ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt delivers 2022 State of Hate at Never Is Now
Remarks as prepared for delivery
November 10, 2022
Thank you, Ben Sax – for that kind introduction, and for your leadership.
As ADL CEO, I find myself on TV.
And the other day, I was on a morning news show and the host said, “Jonathan, I looked at your Twitter feed and I was stunned by the amount of ugly antisemitism directed at you.”
I replied, “Welcome to my world.”
But it’s no longer my world.
More and more, it’s our world.
Because something has changed.
Something definitely has changed.
We have political candidates who disparage their opponents – as elitists, globalists, as “different” than regular Americans.
We have entertainers with messiah complexes spewing vile anti-Jewish hate, obscenely comparing themselves to real-world martyrs.
We have trending movies on our major streaming platforms that are little more than the kind of anti-Jewish propaganda that Goebbels would lovingly approve.
And this is not happening in a normal environment.
Antisemitism indisputably is on the rise.
ADL tracked a 34 percent increase in anti-Jewish acts in 2021. That was the highest number we’ve ever seen in more than 40 years of doing this work.
We’re recording acts of harassment, vandalism and violence every single day in Brooklyn -- but also increasingly in non-Jewish neighborhoods in New York City and across the country.
And, of course, what’s happening online.
This week was Election Day. ADL was monitoring more than 100 right-wing extremists who ran for office this cycle, including a number who proudly identified as Christian Nationalists, but who of course insisted they love the Jewish state.
We also have hardened anti-Zionists currently sitting in the US House of Representatives, but who of course insist they love the Jewish people.
Let me clear – both of these camps have exclusionary worldviews – and many of you are the people who they seek…not just to exclude, but to intimidate, to marginalize and to harm.
And the hate is spreading.
I could spend the rest of the day detailing all the antisemitic incidents that ADL has tracked at college campuses…from coast to coast…from small liberal arts schools to huge public universities.
But it didn’t just start this past week, or this past month, or this past year.
In 2017, we watched men march in Charlottesville, and we sounded the alarm.
In 2018, we mourned in Pittsburgh and hoped for change.
In 2019, we paid respects at funerals in Poway, Jersey City and Monsey -- and called for action.
In 2020, we marched in Brooklyn and cried for attention.
In 2021, we witnessed attacks across America -- and pleaded for help.
But today, the time of cries and pleas has passed.
You see, this is no longer a situation of concern.
This is a state of emergency.
Antisemitic acts literally have tripled in the past six years – and unfortunately I see no reason to believe this figure might not triple again over the next six.
And this is not just about the Jews.
It is increasingly clear to me that antisemitism isn’t just the oldest hatred, not just the most vile conspiracy theory. It is a caustic agent that corrodes democracies.
It’s a sign of societal decay, and so while it threatens Jews in the most literal sense, it endangers our nation and all places where it takes root.
That’s why you are here at Never Is Now. But I know you also want to understand: What will we do? How can we be safe?
Safe in our synagogues?
Safe on our campuses?
Safe in our very homes?
How can we lead fully Jewish lives without feeling scared?
This is the question of our time – frankly it is the sole reason ADL was created. And in this moment, faced with this state of emergency, ADL will rise to the challenge and to deliver on our core purpose – protecting the Jewish people.
And if you are watching here at the Javits Center or at home on the livestream, whether or not you are Jewish, let me be clear: this is not just about saving the Jewish community, ultimately it is about saving our country.
So how will we do it?
How will we achieve safety?
I’ll make the case today that we’ll do it through a mix of security and solidarity.
Let me explain.
In terms of security, ADL will continue to fight the battle downstream where acts happen – securing our community in the synagogues where our families pray, in the schools where our kids learn, in the homes where our seniors reside, and in the online spaces where our children socialize and where we spend so much of our lives.
However, security isn’t just about making sure those buildings have strong locks and the best alarms – even though we fought for record funding for the federal Non-Profit Security Grant program this past year, and will continue to do so.
Security is also about disrupting antisemitism and violence before it even gets to our doors. It’s about taking risks…to get to where the threat is heading.
I believe we, as a community, need to stop responding solely to symptoms. We need to start dealing with the disease itself.
To paraphrase Wayne Gretzky, this means that it’s time we skate to where the puck is going. We need to go upstream.
Earlier this week, ADL announced a partnership with BBYO, the world’s leading Jewish teen movement. Together we will train 70,000 Jewish teens in 700+ chapters across 50 countries around the world to prepare them before they get to campus on how to deal with antisemitism. I’m so excited about what ADL and BBYO will do together, working together upstream.
And the next upstream frontier is engaging businesses – making sure that they don’t back antisemites just to chase a buck.
To illustrate this, let me tell you the story about ADL, Kanye West and Adidas.
As we all watched in recent weeks the world-famous Kanye West unleashing torrents of anti-Jewish hate online and offline. And as that happened, ADL sprang into action. Our researchers tracked how Kanye was cheered by extremists from the Nation of Islam to the Proud Boys and neo-Nazi leaders.
Many – like Balenciaga, Gap, the filmmaker MRC, the talent agency CAA and many others – said that Kanye’s values were not their own. They cut ties. In many cases, they took losses of millions of dollars.
But Adidas was silent.
So I called the chairman of Adidas, and he gave me a list of reasons as to why he couldn’t act. I worked at a big company; I understand the pressure he was under. So I told him: “We will work with you. We will praise you if and when you do the right thing. But until then, ADL will hammer you as hard as we can.”
I hung up the phone, and knew to get that done, we had to turn to all of you.
Adidas needed to hear directly from the people who buy their sneakers and wear their workout clothes.
So ADL launched a campaign – hashtag Run Away from Hate -- to use social media to raise awareness of their position -- and almost 20,000 of you directly lobbied the company.
You posted, tweeted, clicked and helped.
The media took notice: stories spread about their inaction.
Then the markets took notice: Adidas’s stock price dropped 23 percent over the month.
And then eventually, Adidas took notice. Instead of just keeping their relationship with Kanye West “under review,” they put it on ice and terminated it.
While I wish they did it sooner, Adidas – to their credit – made it abundantly clear that they would not do business with bigots. And today I am so pleased that they are here at Never Is Now to announce an incredible commitment that demonstrates that their dedication to fighting antisemitism will last long beyond this moment.
It’s a meaningful step forward at a time when it really matters.
But the threats are morphing, taking new forms – and we must meet them.
For several decades, there’s been a growing movement for public companies to adopt Environmental, Social and good Governance practices – commonly known by the shorthand “ESG.”
What does it mean?
It means that companies that adopt these so-called ESG policies steer some of their investments toward a social good – and avoid investments in companies that do bad things: say, destroy our environment or abuse workers.
I know this field well. Two decades ago, I co-founded Ethos Brands and we created Ethos Water, a premium bottled water that used a portion of its profits to fund programs that brought clean water to children in need around the world.
It worked, Ethos has donated scores of millions of dollars over the years, first as an independent company, now today as a brand owned by Starbucks.
I learned firsthand that you can do well and do good, the basic principle that propels ESG.
At the same time, there are some who disagree with ESG, saying companies only should emphasize maximizing profits for shareholders.
And while there are interesting academic arguments for that position – and people are welcome to disagree, here is something upon which we can all agree: ESG should not be a Trojan horse for antisemitism.
You may have heard about this happening in recent years:
Brands like Ben and Jerry’s who knew when they announced that they would not sell ice cream in the West Bank, it effectively would end their presence in all of Israel.
Agencies like Morningstar adopting policies that would make doing business with the Jewish State a black mark on their ESG ratings.
Corporations like General Mills selling its stake in a joint venture that operates a plant in East Jerusalem, after a multi-year campaign against by activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement – also known as BDS.
In each of these instances and more, ADL has been there…behind the scenes – trying to persuade these firms to reverse course.
And if it were just a few of these companies, an occasional outlier, you might not say this is a major issue.
Ultimately though, these are just the tip of the iceberg, what we fear could be the beginning of a larger wave.
See, BDS activists are trying to hijack the ESG movement – and institutional investors, knowingly or unknowingly, have incorporated this anti-Israel bias in their ESG investment policies.
These policies target the Jewish State – and to respond to them, we need to call them what they are: anti-Jewish hate.
For ADL to fulfill its mission of leading the fight against antisemitism, we need a strategy to meet the emerging challenge of anti-Israel bias in the corporate world.
So I’m pleased to announce today here this morning that ADL is acquiring JLens, the leading Jewish values-based investor network in the world
JLens is a non-profit organization with a strong track record in promoting socially responsible investing and doing so with Jewish values.
Since 2012, they have been blazing a trail, getting a seat at the table in the shareholder advocacy space. They have been a critical player in preventing anti-Israel forces from taking hold, and now that they are coming under the ADL umbrella, we will scale up this effort.
And so this is the next step in our efforts to go upstream and stop antisemitism – as ADL is the only organization with the expertise, the relationships and the convening power, to take this work to scale for maximum impact.
As we go deep on BDS in the boardroom, we also must go wide and bring in allies within the Jewish community – and from far beyond it – to join in this work.
Since the founding of ADL, we have been deliberate in building bridges and finding new allies to stop hate and intolerance, because we recognize that for Jews to be safe, everyone must be safe.
When one community is attacked – that threatens all of us.
That’s why solidarity is the other pillar of our work during these perilous times.
Our new Embed Program within the ADL Center on Extremism invites representatives of specific community organizations, such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and The Asian American Foundation, to place personnel inside our center.
By sitting shoulder to shoulder with our experts, outside organizations will gain actionable information, while ADL will benefit from the unique perspectives and skill sets of those groups.
In partnership with our friends at the National Urban League, we recently launched the Community Solidarity and Safety Coalition, to share what ADL has learned about securing our sacred spaces with others. After all, there is much that a Baptist church, an HBCU, a Hindu temple or a Chinese community center can learn from our experience – and we will do everything in our power to help them.
Finally, ADL and the US Conference of Mayors recently organized more than 150 mayors -- Democrats and Republicans – and re-launched our Mayors’ Compact Against Hate – committing local leaders to stand against extremism and bigotry in all of its forms.
We will expand this group by 20X in the years ahead.
You see, this is real solidarity that enhances and expands our safety and truly creates safety.
Despite all of this activity and achievement, I think it’s fair for you to ask:
What can I do?
What can we do?
Let me conclude by sharing some thoughts.
First, speak out on your own. Those of us who want to take on this fight have the power, I might say the obligation, to call out hate whenever it happens – to speak with moral clarity, and to be objective and consistent about it.
That might mean you will face an awkward moment when you have to call out co-workers or challenge friends or push back on your partisan allies. I know that’s not easy, but remember, there is no right or left in this fight – only right and wrong.
Second, join ADL’s advocacy efforts. There are so many ways to get involved. This can be through your regional offices and through our Glass Leadership Institute. We also have ways you can advocate and engage online, though the convenience of your laptop or the ease of your phone. And, as we saw with Adidas, it can make a huge difference.
Third – and I think most important: don’t lose hope.
We can cultivate hope in so many ways.
If you are a Jewish parent, give your children the gift of a Jewish education so they have pride in their people and the knowledge and inner strength to face down the haters. Self-defense starts with self-knowledge and self-love.
If you are a student, learn about the legacy of those who came before us, who encountered much more difficult obstacles than we face, and who bravely and courageously overcame them.
If you are non-Jewish, be prepared to assert yourself as an ally. Our struggle is your struggle. It’s America’s struggle.
And so, in the end, to push back against these forces of hate, we need unity inside our multi-ethnic, multi-racial, religiously pluralistic, politically diverse Jewish community as well as unity with the Jewish people from outside our community, from all segments and sectors of our society.
That is how we will respond to this state of emergency.
That is how we will build security and solidarity.
Now, let’s get to work.