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The Anti-Defamation League has been criticized as over-characterizing what constitutes antisemitism, for exaggerating threats and hostility against Jews, and for substituting its work as civil rights organization to instead promote Israeli propaganda.

Individuals

Linguist and activist Noam Chomsky, who repeatedly came under the ADL's criticism, wrote in his 1989 book Necessary Illusions:

The ADL has virtually abandoned its earlier role as a civil rights organization, becoming 'one of the main pillars' of Israeli propaganda in the U.S., as the Israeli press casually describes it, engaged in surveillance, blacklisting, compilation of FBI-style files circulated to adherents for the purpose of defamation, angry public responses to criticism of Israeli actions, and so on. These efforts, buttressed by insinuations of anti-Semitism or direct accusations, are intended to deflect or undermine opposition to Israeli policies, including Israel's refusal, with U.S. support, to move towards a general political settlement.

Michael Lerner, a prominent left-wing rabbi, has criticized the ADL on similar grounds:

The ADL lost most of it credibility in my eyes as a civil rights organization when it began to identify criticisms of Israel with anti-Semitism, still more when it failed to defend me when I was receiving threats to my life from right-wing Jewish groups because of my critique of Israeli policy toward Palestinians (it said that these were not threats that came from my being Jewish, so therefore they were not within their area of concern).

The ADL has also drawn fire from some Orthodox Jewish leaders who charge it is more interested in promoting a dogmatic form of secularism than in promoting religious tolerance and in the process promoting anti-Christian bigotry and hatred.

Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin has declared that the Anti-Defamation League and its allies are "dangerous organizations, organizations that are driving a wedge between American Jews and Christians." Referring to ADL national director Abraham Foxman, Lapin said that by calling The Passion of the Christ anti-Semitic, "what he is saying is that the only way (for Christians) to escape the wrath of Foxman is to repudiate (their own) faith." Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin has charged:

The most deeply held values of the ADL are a hatred of Judaism and Christianity—and a secularization of society.

Lapin also rejects the idea that the Jewish left represents Judaism. A Jewish conservative, has excoriated many Jewish people for their leadership in promotion of ideas contrary to traditional Judaism, such as abortion, homosexuality and socialism. He argues that Jewish-born liberals have redefined "Judaism" to mean "liberalism" — and redefined "anti-liberalism" as "anti-Semitism." Lapin has said: "It is time for us to recognize the charge of anti-Semitism for what it often is: a political weapon intended to silence critics of liberalism."

Role in cancellation of speech by Tony Judt at Polish Consulate

The ADL, in addition to the American Jewish Committee, was criticized by academic Tony Judt for allegedly pressuring the Polish Consul General in New York to cancel a scheduled appearance by Judt at a non-profit organization that rents space from the consulate. In an interview with the New York Sun, Foxman, claimed that the group "had nothing to do with the cancellation", insisting that the ADL only called to ask if the event was being sponsored by the Polish government. Polish Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk suggested in an interview with the Washington Post that calls by the ADL and the American Jewish Committee were "exercising a delicate pressure". In reference to the role of the ADL and American Jewish Committee in organizing the cancellations, Judt told the Washington Post: "This is serious and frightening, and only in America—not in Israel—is this a problem. These are Jewish organizations that believe they should keep people who disagree with them on the Middle East away from anyone who might listen." The ADL denied the charges. According to Foxman, "I think they made the right decision... He's taken the position that Israel shouldn't exist. That puts him on our radar."

Denver defamation suit

According to an April 13 2001 article in The Forward, a federal judge "lambasted the organization for labeling a nasty neighborhood feud as an anti-Semitic event" and upheld most of William and Dorothy Quigley's $10 million lawsuit for defamation. In 1994, Candace and Mitchell Aronson, Jewish next door neighbors of the Quigleys, contacted the Denver ADL office, reporting overheard cordless phone conversations of the Quigleys discussing putting pictures of oven doors on the Aronsons' home (a reference to the Holocaust), burning the Aronson children and wishing the Aronsons had been killed in a suicide bombing. (The Quigleys later indicated that these remarks had been intended to be humorous.) The Quigleys and the Aronsons had been engaged in an escalating series of petty disputes prior to this incident. The ADL also labelled the Quigleys as anti-Semites in a press conference which led to felony federal charges being filed against them.

Judge Edward W. Nottingham of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado wrote "it is not unreasonable to infer that public charges of anti-Semitism leveled by the ADL will be taken seriously and assumed by many to be true without question. In that respect, the ADL is in a unique position of being able to cause substantial harm to individuals when it lends its backing to allegations of anti-Semitism." The judge concluded that the ADL supported the Aronsons' accusations without investigating the case, or weighing of the consequences.

New antisemitism controversy

In 1974, ADL national leaders Arnold Forster and Benjamin R. Epstein published a book called The New Anti-Semitism (New York, 1974), arguing that a new kind of anti-Semitism is on the rise. In 1982, ADL national leader Nathan Perlmutter and his wife, Ruth Ann Perlmutter, released a book entitled The Real Anti-Semitism in America (New York, 1982). In 2003, ADL's national director Abraham Foxman published Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism (San Francisco, 2003), where on page 4 he states: "We currently face as great a threat to the safety and security of the Jewish people as the one we faced in the 1930s—if not a greater one."

In 2005, ADL critic Norman G. Finkelstein published Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History which devotes Part 1 to "The Not-So-New 'New Anti-Semitism'." In a 2006 appearance on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!, Finkelstein said:

All the evidence shows there's no—there's no evidence at all for a rise of a new anti-Semitism, whether in Europe or in North America. The evidence is zero. Every time Israel comes under international pressure, as it did recently because of the war crimes committed in Lebanon, it steps up the claim of anti-Semitism, and all of Israel's critics are anti-Semitic. 1974, the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, puts out a book called The New Anti-Semitism. 1981, the Anti-Defamation League puts out a book, The New Anti-Semitism. And then, again in 2000, Abraham Foxman and people like Phyllis Chesler, they put out these books called The New Anti-Semitism. So the use of the charge "anti-Semitism" is pretty conventional whenever Israel comes under attack, and frankly it has no content whatsoever nowadays. ... What does the evidence show? There has been good investigation done, serious investigation. There's some in Europe among the Muslim community, there's some anti-Semitism, but the notion that in the heart of European society or North American society there's anti-Semitism is preposterous."

Conflict with Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO)

ADL is an advocate for gun control legislation. The ADL supported the District of Columbia before the US Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller which argued that the city's ban on the possession of handguns and any functional firearms, even for self-defense in the home is not prohibited by the Second Amendment.. The League urged the Court to ensure that states retain the ability to keep guns out of the hands of "violent bigots."

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), a gun rights group has been highly critical of the Anti-Defamation League. In pamphlets such as "Why Does the ADL Support Nazi-Based Laws?" and "JPFO Facts vs. ADL Lies," the JPFO has accused the ADL of undermining the welfare of the Jewish people by promoting gun control. In a 2007 handbill, the JPFO accused Director Abraham Foxman of knowingly supporting the "use of Nazi gun control laws in America." Foxman has written about the JPFO: "Anti-Semitism has a long and painful history, and the linkage to gun control is a tactic by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership to manipulate the fear of anti-Semitism toward their own end."

Criticism of ADL

• Council on American-Islamic Relations, "ADL attempts to defame Florida Muslims", August 19, 2003 (press release alleging ADL conducted smear campaign to deter speakers from attending a CAIR event).
• Norman G. Finkelstein, Anti-Defamation League Slanders Finkelstein, November 22-December 8, 2002 (correspondence from his website in which he states he does not deny the Holocaust as alleged by ADL).
• Nat Hentoff, "Jews Rise Against Ashcroft War 'It Shouldn't Be Happening Here'", March 28, 2002 (describing split among U.S. Jewish organizations over resolution criticizing Bush administration detention rules).
• Jeffrey Blankfort, Anne Poirier and Steve Zeltzer, "The ADL Spying Case Is Over, But The Struggle Continues" CounterPunch, February 25, 2002 (article by the plaintiffs in the ADL files controversy lawsuit).
• Askia Muhammad, "Judge rules that libel judgment against ADL stands" (from the Nation of Islam's Final Call), May 15, 2001 (noting decision in Denver defamation suit and making various accusations).
• Matt Isaacs, "Spy vs Spite," SF Weekly, Feb. 2, 2000 (article concerned about ADL "HateFilter" internet filter).
• Jude Wanniski, "The Defamation League", November 4, 1999 (letter castigating ADL for ad implying Pat Buchanan might be anti-Semitic).
• "Jews and the Christian Right", August 2, 1994 (statement from Jews critical of the ADL's stance on the Christian Right, entered into the Congressional Record by Tom DeLay).
• Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, "The Changing Role of B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation League", Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 1993 (claiming ADL is extremely powerful and uses intimidation tactics to bar all criticism of Israel, Zionists, or Jews).
• Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, Appendix V, "The 'Peace Process' in the Middle East", South End Press, Boston, 1989 (book segment claiming that ADL sees left-wing opposition to Israeli interests as anti-Semitism).

References

1. Deniers, Relativists and Pseudo-Scholarship by Deborah Lipstadt. DIMENSIONS, Vol. 14, No. 1. A Journal of Holocaust Studies. Published by the Anti-Defamation League's Braun Holocaust Institute. Accessed 2007-08-23
2. Terrorism Strikes America: What They are Saying September 24, 2001. Accessed 2007-08-23
3. Chomsky, Noam. (1989). Necessary Illusions. South End Press. p. 317. ISBN 0896083667.
4. Lerner, Michael. "Ask the Rabbi". Tikkun. Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
6. Stoll, Ira (2006-10-04). "Poland Abruptly Cancels a Speech By Local Critic of the Jewish State". The New York Sun.
7. Foxman, Abraham H. (2006-11-16). "Article on Free Speech and Israel Gets it Wrong". ADL.
8. ^ Powell, Michael (2006-10-09). "In N.Y., Sparks Fly Over Israel Criticism". The Washington Post: A03.
9. Jewish News Weekly
10. Jewish News, Jewish Newspapers - Forward.com
11. "Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism". ADL.
12. "Congressmember Weiner Gets It Wrong On Palestinian Group He Tried To Bar From U.S." Democracy Now!. 2006-08-30.
13. "ADL Presentation to the Platform Committees of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions – June 2004" (pdf). ADL. 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-23. The Anti-Defamation League has been an advocate for strong, effective, and sensible gun control legislation. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help); line feed character in |quote= at position 88 (help)
14. "ADL To Supreme Court: States Should Regulate Firearms" (Press release). ADL. 2008-01-11. The League urged the Court to ensure that states retain the ability to keep guns out of the hands of "violent bigots."
15. The Liberty Crew (September 20, 2007) "Why Does the ADL Support Nazi-Based Laws?" JPFO.org.
16. Editors (1997-1999) "JPFO Facts vs. ADL Lies." JPFO.org.
17. JPFO editors "The Anti-Defamation League Is Anti-American." JPFO.org.
18. Foxman, Abraham H. (May 21, 1995) "N.R.A. Doesn't Represent George Bush or Even Most Members; Jewish Pro-Gun Group." New York Times.

• Articles to be merged from June 2009
• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from June 2009
• Anti-Defamation League
• Criticisms