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Words Matter: Standing Up to Bigoted Language

Article
African American Male Teacher with Students in Class
January 17, 2018 Updated: July 16, 2019 It has become commonplace to witness a public display of bigoted and offensive language. In a tweet, President Trump remarked that four U.S. Congresswomen of color (Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib) should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” The language of "go back to where you came from" is widely recognized as a racist slur, and in particular this one is also…
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Don't Destroy the Two-State Solution

News
by: Jonathan Greenblatt | January 09, 2018 JTA Several recent political measures in Israel — including announcements by Israel’s parliament, attorney general and ruling party — have significantly begun to undermine the possibility of achieving a two-state solution. Let me be clear: When discussing why the peace process has been stalled for so many years, one has to begin with the Palestinians. There is little evidence to suggest that the Palestinians have yet made the…
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Arabic Language Media Propagate Anti-Semitic Cartoons in Wake of President Trump's Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's Capital

Article
Ar-Raya, December 6, 2017 (Qatar)
December 11, 2017 President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was widely condemned by Arab governments. Arabic-language media followed suit, and some outlets even used the historic declaration to propagate anti-Semitic cartoons relating to Jews, Jerusalem, and/or U.S.-Israel relations. In some instances, these cartoons suggest that Israel controls or dominates U.S. foreign policy, for example depicting U.S. President Donald Trump as a puppet operated by Israeli…
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Behind the Making of 'The Work of Humanity'

Article
December 07, 2017 Updated: December 18, 2017 Editor's Note: Christian Picciolini and ADL's work battling extremism was featured on Sunday, Dec. 17 on 60 Minutes on CBS. As the one-time leader of one of the most infamous white supremacist groups in America, Christian Picciolini was once so immersed in the hate movement that his name appeared prominently in an ADL report on neo-Nazi activity in Illinois. Picciolini had swastika and racist tattoos on his arms and led a small empire…
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Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories Appear in Arabic-Language Media in Wake of Sinai Massacre

Article
Fars, Iran - November 27, 2017
November 30, 2017 November 24 witnessed the deadliest terror attack in Egypt’s history when gunmen detonated explosives at a Sufi mosque in the Sinai Peninsula and then sprayed the worshippers with bullets, killing more than 300 people and wounding more than 100. While no organization claimed responsibility for the attack, it is thought to have been carried out by local militants affiliated with the Islamic State. Sufism, a branch of Islam, is a minority regarded by the Islamic…
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100th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration: Arab Cartoons Show Continued Refusal to Recognize Jewish Self-Determination

Article
November 07, 2017 November 2, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a letter signed in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressing his country's support for the establishment of a national Jewish home in Palestine. While the UK and Israel celebrated the anniversary of this Declaration, which has become a symbol of international recognition of the Jewish right to self-determination, Palestinians and others have used the occasion to protest, and demand an…
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Why We Need Diverse Books

Tools and Strategies
Preschoolers - Mayor's Book Club
For parents, families and young people Topic SummaryIn recent years, there has been a lot of attention paid to the diversity of children’s books, shining a light on the lack of diversity and amplifying the need for more children’s and young adult literature that reflects our multicultural society. In 2014, an organization named We Need Diverse Books formed, following a regularly trending hashtag with the same name (#WeNeedDiverseBooks) that helped bring attention to the issue. We…
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Diverse Books Matter

Lesson Plan
Preschoolers - Mayor's Book Club
Teach students about the importance of diverse literature and engage them in a study on the diversity of books in their classroom or school library.
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Eager For the U.S. to Pull Out of UNESCO? Not So Fast.

News
by: Kenneth Jacobson | October 20, 2017 JTA Here we go again: The issue of how and why the United States should engage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is back in the news. The announcement by the Trump administration that the U.S. will be pulling out of UNESCO over its biased treatment of Israel is only the latest manifestation of a fraught relationship between America and this U.N. body. Established soon after World War II as an effort to…
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ADL Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds of Israelis Feel Society is Divided

Press Release
Survey Shows Majority of Israeli Public Believes Society Will Continue to be Divided Over Next 30 Years Jerusalem, Israel, October 20, 2017 … Nearly two in three Israelis believe their society today is divided or very divided with a large majority – 75 percent – identifying political leadership as the largest contributor to the nation’s divisiveness, according to a new…
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ADL Calls On Executive Board of UNESCO to Choose a Director General Who Best Exemplifies the Values of the Institution

Press Release
New York, NY, October 9, 2017 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the Executive Board of UNESCO to choose a new Director General “who best exemplifies and champions the values and ideals of the institution,” and who will be a strong and constructive voice against discrimination, including ongoing efforts to isolate and denigrate Israel, and who continues UNESCO’s important work on Holocaust education. ADL expressed concern that the front runner after…
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Students’ Right to Protest the Pledge and National Anthem: Advice for Supporting Young People

Article
Your Right to Participate or Peacefully Protest Written on Chalkboard
October 03, 2017 In August 2016, then-NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to take a stand about racial injustice by refusing to stand for the National Anthem at football games. He spent much of the season either sitting or kneeling during the anthem. Fast forward to the 2017 football season where the controversy emerged again when on a Sunday in September, more than 200 NFL players took a knee during the Anthem.  This recent controversy over NFL players and…
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On Rosh Hashanah 5778

Article
L'Shana Tova
September 18, 2017 By: Marvin D. Nathan, National Chair       Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO & National Director Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is both a celebratory holiday and a time for serious introspection. It is a celebration of the creation of the Universe and of G-d's sovereignty over that Universe. And, it is a time to look into oneself to examine where one has been and where one is going. In this spirit, we offer on behalf of ADL, the…
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How Should We Talk With Young People About Charlottesville?

Article
Parents Talking with Their Teenage Daughter Outside
August 29, 2017 Adults and children alike are grappling to make sense of current events. Discussions of racism, anti-Semitism and social injustice have become increasingly contentious as images of white supremacists carrying torches and chanting hateful rhetoric in Charlottesville fill our social media feeds and television screens. Children are attuned to these conversations and disturbing images of violence, hate and incivility, and are seeking comfort and answers from teachers, family…
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Charlottesville Roundup: Lessons to Use in Your Classroom Today

Article
Male Teacher Helping Students in Classroom
August 29, 2017 In response to the recent events in Charlottesville, Facing History and Ourselves, Teaching Tolerance, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Federation of Teachers, and EduColor teamed up to support educators as they return to the classroom. Hosted and led by AFT, we asked educators what topics they were most concerned about and addressed them in a co-hosted webinar, “When Hate Is in the Headlines: Resources for K–12 Educators.” Together, we offered…
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What Is… Anti-Israel, Anti-Semitic, Anti-Zionist?

Tools and Strategies
What is anti-Semitism? Anti-Semitism is a form of prejudice or discrimination directed toward Jews as individuals or as a group. Anti-Semitism is based on age-old stereotypes and myths that target Jews as a people, their religious practices and beliefs, or the Jewish State of Israel.  Words or actions related to Israel are anti-Semitic when they blame all Jews for the actions of the state, single out Israel in denying the country’s right to exist as a Jewish state and an…
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Dos and Don’ts in Responding to Antisemitism on Campus

Tools and Strategies
In the 1930s, the dean of Yale University’s medical school — who was Jewish himself — reportedly advised his admissions team, “Never admit more than five Jews, take only two Italian Catholics, and take no blacks at all.”  The American college campus has come a long way in the past century. Colleges are more diverse, and there are greater efforts to create inclusive environments whereby all students feel comfortable on campus. But that does not mean you…
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Lessons to Teach and Learn from 'Unite the Right'

Article
Teenage Students and Teacher in a Class Debate
August 13, 2017 Racial hatred, bias and white supremacy were on full display in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend. In the largest and most violent gathering of white supremacists in decades, “Unite the Right” brought together white supremacist groups including the alt-right, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. Their stated goal was to save the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, because like other places in the South, there are still monuments there celebrating heroes…
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Frequently Asked Questions About Free Speech on Campus

Tools and Strategies
What is the source of our free speech rights? Free speech rights emanate from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[1] and from state constitutions. The U.S. Constitution limits the government’s ability to regulate speech based on content and it applies to all public colleges and universities. It serves as a floor, not a ceiling. State constitutions may grant more robust free speech rights than the U.S. Constitution, but never fewer. Is there a distinction between private and…
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