ADL Calls On Obama To Denounce Farrakhan Again After Quashed Photo Emerges

Then-senator Barack Obama poses for a picture with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Image by Askia Muhammad

By Josh Nathan-Kazis January 29, 2018

Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt called on former president Barack Obama to again denounce Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, following the release of a photo taken of the two of them together over a decade ago.

Obama denounced Farrakhan in 2008, when the anti-Semitic leader endorsed Obama’s presidential run.

“Over his career, @barackobama has denounced the bigotry of Farrakhan,” Greenblatt wrote in a Twitter post. “Time to do so again.”

In Israel catching up on news about 2005 photo of Obama & Farrakhan. Over his career, @barackobama has denounced the bigotry of Farrakhan. Time to do so again. Leaders always should make sure that there’s no doubt: America is no place for those who advocate #antisemitism or hate

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) January 29, 2018

Obama has not publicly commented about the photo, which was taken at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting in 2005, when he was a U.S. senator. The photographer claims that he was asked to suppress the photo by a Black Caucus staff member, and gave the original to a member of Farrakhan’s staff.

Farrakhan has been denounced by Jewish leaders repeatedly over the decades for anti-Semitism.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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