ADL chief doubles down on combating ‘most dangerous’ surge in antisemitism

ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt doubles down on the group’s mission to combat antisemitism, amid a broader Jewish community debate over allocation of resources.

Commentators including the writer Bret Stephens have argued that Jewish institutions sink vast resources into combating antisemitism, but that the fight is mostly a wasted effort, and that those funds should instead be diverted to building Jewish institutions.

Greenblatt, opening the ADL’s annual Never Is Now conference in New York City, describes the recent spate in violent antisemitism, from the Bondi Beach massacre to shootings of Toronto synagogues and the attack on a Michigan congregation last week.

“Antisemitism has not just become murderous, it’s become mundane,” he says, pointing to violence as well as lesser incidents such as antisemitic chants at a Jewish soccer team in the UK.

“What would have made headlines a decade ago barely goes noticed today,” he tells the several thousand attendees.

“We are facing the most concentrated, the most dangerous, and lethal surge of antisemitism, the worst in living memory,” he says, taking aim at figures such as Tucker Carlson, Islamist extremists and white supremacists.

“If we don’t turn this tide, life in America as we know it will be irrevocably changed. Changed for Jews, sure, but also changed for everyone,” he says. “A country riddled by antisemitism is one where intolerance is widespread, where conspiratorial thinking tops free inquiry, where pluralism is imperiled and where democracy is in danger.

“Some have argued that we need to choose between fighting antisemitism and building Jewish life,” he says. “Those aren’t competing priorities, they are inseparable preconditions for the flourishing of Jewish life in an open society like ours.

“That doesn’t mean that the same tactics from 20 years ago will still work,” he says, citing recent threats like generative AI. “It does mean that we need to focus our efforts like never before, to try new things, to fail fast.”

“We need to innovate and take risks because playing it safe will not make the Jewish community safe,” he says.