ADL faces off with Betar US after adding it to its list of extremist organizations

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has added Betar USA to its database of extremist groups, the only Jewish organization on its list.

In a harshly-worded response, Betar USA calls the decision “not only false, but deeply antisemitic.” The organization has frequently attacked the ADL publicly for what it sees as prioritizing political correctness over Jewish security.

ADL writes on its website that Betar encourages Jewish people to fight on the streets against antisemitism with “aggressive in-person protests.”

The organization “adopts the far-right Kahanist slogan calling for Jewish armament, “Every Jew, a .22,” openly embraces Islamophobia and harasses Muslims online and in person,” according to ADL’s glossary of Extremism and Hate, which includes 276 groups and movements that “subscribe to and/or promote extremist or hateful ideologies.”

In response, Betar USA has hit back at the antisemitism watchdog with the charge that the ADL itself is an extremist organization that “actively infringes upon free speech… and divides American society through the relentless promotion of DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] policies that do nothing to protect Jews.”

Betar is a right-wing movement founded in 1923 by Zeev Jabotinsky to empower Jews to be strong and fight back against antisemitism. New leadership figures at the US branch installed in June 2023 have brought a more aggressive tone to the organization, posting spiteful material on social media and promoting US President Donald Trump’s motion to deport foreign pro-Hamas students from the country.