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Jonathan Greenblatt Remarks to Students at Brown University

Remarks by Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO 
To students at Brown University
February 22, 2024

Good afternoon!

It is an honor, truly an honor, to be here with you all on this beautiful campus today. And I want to acknowledge  Sylvia Carey-Butler for facilitating my visit and for that kind introduction, to everyone Brown University’s Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity for this invitation. 
I also appreciate all of you for spending some of your afternoon here with me today.

As CEO of the ADL, I have the privilege to help the oldest anti-hate organization in the country, an agency that for 110 years has been focused on fighting antisemitism, anti-black racism, and all forms of bigotry. 

And so I’m humbled to be in Providence today, representing this esteemed organization. 

Now, as I start my remarks, I want to acknowledge that as I start my remarks. it’s a tense time on campus. It’s tense for students, it’s tense for faculty, it’s tense for administrators, for everyone.

I just heard stories in a reception that some of the students here attended a few minutes ago where they talked about feeling insecure or feeling threatened.  

And I know just last week threatening emails were sent to the Brown University Hillel Weiner Center’s executive director and assistant director for no other reason than they were Jewish -- and for no other reason than they were serving Jewish students.

And this didn’t happen in a vacuum.  Even over the past three or four months. Jewish students here have been on the receiving end of ugly, untoward harassment.

So today, what I want more than anything, is that we can have a real conversation. And I say conversation because I want this to be reciprocal in that dialogue.

I’m going to speak for a few minutes, then we’ll talk and take questions from the audience, and I promise to approach every issue raised here today with good faith and I’ll be candid because we don’t have to agree on everything.

Now, I may say some things today that elicit a strong reaction, but let me make a confession: I don’t believe in safe spaces on college campuses or really just about anywhere.

I don’t think that it’s a good idea to have speech policies that sheath us in bubble wrap or act like car seats for toddlers; you’re college students of one of the most prestigious institutions in the world.  We don’t need to infantilize you.

Now don’t misinterpret my words. I’m not suggesting that it should be open season to defame your classmates or send death threats to your people you don’t like.

That’s not protected speech.

Freedom of speech is not the freedom to slander.

Freedom of expression is not the freedom to incite violence.

But we don’t need safe spaces on campuses like Brown – we need brave spaces arguably like this one here today – where ideas can be debated, where opinions can be challenged, and where civil discourse is the norm.

This means engaging your classmates, even those with whom you vehemently disagree, not with anger but instead with empathy; not with rage but with grace, and approaching any conversation with some basic norms like acknowledging your shared humanity and agreeing on the merits of searching for common ground.

Think about it. If we can’t hear one another in a place like this, how can we ever heal?

If we can’t find hope, how can we ever stop hate?

Now, I know that for me, like perhaps for many of you, the past several months have been some of the hardest moments in my life.

Last month, ADL tracked a staggering 360 percent surge of antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of the attack in Israel, with 3,291 incidents in the three months since the Oct. 7 massacre.

And, on college and university campuses, ADL recorded a total of 744 antisemitic incidents between October and January, compared to only 85 incidents during the same period over the prior year. That’s nearly a 900% increase.

Beyond campus, acts of anti-Jewish hate have surged to the highest rates since ADL began tracking this information 45 years ago. Anti-Jewish attitudes have reached a 30-year high and continue to climb.

Even though we already live in the shadow of Charlottesville and Pittsburgh, Poway and Jersey City, the danger is still growing – it’s growing from both ends of the political spectrum.

We currently are combating antisemitism from the extreme-right, as recently as this past weekend where a Neo-Nazi group called the Blood Tribe marched openly in Nashville Tennessee, and on the far-left in the form of where images of Hamas paragliders or antisemitic chants calling to globalize the intifada are heard again and again.

Antisemitism is the Venn-diagram where these two spheres of the far-left or the extreme-right, that otherwise are so far apart manage to overlap in common cause – hatred of the Jewish people.

Antisemitism is not a one-dimensional type of bias against a group of people because who are perceived or imagine to be inferior based on some perceptible difference like the color of their skin or the person they love.

Antisemitism is a multi-faceted form of evil, but at its core, it is a conspiracy theory about how the world works. It draws from the human impulse to blame, to look for scapegoats who must be responsible for any number of complicated problems, and it’s persisted across time and space, cleverly adapting to a common set of myths or trope to fit different climates and cultures.
Basically, it’s a tried-and-true playbook for conspiracists, cranks and for cretins when they need someone to blame.

Sometimes it’s the Jewish religion. Sometimes it’s the Jewish race. Often now the Jewish state. But, bottom line, antisemitism offers something for everyone.  
And it exploits the political division in our country. 
Whether you are a self-identified MAGA enthusiast or a more movement conservative or something in-between, if you believe, if you think that George Soros is the source of all evil or that the Great Replacement Theory is real or that there are globalists inside the Deep State keeping our country in a perpetual state of war – I’m sorry, you’re wrong. These are the poisonous seeds of antisemitism even if they are dressed up in the populist rhetoric of 21st century America.

At the same time, whether you are a proud DSA member or a more traditional progressive or something in-between, if you believe that Sheldon Adelson or Miriam Adelson is the source of all evil or that the Israel Lobby slavishly controls America or that there are cunning Zionists inside the NSC depriving indigenous people of their rights. I’m sorry- you’re wrong.  These ideas also drawn from toxic antisemitic tropes even if they are dressed up in the pseudo-revolutionary rhetoric of this political moment.

Antisemitism is a pernicious force that has been with us since antiquity and can fester in many forms.

One recent example of this is among those who claim that they are not antisemitic, they are just anti-Zionist.

This is an absurdity.

It’s like saying in 1964, “I’m not a racist, but I just don’t think we need to pass the Civil Rights Act or end Jim Crow.”

Let me clear: antizionism is antisemitism. 

And before the editors at socialist websites that very few Jews actually read or even those activists who participate in “BrownU Jews for Ceasefire Now” start to object, I want to be clear on what the term means.

Antizionism doesn’t mean having a problem with a set of actions by the Israeli government.

It does not mean that you don’t like the policies of Prime Minister Netanyahu or some of his predecessors or some of the awful members of his government.  

That’s what some people want you to think.

But they’re either deeply ignorant or intentionally misleading you.

To explain, let’s start with what Zionism means.

Zionism is the right of Jews to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.

That’s it. That’s all.

It’s a simple, straightforward idea – Jews have the right to live In the place where they continuously had a presence, the place from which the vast majority were torn by Romans 2000 years ago, seized as slaves and forced to live in diaspora all around the world. It is a liberation movement focused on allowing Jews to return to the place they always called home.

But don’t take my word for it.

Walk down the street to your local synagogue and open any prayer book. 

Ask your friends if you can attend their seders. 

Or open a Passover Haggadah. 

The call to Zion, the longing for Jerusalem, the yearning for Eretz Yisrael, these are indivisibles elements of Jewish faith, ritual, and tradition.

At the same time, antizionism also is quite simple to define. It means that Jews do not deserve freedom and self-determination in their homeland.  

That’s it. 

If hypocrisy is going to be your operating model, you should come to hear a speaker and then walk out. 

But if learning is your intent when you come to hear a speaker, then maybe, just maybe listen. 

But there’s a reason why people don’t want to listen. There’s a reason why they don’t want to hear what anti-Zionism is. Because they think you don’t deserve to be listened to. 
Antizionism is a negation of Jewish history and a denial of Jewish identity. 

And you are not exempt from trafficking that denial. And you’re not somehow immune from parroting that kind of evil, just because you happen to wear a kippah. 
But let’s be honest, this issue is so important in some quarters of this campus or in some communities across the country, that somehow it seems to overshadow every other concern, whether it’s stopping the actual genocide of the Uyghur people in China or the invasion of Ukraine or combating the climate crisis.

Protesting Israel – excusing the rape and murder of innocent Israeli civilians, calling for the eradication of the only Jewish state in the world is so critical, it has led to real, actual threats and violence.

Let me be clear: if your idea of expressing dissent against policies of the Israeli government is to attack Jews in America (or anywhere, for that matter), that doesn’t make you a de-colonizer.

It doesn’t make you a freedom fighter.

It doesn’t make you progressive.

It makes you a bigot. Full stop. 

Now look.  No one is saying that you can’t have strong disagreements with Israeli policies or the Netanyahu government.

At times, I have had them too, and you can go to ADL.org and read all about them and look at the litany of criticisms we’ve launched over the years.

No one is saying that you can’t mourn for the devastation in Gaza, and frankly if these images out of Gaza do not make your heart break, then you’re not paying attention or maybe you just don’t have a heart.

No one is saying that you shouldn’t protest for causes you believe in, but a line must be drawn when advocating for a cause mutates into targeting people—like your classmates, your professors your friends, or bystanders on the street.

A line needs to be drawn when Jewish students have to barricade themselves behind doors, as we saw at Cooper Union in New York City, to escape the clutches of an unhinged mob, or when students are attacked in broad daylight as we have seen in recent months at Tulane, Ohio State, Columbia, UMass, and so many others.

A line has got to be drawn when Jewish-owned businesses like restaurants or ice cream parlors or coffee shops are met with calls to be boycotted or vandalized because their owners happen to be Jewish.

These kinds of protests aren’t in line with “progressive values.”

They aren’t consistent with any normative values.

But for me they do prompt some questions:

Does anyone really think that defacing a Hillel or sending death threats to Rabbi Bolton somehow advance the cause of Palestinian statehood?

Does screaming down President Paxson at a vigil actually satisfy calls for justice?

Does harassing Jewish students on their way to class or in their dorm rooms create the necessary conditions for a ceasefire?

When nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students in America say they’ve experienced or witnessed antisemitism, do those activists feel a sense of pride?

I hope not because these are indisputably shameful acts of hate. They’re ills in our society.

And it’s not only among students.

Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are also being propagated by some faculty and other campus leaders, some of whom are even ostracizing their fellow Jewish professors or students for any connections with Israel.

But Jews mustn’t be daunted or afraid. Bullies everywhere prey on weakness and shame and so if we are neither weak nor ashamed, we can’t be bullied. I think we’ve have learned that lesson the hard way.

And so ADL will join other Jewish organizations in unapologetically calling for Hamas to return ALL the hostages they violently seized, to immediately lay down their arms in a war they cannot possibly win, and to call for a negotiated peace-agreement with Israel.

If they do that tonight – [SNAP] 

That’s how you get a ceasefire.

End of story.

But what concerns me is the day after, because even if and when the war thankfully ends, we still have to live with each other. We will still have to co-exist, we still have to face one another in our classrooms or on the playing field or out in the world. So the hard work is just beginning.
We’ll talk more about this in a minute during our conversation and Q&A- but in closing I would note that fighting antisemitism and hate is an all-hands on deck assignment. Everyone, everyone of you whether you’re a student or an administrator, has a role to play.

Government, business, nonprofits, citizenry and indeed academia. And, if these stakeholders don’t step up, we need to hold them accountable.

Again, I can talk about how ADL already is doing that in the Q&A, but I would guess that the question on your minds is – how do we move forward?

Well, if you’re Jewish, speak out and don’t be afraid. 
There is no need to tremble. You have the truth on your side. Take stock in your truth. Tell your story. Don’t demonize the other side but stand strong and share your experience with confidence.

Build coalitions of support within this university or outside of it to collectively fight back against hate. And when you form those coalitions remember that when they engage and work on your behalf, never forget to stand with them when they need you.

For instance, this community knows far too well that anti-Muslim bias and hate can also have terrible consequences.

The shooting of Hisham Awartani in Vermont this past December was a terrible tragedy.

Let me say clearly and emphatically – Muslim students and Muslims throughout America deserve dignity and respect, full stop.

They should live free from fear and harassment, again like everyone else.

ADL has been fighting anti-Muslim hate for years, and will continue to do so because I believe we are all in this together.

Finally, to university administrators and staff, let me say that you aren’t spectators in this situation. You must ensure that guardrails are in place to keep things civil and to strengthen discourse.

Enforce your codes of conduct – and do so consistently.

When students breach those norms, there must be consequences. Creating a brave space where everyone can be heard means having the courage to call out or even cast out those individuals or organizations who violate the policies with intention and impunity.

Examine your DEI programming. Make sure that your effort at diversity equity and inclusion does not facilitate the exclusion of Jews or any other group. None of us should be forced to play in the Oppression Olympics. It’s a game where everyone loses.

Instead, this is a moment to recommit to pluralism in its truest form so all views are heard, all people are appreciated, and all experience value.  

And finally, to leaders-  use your voice. Students, faculty, alumni – they all look to you for leadership. Not to put your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing before you issue a statement. Not to take the pulse of students before you speak.  Leadership means leading, being bold, being out in front, being a leader.

You see, colleges are more than just places to take classes. They are more than bookstores to sell merchandise. They must be centers of academic pursuit, laboratories for intellectual growth, platforms for raising consciousness and spaces for moral striving.

So remember that.

Strive.

Always strive.

Thank you.
Am Israel Chai.