The ADL is the most prominent organization fighting antisemitism. It’s also fighting a wide array of critics.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Elon Musk threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League, blaming it for a $4 billion loss in revenue at Twitter. He’s hardly the group’s only foe.

In addition to provocateurs like Musk, and overt antisemites, the ADL has spent years battling right-wing Jews who think the organization focuses too much on liberal causes like racial justice, as well as leftists who think it’s too supportive of Israel and critical of Palestinian activists. 

This morning, we’re offering up a guide to the storied civil rights organization’s three main antagonists.

Neo-Nazis at a rally on Saturday in Orlando, Florida. (Getty)

White supremacists: Antisemites object to the ADL’s efforts to have them kicked off social media platforms, and sometimes invoke conspiracy theories to make their case — like that the group supports pedophiles and peddles drugs. (It does not.) 

Also from the right: Some conservatives — Jewish and otherwise — say the group has become a partisan tool of the Democratic Party, is too concerned about Islamophobia and other issues, and should focus solely on protecting Jews. 

And from the left:  Some activists — Jewish and otherwise — say the group is too cozy with law enforcement and too supportive of Israel. Those liberal positions on gender and racial issues the conservatives have problems with? These folks accuse the ADL of using them as cover for a right-wing agenda.

Related: The ADL has seen a surge in threats directed at the organization since Musk’s attacks escalated in recent days. As a result, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told CNN the ADL has been forced to increase its own security.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Courtesy)

Exclusive | The Oscar museum snubbed Hollywood’s Jewish founders. Its next exhibit hopes to make amends: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which opened two years ago in the heart of Los Angeles, told the Forward on Wednesday that its first permanent exhibit will explore Hollywood’s Jewish roots. The museum was criticized, when it opened, for overlooking the significant role of Jews in creating the American film industry. Read the story ➤

Opinion | I’m a Jewish day school student. We need to learn Palestinian history: Ary Hammerman, who was born in Israel and is now a high school junior in New York, argues that a simplistic, pro-Israel curriculum lacks nuance and may be pushing young Jews away from a connection to the Jewish state. “Educators,” she writes, “must find a way to marry a love of the idea of Israel with an exploration of multiple perspectives of the different people in the land.” Read her essay ➤

How a quintessentially Yiddish sensibility created a thoroughly modern Don Quixote: Edith Grossman, the Jewish American translator behind Love in the Time of Cholera and Don Quixote, died this week at 87. The mysterious allure of the Yiddish language as heard in childhood, she implied, opened doors for imagining further worlds of verbal expression. Read the story ➤

Match point: German tennis player Alexander Zverev, ranked 12th in the world, stopped the U.S. Open because a fan was yelling a line favored by Hitler. What’s the story behind the phrase? Our language columnist, Aviya Kushner, has the answer.

And one more: Rosh Hashanah begins next Friday night. Here’s a helpful guide to prep for the holiday.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

From left: Michael Dunn, Jake Curhan, Greg Joseph and A.J. Dillon. (Getty/Design by Mollie Suss)

?  The NFL season opens tonight when Kansas City, the reigning Super Bowl champion, hosts Detroit. Here’s all the Jewish players to watch this year. (JTA)

?  And speaking of football: The high school coach who won his job back after the Supreme Court ruled he could pray on the field resigned Wednesday after just one game back. (AP)

?  And one more: An Israeli flag football team, whose team consists mostly of Orthodox players, forfeited a game on Shabbat. It won the European championship anyway. (JTA)

?  Speaking at a conference, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Holocaust wasn’t fueled by antisemitism, but that Hitler hated Jews for their money. (Haaretz)

??  Mexico’s ruling party on Wednesday named former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, its candidate for next year’s presidential election, putting her in position to become the country’s first female leader. (Times of Israel)

?  The Oscar-winning director of Golda debuted a new film this week at the Venice Film Festival, loosely based on a true story: a female Iranian athlete who is ordered to fake an injury to avoid facing an Israeli opponent at a judo championship. (JTA)

?  The Israeli State Archives has, over the years, released various documents related to the Yom Kippur War. On Thursday, a month ahead of the war’s 50th anniversary, it declassified nearly all the remaining documents. (Haaretz, Times of Israel)

?️  A 17th century painting once stolen from Hitler is scheduled to be sold at auction later this month. But the auctioneers are unsure who will get the funds as the rightful heirs can’t be located. (New York Times)

✍️  The Jewish Federations of North America launched a campaign to send Rosh Hashanah greeting letters to Jewish journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in a Russian jail since March. (JTA, Twitter)

Shiva calls ➤  George Lefont, who brought independent and classic cinema to Atlanta through his arthouse theaters, died at 85 … Sarah Wunsch, who spent nearly three decades as the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, died at 75.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history (2006): Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film helped make Baron Cohen an international name — and gave the Jewish star a chance to poke fun at his own people. “For one, Borat’s Kazakh hometown features a less-than-Hemingwayesque ‘Running of the Jews,’” the Forward reported when the film’s trailer was released. “And, taking a page from the Mel Gibson handbook, Borat at one point eschews air travel lest ‘the Jews repeat their attack of 9/11.’” 

VIDEO OF THE DAY

For many Jewish fans of the rock band Phish, concerts are a joyful space to connect with other Jews, celebrate tradition — and even catch a signature High Holidays prayer. The editor of a new book about Phish and Jewish identity writes that the experience of hearing the band play “Avinu Malkeinu” momentarily transforms the venue into a synagogue. Watch them perform it in the video above, and read more about it here.

—

Thanks to Ella Goldblum, Arno Rosenfeld and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

Hope you have a fantastic day.