By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt confirmed in an interview with the New York Times that the US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which the ADL developed together with the Biden administration, is now being implemented by the Trump administration.
“I have worked with the prior education secretary [Miguel Cardona] and I’ve worked with this education secretary [Linda McMahon], and I credit the Biden administration for their National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism,” Greenblatt said in an interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro released on Saturday. “No one had done what the Biden administration had done before in elevating anti-Semitism to a federal priority, and ADL, in full disclosure, worked with them on that, and they get a lot of credit for adopting the plan.”
“And then, I give credit to the Trump administration for actually implementing aspects of the plan and taking a strong view again in the face of real — not imagined — real acts of hate, real acts of discrimination,” Greenblatt added.
He reiterated, “Again, we helped to write the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism released by the Biden administration. We were deeply involved in that. We are working as well with the Trump administration. This is what we do.”
This is total confirmation that the ADL is working with the Trump administration.
I saw indicators three months ago that this was happening and was the first to report on it.
It’s almost unthinkable that the ADL would have a place in the Trump administration considering Greenblatt successfully lobbied to get Trump banned off all social media in the wake of January 6th, but here we are.
The Trump administration is clearly exercising Greenblatt and the Israel Lobby’s will through their wide-reaching anti-Semitism crackdown, which just last week manifested with an order to deny disaster aid to states and cities that boycott Israel (the order was slightly walked back after mass outrage).
As I reported when it happened, Greenblatt even praised the Trump administration’s “bold” arrest of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil, only to later slightly walk it back after receiving widespread backlash.
There were other remarkable revelations from this interview which I highlighted on X.
For one, Greenblatt revealed he didn’t know what the actual legal definition of “genocide” is — though he still insisted he’s sure that Israel isn’t committing genocide in Gaza.
Second, Greenblatt was grilled over his effort to frame pro-Palestine protests by Students for Justice in Palestine as “material support” for a terrorist group, potentially warranting 20-year prison sentences.
He crumbled under the pressure and was completely unable to prove their actions (handing out literature) crossed the line into supporting terrorism.
Last, he flew into a rage after Garcia-Navarro asked him if the ADL is alienating young Jews who identify as anti-Zionist.
“What polls are you seeing?!” he scoffed. “You’re giving the audience a very narrow, biased view as if that’s where all Jewish young people are! It’s not!”
This was the first time I’ve ever seen Greenblatt grilled in this manner. The way he was totally unprepared and had a total meltdown upon being challenged shows this is the first time he’s ever been asked hard questions in his 11-year tenure as head of the ADL.
If the Times fires Lulu Garcia-Navarro any time soon, you can be damn sure it’s because of this interview.