ADL: Stop ‘politicizing’ anti-Semitism

“This moment is about women wearing wigs harassed as they ride the subway or men wearing black hats assaulted as they cross the street,” ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told Congress.

By World Israel News Staff 

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is calling on politicians of all shades to “stop politicizing anti-Semitism and weaponizing it for partisan gain.”

In testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism on Wednesday, ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt urged Congress to put more pressure on social media companies to “shut down the neo-Nazis and anti-Semites on their platforms,” according to an ADL statement.

Greenblatt reiterated the need to pass a number of bills that have already been drafted and introduced in Congress, including the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, and the Never Again Holocaust Education Act.

“It is fair to say that the past few years have been the most challenging that we have faced in recent memory,” Greenblatt said in his prepared testimony. “From Pittsburgh to Poway, Jersey City to Monsey, Orlando to El Paso, Charleston, Christchurch, New Zealand, the list goes on and on.”

However, he argued that away from the spotlight, there are also many other types of incidents that require more attention.

“It’s also the kids who snap a Heil Hitler salute for a gag, the swastikas scrawled on a garage door, the college campuses where Jewish students are ostracized for supporting Israel,” said the CEO.

“This moment is about women wearing wigs harassed as they ride the subway or men wearing black hats assaulted as they cross the street. It’s the idea that a person isn’t safe in their supermarket, in their synagogue, or in their home just because they are Jewish,” Greenblatt added.

The organization says that at another hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, George Selim, its senior vice president for programs, presented ADL’s latest findings on the financing of domestic terrorism and extremism.