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Leaked audio posted online shows Anti-Defamation League head Jonathan Greenblatt discussing everything from pressuring the government to policing speech and a planned major censorship campaign over alleged threats to the country's Jewish population.
Another, separate, donor call from the ADL was leaked last month, which a Jewish outlet described as part of an internal conflict within the organization, noting that it was “a special meeting to silence internal critics, indicating That the organization's vocal opposition to anti-Zionist leftism is controversial even within an organization that has long been committed to Israel advocacy.
The ADL has for many years embraced far-left politicians and rubbed the political right the wrong way, and the left's support for Israel and Zionist policy has splintered since the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel in October. Because this decision is causing harm to the organization. The New York Times recently headlined an op-ed, calling this divide “The Great Rapture.”
The ADL has long taken a hard-left political stance, even though polls consistently show that most of Israel's political support in the US comes from the political right. Surveys show Jews' dislike of Christian sects, even though Christian groups rate Jews positively.
In the leaked presentation, Greenblatt equated anti-Semitism with anti-Semitism, implying that any criticism of Israel's policies toward Palestinians is enabling terrorist attacks. Most surprisingly, Greenblatt mentioned plans to bring even more government censorship online. In his speech, Greenblatt mentioned the CDA 230 immunity from liability that tech companies enjoy, which limits online companies from liability for content posted by others on their sites. Meaning, currently Facebook cannot be sued for defamation if someone posts defamatory content on their platform.
Audio of Greenblatt saying that he is going to work to change the civil immunity of online platforms, so that social media companies are liable for statements made by their members online, virtually creating another social media crackdown on free speech. Dominance can be ensured.
Greenblatt said: “I know many of you probably think The New York Times is the problem. Your children and grandchildren are not reading the New York Times, they're reading their Instagram feed, they're watching TikTok videos, and so we have to fight the New York Times, but we also go where it's really the front lines. Is. So we brought in a lot of computer scientists, software engineers at ADL to work on these problems. This is not going to happen easily. I finally came to the conclusion that we need the government to come in and regulate. Basically if you publish something in the Miami Herald that is defamatory, you can be sued. If you post on Facebook? Nothing. There is a loophole in the law that exempts companies from liability. Change that rule, and we can change the outcome. So we are really working on it.”
Greenblatt boasts close ADL working relationships with major big tech companies, including: Amazon, Apple, Meta, X, TikTok, Zoom, Snap, Google. Big Tech has been notoriously censor-happy for many years. It is only in recent years that the connection between Big Tech censorship and government orders and directives to further censorship has become known. That military-industrial censorship complex is under review in the Supreme Court as part of the Missouri v. Biden litigation, where Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft is the lead plaintiff.
Greenblatt condemned “extremist groups” on the political right and left without further defining the terms.
Greenblatt also spoke about a program he developed with the law firms Gibson Dunn, Morgan Lewis and Latham Watkins and 300 affiliated attorneys to bring Title VI lawsuits against universities if Jewish students attending those colleges felt threatened. Can. The argument being made is that creating a hostile environment for Jewish college students is a form of discrimination, and therefore a violation of their federal civil rights. Greenblatt explained that the goal is to use financial pressure through this legislation to force universities to crack down on anti-Zionist criticism and speech.
“If that happens, their federal funding will stop. “They will seize all of their current and future funding,” Greenblatt says in the leaked audio.
Surveys show that opinion among college students is almost evenly divided as it relates to the current Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This situation was unacceptable to Greenblatt. Greenblatt said to applause, “If the only nationalism you are opposing is Jewish nationalism, then you are anti-Semitic.” Greenblatt then pointed out that even Jews who were critical of Israel were enabling another “10/7”, referencing a Hamas attack on Israel and Jewish civilians on October 7, 2023, which 1,200 people were killed as a result.
“Anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism, period.”
Greenblatt said the 'net' of social media is bad and described it as a 'superspreader' of anti-Semitism. Greenblatt referred to the ADL as establishing “technology centers in the community” to study anti-Semitism and “working with companies,” without clarifying what that work is. It was implied that the individuals were working with social media companies to help monitor online speech and those who were critical of Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League has an annual budget of $103 million, with revenues of $230 million per year.