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ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE RAMPS UP LOBBYING TO PROMOTE CONTROVERSIAL
DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM  
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Tom Perkins
May 16, 2024
The Guardian
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_ Federal records show a dramatic spending increase that critics say
is primarily intended to punish criticism of Israel and target
pro-Palestinian groups _

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, (photo credit: GAGE
SKIDMORE)

 

The Anti-Defamation League has spent record amounts on lobbying in
recent years, including on bills opponents say are meant to punish
criticism of Israel [[link removed]] and
target Jewish peace and Palestinian rights groups.

The Jewish civil rights organization, founded in 1913, is the
self-described “leading anti-hate organization in the world”, and
has historically focused on combating antisemitism
[[link removed]] by shaping public
opinion. Its lobbying spike marks a dramatic shift – it spent about
$100,000 on lobbying in 2020 and is on pace to spend nearly $1.6m this
year based on its first quarter expenditures, a Guardian analysis of
federal records finds.

The spending positions the ADL as the largest pro-Israel lobbying
force on domestic issues. Records show
[[link removed]] the
surge’s broader aim is to promoting a controversial definition of
antisemitism across a range of federal agencies and mobilizing the
government to enforce it.

The 16-fold spending increase is “breathtaking” and currently
unmatched on Capitol Hill, said Craig Holman, who monitors lobbying
issues with Public Citizen, a government watchdog non-profit that does
not take positions on the Israel-Palestine debate. It comes amid a
“fundamental shift in public opinion about Israel”, Holman said,
pointing to nationwide anti-war demonstrations on college campuses.

In a statement, the ADL denied that its lobbying targeted its
opponents. It developed its “vast legislative agenda” in response
to synagogue shootings and other violent incidents, and the
organization “made a strategic decision to invest in its policy
apparatus which has culminated in more robust government relations
capabilities”, a spokesperson said.

The House in late April approved the Antisemitism
[[link removed]] Awareness Act, which
the ADL lobbied for and would codify a definition of antisemitism that
would limit some speech around Israel. It would be used in federal
civil rights investigations in schools and, critics say, could
ultimately limit protests and criticism of Israel on campus. The bill
has yet to come before the Senate for a vote.

Records also show lobbying on the so-called “TikTok ban
[[link removed]]”,
which Joe Biden recently signed into law. The bill’s authors
developed it over fear that the Chinese government was using the app
to collect US data, but pro-Israel US lawmakers argued that TikTok
should be banned in part because it promotes pro-Palestinian content
over pro-Israel viewpoints.

In a statement, the ADL said it only had conversations with lawmakers
and did not support a ban.

Public media pushes have coincided with the behind-the-scenes
lobbying. The ADL also lobbied for a bill
[[link removed]] supporters say
[[link removed]] is
aimed at pro-Palestinian protesters. It would grant the Internal
Revenue Service power to eliminate the non-profit status of groups
determined to support terrorism.

In late April, during a CNN appearance
[[link removed]], the ADL president,
Jonathan Greenblatt, likened the student groups to Hezbollah, a
US-designated terrorist organization. In its online antisemitism
tracker regularly cited by mainstream media, the ADL often attributes
“support for terror” to anti-war and ceasefire rallies
[[link removed]] by Jewish groups such as
Jewish Voice for Peace.

“Iran has their military proxies like Hezbollah, and Iran has their
campus proxies like these groups, like Students for Justice in
Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace,” Greenblatt said
[[link removed]] on CNN.

Days later, the House approved the bill with only 11 votes against.

Stefanie Fox, Jewish Voice for Peace’s executive director, said the
bill highlights how the ADL has “set up the arguments through lies
in the mainstream media … and on the lobbying side sets up the
architecture by which those things can be laundered into real
criminalization of the anti-war movement”.

Public support for the war is at a low, Fox added, so the ADL “uses
their power and resources in an attempt to maintain unjust policy
against the will of the people”.

[A sign reading ‘Reinstate SJP & JVP’]

Students protested the banning of Students for Justice in Palestine
and Jewish Voice for Peace at Columbia University on 20 November
2023. Photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

The lobbying surge coincides with a controversial 2022 Greenblatt
speech
[[link removed]] in
which he equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism, and promised the ADL
will “use our advocacy muscles to push policymakers to take
action”. While the ADL has long aligned itself with pro-Israel
goals, the speech marked a “critical turning point” in its
tactics, Fox said.

Critics have said the ADL has aligned itself with rightwing
organizations, which was a central issue in the 2022 Drop the
ADL campaign [[link removed]] calling on progressives not
to work with the group. The group has also joined forces with
rightwing donors and groups pushing for the same legislation, said
Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

“The way that ADL and company are arguing for Jewish safety makes a
zero-sum battle between that and the right to protest, and it’s
weird for an organization like the ADL to play a key role in
accrediting that paradigm,” Friedman said.

The ADL said claims it is trying to end debate about Israel or is
aligning itself with rightwing groups were “patently false”.

‘Weaponizing’ the IRS

As anti-war protests proliferated in November, Greenblatt went on
MSNBC and called
[[link removed]] for the IRS
to investigate student groups for financial ties to terrorism: “We
need the right governmental authorities – like the IRS and FBI –
to make sure that the national organizations aren’t providing
material support to Hamas, which is a foreign terror organization.”

A day later, the US House ways and means committee approved the IRS
bill
[[link removed]].

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House ways and means committee,
Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, said
[[link removed]] in
a November hearing that the legislation was intended to target
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), suggesting without providing
evidence that the group was linked to Hamas.

[man in a pale blue suit and striped tie in front of an american flag]

Jason Smith at the Capitol in Washington DC on 27 September
2023. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Supporting terrorism is already illegal and prosecuted in federal
court, legal observers note, but the new law would allow the
government to circumvent due process for non-profits.

The legal definition
[[link removed](title:18%20section:2339A%20edition:prelim] of
“material support” includes financial assistance, weapons, and
expert advice and assistance. The ADL in a statement to the Guardian
called for “SJP to be investigated for potentially providing
material support to a terrorist organization based on
SJP’s documented vocal support for Hamas
[[link removed]],
a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization”.

It offered a range of statements in support of the claim, but the ACLU
attorney Kia Hamadanchy, who reviewed the allegations, said absent
additional evidence that they were at the direction of or in
coordination with a foreign terrorist organization, none rose to the
level of “material support”.

Groups found to be supporting terrorism could theoretically appeal
against the designation, but it would be crippling, he said.

“The reputational and financial costs of fending off such a
designation could functionally mean the end of a targeted non-profit
before they ever see their day in court,” Hamadanchy said.

Expanding the definition of antisemitism

At the center of the firestorm over campus protests is a debate about
whether some criticism of Israel and the protests are protected
political speech. Under ADL-backed legislation, much of it would be
defined as antisemitism, lobbying records show.

The Antisemitic Awareness Act
[[link removed]] would
require the federal government to “consider” the International
Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which
includes some criticism of Israel and Zionism, as it investigates
civil rights violations.

The IHRA definition includes examples of antisemitism that are
considered by free speech advocates to be protected by the first
amendment, such as labeling Israel a racist state, questioning its
right to exist and “applying double standards by requiring of
[Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic
nation”.

If enacted, universities that allow such speech on their campuses
could face funding cuts from the US Department of Education. The mere
threat is pressuring schools to crack down on protesters, Fox said.

Other records also show that the ADL lobbied for a $48m increase in
funding for investigations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, which currently employs the IHRA definition under a 2019
executive order.

“If [the government] cannot appropriately investigate these cases,
it cannot protect the rights, safety and wellbeing of students,” the
ADL wrote. “We must ensure [it] has the resources it needs to be
effective, fast, and robust in their investigations and response.”

The new budget, which goes into effect in October, includes a $22m
increase for Title VI investigations.

The Antisemitism Awareness Act is opposed by groups and politicians
across the political spectrum. The ACLU called the legislation
[[link removed]] “overbroad”,
writing: “Criticism of Israel and its policies is political speech
squarely protected by the first amendment.”

In a statement, the ADL disagreed, arguing the bill “does not stifle
speech about Israel”.

“At a time when antisemitism is at record levels since ADL began
tracking incidents, it is essential for the government to have a clear
and cogent definition of antisemitism to provide appropriate remedies
to those whose civil rights are being violated,” an ADL spokesperson
said.

The legislation is solely an attempt to silence criticism of Israel, a
progressive US House staffer for a Congress member opposed to the
legislation told the Guardian. But it has a real chance of becoming
law.

“The ADL, [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] and the Israeli
government are losing the narrative battle with the majority of
American people, but not on Capitol Hill with establishment
politicians,” he said.

* Antisemitism Awareness Act
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* Anti-Defamation League
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* anti-protest bills
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