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e Hendricks, Nancy (2019). "Anti-Defamation League". In Ainsworth, Scott H.; Harward, Brian M. (eds.). Political Groups, Parties, and Organizations That Shaped America: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Vol. 1. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781440851964.
  7. ^ Theodore Sasson, The New American Zionism, New York University Press 2015 ISBN 978-1-479-80611-9 p.45.
  8. ^ "Anti-Semitism in the US". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2019. Through our network of 25 regional offices
  9. ^ "Anti-Semitism Globally". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  10. ^ "ADL 2019 Form 990". November 17, 2020. Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  11. ^ "ADL 2019 Consolidated Financial Statements and Schedules". August 27, 2020. Archived from the original on April 2, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Blakeslee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Frankel, Glenn (May 24, 2010). "Israel's Most Illicit Affair". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  16. ^ Pogrund, Benjamin (May 24, 2010). "The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship With Apartheid South Africa". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  17. ^ Craig, K. M. (2004). "Retaliation, Fear, or Rage". In Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld, Diana R. Grant (ed.). Crimes of Hate: Selected Readings. Sage. p. 58. ISBN 9780761929437. Archived from the original on November 3, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  18. ^ Theodore Sasson, The New American Zionism, New York University Press 2015 ISBN 978-1-479-80611-9 p.45.
  19. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TG11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Romeyn, Esther (March 14, 2020). "(Anti) 'new antisemitism' as a transnational field of racial governance". Patterns of Prejudice. 54 (1–2). Informa UK Limited: 199–214. doi:10.1080/0031322x.2019.1696048. ISSN 0031-322X. S2CID 219029515. In the United States, one the strongest promoters of various installments of the 'new antisemitism' thesis has been the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which in 1974 published a book entitled The New Anti-Semitism.
  21. ^ Levin, Geoffery P. (2021). "Before the New Antisemitism: Arab Critics of Zionism and American Jewish Politics, 1917–1974". American Jewish History. 105 (1–2). Project MUSE: 103–126. doi:10.1353/ajh.2021.0005. ISSN 1086-3141. S2CID 239741775. The ADL responded to these critiques as they came, but also in a cohesive way through a new book by Forster and Epstein titled The New Anti-Semitism, which would be their most important and best-selling publication.98 Like their previous books, The New Anti-Semitism stitched together a list of types of antisemitic threats, which had grown in length. In contrast to prior books focused on the far right and Arab propagandists, The New Anti-Semitism included the right-wing threat alongside threats that emanated from "The USSR, Western Europe, Latin America," and included "the Radical Left," "Arabs and Pro-Arabs," and Black Americans. Taken collectively, this bundle of threats, taken to include anti-Zionism, has been called the "New Anti-Semitism" from the book's publication onwards.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference raab11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ "The Anti-Defamation League: Israel's Attack Dog in the US". The Nation. January 31, 2024. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 4, 2024. The ADL's priority today remains—as it has for decades—going after Americans who are simply opposed to Israel's endless occupation and oppression of Palestinians.
  24. ^ Guyer, Jonathan (May 25, 2023). "The high-stakes debate over how the US defines "antisemitism"". Vox. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.


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