ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt's vile and racist rant to a group of Republican DAs last week showed the man and the organization he leads for what they really are...again.
As private citizens, even in our numbers, we are often limited in what we can accomplish, especially in the short term. This is especially true in the fight for Palestinian rights, where we not only confront massive economic and political power, but also a geostrategic map that doesn’t favor our cause. Perhaps most daunting of all, we have to contend with a public that is woefully misinformed but holds a significant and vocal minority which, whether out of hate or ignorance enthusiastically supports the most heinous and repulsive Israeli attacks on innocent Palestinians.
We can be most effective in the realm of public opinion. We rally, we march, we protest, we sit in, we block traffic. These activities have had an effect, even if that effect has grown at a maddeningly slow pace, while we watch more and more children die.
For years, outside of government offices, the main target has quite correctly been the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). There have been some real effects, as a few more politicians—again, not nearly enough—have realized that they can stand against AIPAC. The organization has become a symbol for corruption and the manipulation of campaign finance to enact unpopular legislation and policy. Those efforts need to continue.
But there is another threat that is clear, present, and, like AIPAC, starts by threatening the movement for Palestinian rights but is, in fact, threatening civil liberties, and the lives of many Arab, Jewish, progressive, and non-white Americans.
Unlike AIPAC, which has always made it abundantly clear that they act in the interest of the state of Israel, this group is a true wolf in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be a civil rights and anti-hate organization while, in fact, being exactly the opposite. That group is, of course, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). (more...)
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