What is the Real Racial/Ethnic Agenda of the ADL?

The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL) is probably well known to most readers of The Revisionist. This New York-based, tax-exempt Jewish-Zionist religious organization with affiliates in forty-two countries claims to be one of the premier civil rights organizations in the world, and allegedly, dedicated to ending discrimination and securing equal rights for all.[1] Undoubtedly, the sociopolitical agenda of the ADL reflects the wishes of a significant portion of the world Jewish community. This is why it is important to ask the question: What is the real ethnic agenda of the ADL?

ADL preaches racial integration, racial equality, and multiculturalism; one of their most popular slogans is, “Diversity is our greatest strength.”[2] This highly influential pressure group sponsors activities that urge people “to reject racial division,” and condemns discrimination against Jews in housing as an “insidious form of anti-Semitism.”[3] A major focus of their activity in the U.S. in the 1960s was implementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[4] This legislation help create a racially-integrated society in the U.S. They allegedly reject all forms of “racial domination,” that is, a situation where one ethnic group dominates another, and they are especially hostile toward all manifestations of “white supremacy.” Where different ethnic groups coexist in the same nation, ADL appears to be a strong advocate of an integrated society in which all ethnic groups function as social and political equals.

Critics, however, have claimed that this ADL “moral agenda” is, for the most part, an ideological facade, a method by which to surreptitiously advance Jewish-Zionist interests under the guise of morality.[5] According to this viewpoint, public opposition to racial/ethnic discrimination is being used in the service of the ADL’s Jewish-Zionist ethnic/cultural nationalism. ADL preaches universal equality and racial/ethnic mixing for non-Jews while maintaining an exclusivist-separatist group identity for Jews. Judaism has been characterized by genetic and cultural separation from others and an explicit double standard of morality: altruism and cooperation among Jews, but competition with non-Jews.[6] Thus, according to this viewpoint, the Jewish communities that reside outside of Israel are a minority that needs a nation that tolerates their long-term policy of non-assimilation and group solidarity. In a racially-integrated society composed of a variety of different and competing ethnic groups, all with divergent interests, it is very difficult to develop a cohesive Gentile movement that is opposed to organized Jewry. In addition, in racially-integrated societies, Gentiles have only a weak and feeble sense of their own racial/cultural/religious identity, and therefore Jews are less likely to be identified as a hostile, non-assimilable, and alien element. As a consequence, in racially-integrated, multicultural societies outside of Israel, Jews can gain power and influence.

So which is it? Is the ADL truly interested in creating racially-diverse, multicultural societies where all ethnic groups coexist on an equal basis everywhere in the world? Or is this universal/multicultural agenda in reality an ideological front under which they promote a Jewish-Zionist agenda – Jewish dominance in Israel where Jews are a majority, but “racial equality” and multiculturalism outside of Israel because Jewish Communities benefit enormously from such an agenda?

Fortunately, we are offered a situation where we can test these two rival competing hypotheses: Israel. In a 2003 issue of The New York Times, there was a controversial article that discussed proposals for replacing the Jewish-Zionist state of Israel with a Jewish-Arab state – a bi-national, ethnically-integrated, secular state where Jews and Arabs would live together as social and political equals. In the article’s own words:[7]

“The unthinkable was that Israel should be replaced by a bi-national country in which Jews and Palestinians would live together in democratic harmony.”

National Chair of the ADL, Barbara B. Balser, responded to the article with her own “letter to the editor.” This missive apparently expresses a formal, etched-in-stone policy of the ADL. They reject the idea of a bi-national, ethnically-integrated, secular state in the Middle East where Jews and Arabs would live together as political equals. They label this as an “insidious anti-Israel effort” and “an effort to destroy Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land.” They clearly want to maintain Jewish sovereignty (read: Jewish dominance over the area – a state where Jews are segregated from and maintain dominance over non-Jews).[8] This strongly suggests that what critics of the ADL say is indeed true. If the primary motive of the ADL was to promote racial equality and multiculturalism and end all forms of racial and ethnic supremacy, then we should expect that they would promote this agenda in Israel (where Jews are a majority) just as ardently as they promote it everywhere else in the world (where Jews are a minority). But this is not the case. For the most part, the ADL promotes racial integration and multiculturalism everywhere outside of Israel because it actually advances Jewish-nationalism, and enables Jews to acquire power and influence in predominantly non-Jewish societies. That is, universalism and calls for “racial equality” are used to serve sectarian Jewish nationalism. It is hard to believe that they sincerely endorse the ideals of racial equality and multiculturalism when they are the most ardent supporters of Israel, a separate and unequal society in which discrimination is part of the established social order and Jewish supremacism is enshrined in law.[9]

Editor’s note

In the interests of truth and fairness, a copy of this essay was emailed to Ms. Susan Heller, the ADL’s Director of Middle Eastern Affairs. She was given the opportunity to identify any false or misleading claims prior to publication. Not surprisingly, she did not respond.

Notes