UPDATE: Who is Igniting Antisemitism in America?

Three significant updates on the ADL data I cited a few weeks back

I launched Let’s Address This to fight for human rights and maintain media accountability. Last week I published an article citing ADL data on antisemitism in America. And citing ADL data I demonstrated that:

According to the ADL, since 2002, there have been zero antisemitic hate crimes from Muslims, zero antisemitic hate crimes from leftists, and meanwhile the Right has been responsible for an incredible, a horrifying, a sickening 100% of antisemitic hate crimes—totaling at least 3058 antisemitic hate crimes.

However, since publishing that article, three significant developments have occurred. It is important I share these updates to stay aligned with my founding promise of being unassailable in my advocacy of human rights and media accountability, especially because the updates impact the very ADL data I shared.

One—since I published the ADL data by citing their own H.E.A.T. Map, the ADL changed their own website and removed the ability to search hate crimes by motivating ideology. My screenshots provided in my post demonstrate the past ability users had to search antisemitic hate crimes committed by left wing, right wing, or ‘Islamist’ ideology. After my piece was published, proving that even the ADL admits 100% of hate crimes come from the right, the ADL removed the ability for future researchers to determine the motivating ideology behind a particular antisemitic hate crime. I found this incredibly concerning as this lack of transparency is certainly not indicative of an organization committed to truth or reliable trustworthy data—hence the second significant development.

Two—citing ADL’s unreliable data, Wikipedia editors have, by democratic consensus, voted to declare the Anti-Defamation League “generally unreliable” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This decision came down to unreliability in the data overall, and unreliability in ADL leadership specifically.

Regarding the ADL’s overall data unreliability The Jewish Telegraph Agency (“JTA”) reports:

…in a near consensus, dozens of Wikipedia editors involved in the discussion said they believe the ADL should not be cited for factual information on antisemitism as well because it acts primarily as a pro-Israel organization and tends to label legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitism. “ADL no longer appears to adhere to a serious, mainstream and intellectually cogent definition of antisemitism, but has instead given into the shameless politicization of the very subject that it was originally esteemed for being reliable on,” wrote an editor known as Iskandar323, whose request for a discussion about the ADL ultimately led to the ban. 

And regarding ADL leadership specifically the JTA reports:

Also cited were a series of controversial statements by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who has claimed student protests were Iranian proxies, compared the keffiyeh head scarf to the swastika, praised Elon Musk after he promoted an antisemitic post on his social media platform X, and compared anti-Zionism to white supremacy. Editors pointed to news reporting about a staff revolt in January against Greenblatt’s statements.

And this brings me to the third significant development of which I became aware since last week—what does the ADL count as an antisemitic hate crime? My fair assumption was that the ADL followed the accepted definition by the U.S. Department of Justice, which defines a hate crime as:

“acts of violence or threats of violence motivated by bias based on statutorily-protected characteristics. This includes acts of physical harm and specific criminal threats motivated by animus based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.” 

Accordingly, I expected the ADL to document hate crimes against Jewish people that were acts of violence or threats of violence motivated by antisemitism. However, this appears not to be the case. Data scientist Rebekah Jones analyzed the ADL’s data as of May 3 and demonstrated the ADL data reports something quite different than the DOJ’s definition. Rebekah Jones writes:

• According to the 2023 audit of what the ADL claimed were antisemitic attacks/hate crimes:

  • 230 of the 300 most recent reports were for stickers people claim to have seen, including stickers saying "America First."

  • 52% of the "attacks" were about Israel or Zionism. The ADL includes references to Israel and Zionism, including saying "Fuck Israel" as a hate crime against Jews.

  • The ADL included all 1,352 anti-war rallies since October 7 as "hate groups" and "antisemitic incidents" Those rallies make up 1/6th of the more than 8,000 "antisemitic" incidents they report.

  • To quote the ADL, opposition to Israel is now terrorism against Jews: "We saw an explosion of anti-Israel activism that incorporated expressions of opposition to Zionism, as well as support for resistance against Israel or Zionists that could be perceived as supporting terrorism or attacks on Jews, Israelis or Zionists.”

Trump’s “America First” flags are being sold on Amazon

The MAGA “America First” slogan is certainly a racist slogan (and reinforces the right wing seeming monopoly on antisemitism). “F—k Israel” is certainly a vulgar phrase. I employ neither. But to be clear, I know of no legal precedent in American history where racist speech or vulgar language alone rises to the status of “acts of violence or threats of violence,” which could thus be classified as a hate crime. Undoubtedly, antisemitism is absolutely condemnable without exception. And that is why it is that much more critical we rely on reliable data. Unfortunately, because it appears the ADL has not provided reliable data, and is instead further censoring the data it previously posted, I felt compelled to write this update to better contextualize and qualify my previous article.

I am hopeful the ADL will reverse course and commit to authentic and reliable data collection and reporting methods going forward. Otherwise, the near unanimous consensus of Wikipedia editors will have to remain that the ADL, “…is now grouped together with the National Inquirer, Newsmax, and Occupy Democrats as a source of propaganda or misinformation...”

In the meantime, I’ve added a disclaimer to my earlier piece and linked this piece for future readers. My commitment is firm to continue fighting for human rights and demanding media accountability—while being unassailable with my facts and research. Thank you, the reader and subscriber, for your support that enables me to continue to do this work.