Zionist Organization of America
\nPRESS RELEASE<\/p>\n
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:<\/p>\n
During a recent CNN segment discussing Whoopi Goldberg\u2019s temporary suspension from\u00a0The View<\/em>, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said that Whoopi should not be canceled, and falsely and hypocritically\u00a0stated<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t believe in cancel culture.<\/em>\u201d In fact, when it serves his left wing agenda, Jonathan Greenblatt avidly, though selectively, promotes the fascism of the \u201ccancel culture.\u201d Greenblatt frequently calls for canceling people and groups that he opposes. We at ZOA, other pro-Israel groups, conservatives, media personalities and politicians, as well as many others, are victims of ADL\u2019s and Greenblatt\u2019s attempts to cancel them. For instance:<\/p>\n ADL\/Jonathan Greenblatt called for Fox News to Fire (Cancel) and Not Air Conservative Commentator Tucker Carlson:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n ADL and Greenblatt have repeatedly called for Fox News to fire Conservative Tucker Carlson (See<\/em>\u00a0video<\/a>).<\/p>\n Also, in October 2021, Greenblatt sent a letter to Fox News insisting that Fox has a \u201cmoral responsibility\u201d to\u00a0not air<\/strong>\u00a0(cancel) Tucker Carlson\u2019s program about January 6th, and emphasized: \u201cFreedom of speech is not freedom of reach<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n ADL\/Jonathan Greenblatt Called for Social Media to \u201cPermanently Ban\u201d (Cancel) Republican\/Conservative President Trump:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n In January 2021, ADL and ADL CEO Greenblatt called for Republic\/Conservative President Trump to be removed from office, and \u201ccalled on all social media platforms to #BanTrumpSaveDemocracy and\u00a0permanently remove him from their services<\/strong>\u00a0. . . Brands and companies should pull back on advertising on these social media networks, like Facebook and Twitter, until Trump is entirely removed from these platforms<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2021, ADL CEO Greenblatt applauded Facebook\u2019s decision to ban former President Trump for an additional two years, saying: \u201cWhile banning former President Trump is a step in the right direction, this simply doesn\u2019t go far enough. . . . We . . . will push for this to be a\u00a0permanent ban<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n ADL\/Greenblatt Attempted to Silence Right-of-Center ZOA After ZOA\u2019s Legitimate Numerous Criticisms of ADL:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n ZOA (and others) have correctly criticized some of ADL\u2019s and Jonathan Greenblatt\u2019s many harmful positions, including ADL\u2019s\u00a0lobbying<\/a>\u00a0against\u00a0<\/em>anti-BDS laws; falsely\u00a0saying<\/a>\u00a0that BDS is not always antisemitic (despite the fact that BDS boycotts and targets Jews);\u00a0defending<\/a><\/em>\u00a0Israel-bashing phony \u201chuman rights\u201d organizations including Amnesty International; opposing and\u00a0smearing<\/a>\u00a0pro-Israel government appointments including\u00a0Mike Pompeo<\/a>, Fred Fleitz and\u00a0others<\/a>; falsely\u00a0blaming<\/a>\u00a0\u201cJewish nationalists\u201d for \u201cexacerbating tensions\u201d when Arabs attacked hundreds of innocent Jews in Israel and burned down Jewish homes and synagogues;\u00a0praising<\/a>\u00a0antisemite Ilhan Omar as having \u201ccommitment to a more just world\u201d; and much, much more.<\/p>\n Greenblatt responded to our valid criticisms by attempting to silence us.<\/p>\n In\u00a0<\/em>May 2016, during a recess at a United Nations program at which Jonathan Greenblatt and ZOA official Liz Berney, Esq. were both speakers, Greenblatt suddenly grabbed and restrained Ms. Berney, and kept pushing Ms. Berney down a long hallway, while continually screaming at her that the \u201creal enemies\u201d were various Arab governments, and that ZOA should never criticize ADL. (That\u2019s legally an assault.) ZOA promptly demanded that Greenblatt apologize to Ms. Berney, which Greenblatt still has never done.<\/p>\n Then,<\/em>\u00a0in July 2016, at a meeting of a Committee of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP), ZOA President Morton Klein politely reminded Greenblatt that he owed Ms. Berney an apology. Greenblatt then shook his fist within an inch of Mr. Klein\u2019s face, and screamed in front of the entire Committee: \u201cI\u2019ll never apologize to her,<\/em>\u201d and, \u201cThe only way we\u2019ll have Shalom Bayit (peace) at the Conference of Presidents is\u00a0to remove (cancel)\u00a0<\/strong>ZOA and Morton Klein from the Conference of Presidents.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Greenblatt\u2019s screaming was so out-of-control that one of his colleagues had to drag him out of the room.<\/p>\n Also,\u00a0<\/em>certain prominent supporters of ZOA informed us that Greenblatt called them, made false disparaging statements about ZOA, and urged them to\u00a0cancel\u00a0<\/strong>their relationship with ZOA and support ADL instead.<\/p>\n ADL Called for Defunding, Preventing Online Platform Donations to,<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0and Removing the Tax Exemption of Three Strong Pro-Israel Conservative Groups<\/u>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Last June, ADL issued a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0that called for actions that amounted to canceling three strong Conservative pro-Israel organizations: the Christian Zionist group\u00a0Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN)<\/a>; the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI); and the\u00a0American Freedom Law Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n ADL Calls for Social Media Prohibitions on Expressing Concerns About Open Immigration:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n ADL\u2019s report entitled, \u201cMainstreaming Hate: The Anti-Immigrant Movement in the U.S.,\u201d calls for canceling the speech of groups and individuals concerned about unvetted and open immigration (e.g., the Federation for Immigrant Reform (FAIR) and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)). ADL paints these Conservative groups as extremists and bigots, and condemns their use of social media to speak about gang members entering the U.S., etc. ADL\u2019s report then insists that tech companies must \u201ccreat[e] strong and\u00a0robust prohibitions<\/strong>\u00a0on such extremist content<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n More Hypocrisy<\/u><\/strong>:<\/u>\u00a0It was thus hypocritical for\u00a0Greenblatt to claim that he opposes cancel culture, when Greenblatt opposed canceling liberal Whoopi Goldberg after her extraordinarily insensitive and false comments on the Holocaust. But\u00a0Greenblatt\u2019s recent display of hypocrisy was nothing new. While ADL and Jonathan Greenblatt promote cancel culture against certain conservative people and groups they oppose, they\u2019ve acted very differently towards Islamists, left wing extremists, and others on the left.<\/p>\n For instance, Greenblatt and ADL made no effort to cancel Jew-hater, left-winger Linda Sarsour from giving the commencement address at the City University of New York\u2019s School of Public Health. Among many other horrors, Sarsour\u00a0called<\/a>\u00a0throwing rocks at Israelis the \u201cdefinition of courage<\/em>\u201d;\u00a0tweeted<\/a>, \u201cnothing is creepier than Zionism\u201d;\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0that she was \u201chonored and privileged\u201d to stand with PFLP murderer-of-Jewish-students Rasmea Odeh; and\u00a0praised<\/a>\u00a0the Intifada terror wars \u2011 in which Palestinian Arab terrorists murdered and maimed thousands of innocent Israelis \u2011 as \u201cinvaluable on many fronts.\u201d Canceling Sarsour\u2019s commencement address would thus have been the appropriate thing to do. But instead, Greenblatt\u00a0supported<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>Sarsour\u2019s right to give the commencement address, and opposed canceling her. Greenblatt said: \u201cDespite our deep opposition to Sarsour\u2019s views on Israel, we believe that she has a First Amendment right to offer those views<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n ADL\/Greenblatt similarly made no effort to cancel, and instead quickly\u00a0excused<\/a>\u00a0liberal Democrat Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), when Johnson called Jews living in Judea and Samaria \u201ctermites.\u201d ADL failed to even condemn Hank Johnson\u2019s other egregious anti-Israel statements or the fact that Johnson made his comments at a forum of the main antisemitic BDS organization in the United States. (See\u00a0<\/em>\u201cZOA Criticizes ADL for Accepting Cong. Johnson\u2019s Phony Apology for Calling Jews \u2018Termites\u2019.<\/a><\/em>\u201d)<\/p>\n Despite ADL\/Greenblatt\u2019s protestations against, and claims of opposition to, the fascism of the \u201ccancel culture,\u201d ADL does support the \u201ccancel culture\u201d against people or groups that are \u201cright wing\u201d \u2014 while opposing the \u201ccancel culture\u201d against those that are \u201cleft wing.\u201d<\/p>\n