ADL lists top 10 anti-Israel groups in America in 2013

NEW YORK—The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued a list of the Top 10 most influential and active anti-Israel groups in the United States. Each of the selected groups, according to ADL’s research, is “fixated with delegitimizing Israel” and has demonstrated the ability to reach new segments of the American public with a hostile and misleading narrative about Israel.

“The Top 10 anti-Israel groups are the most significant players in the domestic anti-Israel movement today,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “The groups are fixated on delegitimizing Israel and convincing the American public that Israel is an international villain that deserves to be ostracized and isolated.”

The Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups, as identified by ADL, are:

• ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)

• American Muslims for Palestine

• CODEPINK

• Friends of Sabeel-North America

• If Americans Knew/Council for the National Interest

• Jewish Voice for Peace

• Muslim Public Affairs Council

• Neturei Karta

• Students for Justice in Palestine

• U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

In compiling the list, ADL considered various criteria, including the groups’ ability to organize, sponsor and endorse Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel; their sponsorship of and participation in anti-Israel rallies, panel discussions or conferences; and their ability to pursue anti-Israel policy initiatives and lobbying efforts against Israel. Information on each of the groups, as well as a description of their tactics, is available in the full report on the League’s web site.

In addition to their national impact and influence, many of the groups included in the list are known to employ rhetoric that is extremely hostile to Israel, Zionists and/or Jews.  Examples of this include:

• Allegations that Israel or Jews control the U.S. government or the media

• Offensive parallels to the Holocaust by comparing Israeli leaders to Nazis or describing Gaza as the “new Auschwitz”

• Calls for the dismantlement of the state of Israel

• Expressions of support for terrorist groups that seek Israel’s destruction.

“The list represents the worst of the worst anti-Israel groups,” said Foxman. “They lob any and every accusation against Israel, including charges of Nazi-like crimes, ‘apartheid’ policies, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide. Their accusations are rarely, if ever, balanced with an acknowledgement of Israel’s repeated efforts to make peace with the Palestinians, or the legitimate terrorism concerns faced by Israeli citizens.”

ADL issued its first list of Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups in 2010 in the wake of the 2008-2009 war in Gaza. Since then, major shifts in the Middle East, as well as more aggressive efforts to delegitimize Israel through the BDS campaign, have resulted in a significantly altered domestic anti-Israel movement. New to ADL’s list of the Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups are American Muslims for Palestine, CODEPINK, Neturei Karta and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Despite MPAC’s positive role in the civil rights, counterterrorism and interfaith communities, the group’s involvement in anti-Israel campaigns and its leadership’s consistent use of anti-Israel rhetoric is extremely troubling.

Once again, the Jewish anti-Israel group “Jewish Voice for Peace” (JVP) made the ADL list.  The group’s leaders and members of its Rabbinical Council are regularly invited to major anti-Israel events and conferences, and the group claims that its Jewish nature gives it a “particular legitimacy in voicing an alternative view.”  ADL further noted in its report that JVP “intentionally exploits Jewish culture and rituals” in an effort to convince other Jews that opposition to Israel does not contradict, but is consistent with, Jewish values.

Anti-Israel groups no longer ranking in the Top 10 have, for various reasons, scaled down the type of activity that merited their inclusion in the original report. They include The International Solidarity Movement, Al-Awda, the Muslim American Society, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.