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[Thread] This response from Jonathan Greenblatt to Salam al-Maryati is comical given #ADL’s documented track record of smearing Black activists, employing anti-Muslim tropes, & consistently undermining the rights of Palestinians. https://forward.com/opinion/460455/adl-were-proud-of-our-record-defending-jews-and-muslims/
In the 1960s, the ADL harshly criticized the Black-led Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) & the Black Panthers for their criticisms of Israel, equating these “negro extremists” with the KKK & American Nazi Party. https://inthesetimes.com/article/anti-defamation-league-civil-rights-facebook-hate-speech-palestine-bds
#ADL worked w/ the Israeli govt in 60s, ‘70s &‘80s to spy on anti-South African apartheid activists. It "defended the white régime...while denouncing the ANC as ‘totalitarian anti-humane, anti-democratic, anti-Israel, and anti-American.’” https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/05/24/israels-most-illicit-affair/
When it comes to the @CAIRNational, the largest #Muslim civil rights & advocacy group in the U.S., #ADL employs right-wing talking points that try to delegitimize the organization & its leaders, particularly its director Nihad Awad. https://www.adl.org/education/resources/backgrounders/the-council-on-american-islamic-relations-cair
2015 comments from #ADL called on #CAIR to condemn terrorism (even though the org had already done so numerous times).
The issue here isn’t about condemnation, it’s about ADL’s efforts to delegitimize & tie a Muslim civil rights org to terrorism. https://web.archive.org/web/20160125012738/https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/2625-an-open-letter-from-cair-to-the-adl.html
The issue here isn’t about condemnation, it’s about ADL’s efforts to delegitimize & tie a Muslim civil rights org to terrorism. https://web.archive.org/web/20160125012738/https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/2625-an-open-letter-from-cair-to-the-adl.html
The new book “I refuse to condemn” edited by @AsimCP provides excellent analysis unpacking this call to condemn & revealing that under such a question lies blatant racism and discrimination: https://www.waterstones.com/book/i-refuse-to-condemn/asim-qureshi//9781526151476
As @RemiJS90 writes in the book: ‘The pressure to condemn serves a purpose. It seeks to limit our capacity to agitate. Often it is weaponized to undermine us, or to shift the focus away from structural and state racisms, and onto our communities.’ https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/17/how-muslims-are-challenging-racism-by-not-condemning-extremism-13646263/?ito=cbshare
In 2016, when Representative @keithellison, the 1st #Muslim American Congressman, was seeking to lead the DNC, the #ADL ran a campaign against him by levying accusations of anti-Semitism based on Ellison’s criticism of Israel. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/07/keith-ellison-isnt-an-anti-semite-hes-the-victim-of-a-vicious-smear/?noredirect=on
ADL has taken numerous positions that violate international law. This includes their support for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-welcomes-president-trumps-announcement-on-jerusalem-calls-for-focus-on
Blaming unarmed protesters in Gaza for their own deaths at the hands of the Israeli army: https://twitter.com/ADL/status/979767178760282113
and actively supporting legislation that impinges on the constitutional right to boycott.
#BDS https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/adl-supports-controversial-anti-bds-bill-act-won-t-limit-free-speech-1.5441786
#BDS https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/adl-supports-controversial-anti-bds-bill-act-won-t-limit-free-speech-1.5441786
#ADL also sponsors police exchanges between the U.S. and Israel where practices of surveillance, profiling, and excessive policing are shared and promoted. https://theintercept.com/2017/09/15/police-israel-cops-training-adl-human-rights-abuses-dc-washington/
Greenblatt has also insisted on using the term “Islamic terrorism.” Why is this an issue? Because it implies that acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims are connected to their faith. Not only is this racists but such an argument is also never used in other cases of violence
In 2015, Greenblatt criticized then-President #Obama for failing to identify political violence committed by Muslims, as “Islamic terrorism.”
Important to note this was the talking point often utilized by the right-wing & far-right to attack Obama.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160511212715/http://blog.adl.org/greenblatt/condemning-islamic-terrorism-defending-muslims
Important to note this was the talking point often utilized by the right-wing & far-right to attack Obama.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160511212715/http://blog.adl.org/greenblatt/condemning-islamic-terrorism-defending-muslims
In the 90s, #ADL along with others repeatedly lobbied against the Holy Land Foundation and called on the Clinton administration to shut down the charity. ADL made claims that the charity organization was connected to terrorism. https://www.aljazeera.com/program/episode/2016/10/5/the-holy-land-five
The ADL went on to support the unjust prosecution of the charity. For more on the Holy Land Foundation: https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-holy-land-foundation/
. @jvplive has also expressed deep concerns about #ADL, stating that it has fueled #Islamophobia for decades: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/about-the-anti-defamation-league/
Here's the original piece by Salam Al-Marayati to which Greenblatt was responding to: https://forward.com/opinion/460055/the-adl-cannot-have-it-both-ways-with-muslims/
And finally re-upping this fantastic thread by @ZahraBilloo https://twitter.com/ZahraBilloo/status/996181001142353922
