'This goes so far beyond rhetoric': The Anti-Defamation League's Jonathan Greenblatt explains why anti-Zionism is bigotry
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jews throughout North America are increasingly worried by rising antisemitism. The latest figures from both B’nai B’rith and the Anti-Defamation League reflect a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents, with the ADL audit showing a whopping 900 per cent rise over the past decade.
Canada saw an all-time high of hatred against Jews, with 6,219 incidents in 2024, according to B’nai B’rith. Meanwhile, campuses like McGill, University of Toronto, Columbia, and others have become flashpoints for anti-Israel protests in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
This has led to a government response against some campuses and a crackdown on student visas, at times folding antisemitism into broader “culture-war” battles over DEI and wokeism. As Canadian Jews push for armed security at synagogues and Jewish schools, the National Post spoke to ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt about how he defines antisemitism, why he deems anti-Zionism as crossing the line into bigotry, and what the numbers say about where the threats are coming from and why.
How do you define antisemitism and why include anti-Zionism? Where is the line between it and legitimate policy critique?
Antisemitism is the world’s oldest form of hate. It’s been around for millennia, and it’s proven to be one of the most stubborn and enduring forms. It manifests in so many different ways, from violence to vandalism of synagogues to harassment of Jewish students on campus. At its most uncomplicated, it is defined as a hatred of the Jewish people.
There are numerous resources for understanding and defining antisemitism, including our educational online guide Antisemitism Uncovered , which explores the history of some of the most insidious tropes, such as the blood libel, or conspiratorial notions of Jewish control of government or the economy. For those interested in a more complete definition, I’d direct them to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, the most widely accepted definition.
I want to be clear: Not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. There’s plenty of criticism of the Israeli government in Israel, for example, and our organization has itself criticized decisions of the Israeli government from time to time. But if you are an anti-Zionist who believes that the Jewish state does not have the right to exist in the ancestral home of the Jewish people, or if you believe that Jews should be forced out of Israel, this crosses a line from legitimate criticism of the state into antisemitism.
How has defamation of Jews in America changed in recent years, and why?
Antisemitic incidents have reached unprecedented levels in the U.S. and globally in recent years. Just as you’ve witnessed recently in Canada, America has had its share of horrific and violent antisemitic crimes. From 12 people being burned at a hostage march in Boulder, Colorado, to a synagogue arson in Jackson, Mississippi, to the murder of a young Jewish couple in Washington, D.C., the American Jewish community has witnessed a series of shocking and violent antisemitic attacks just in the past year alone.
In 2024, the most recent year for which we have data, ADL recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents — the highest number in the 46-year history of ADL’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, representing a five per cent increase from 2023’s record of 8,873 incidents. This also marks a 344 per cent increase over the past five years and an 893 per cent increase over the past decade.
We know this increase is driven by multiple factors, from white supremacist activity to extreme anti-Israel activism that incorporates antisemitic rhetoric and calls for the eradication of the state of Israel, to the unprecedented volume of antisemitic conspiracy theories shared online. Campus antisemitism surged 84 per cent in 2024, with 1,694 incidents making colleges epicentres of antisemitic activity, especially since October 7, 2023.
In the aftermath of 10/7, I visited several campuses and stopped by Columbia University’s campus multiple times. I heard the “globalize the intifada” chants. I saw protesters disrupting campus life with their encampments. I felt the fear of Jewish students I spoke to, who were inside libraries and other school buildings when chaos broke out, when masked rioters filled those spaces with antisemitic, anti-Zionist chants and vandalism.
Moreover, thousands of incidents occurred at or near anti-Israel rallies organized by anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, where anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric became commonplace.
To break it down by incident type, there were 196 assaults in 2024, a 21 per cent increase, which affected 250 victims. There were 2,606 acts of vandalism that year, a 20 per cent rise, and 6,552 cases of harassment, or a .26 per cent increase. The majority of antisemitic incidents, 5,452, that year included elements related to Israel or Zionism.
Where do you draw the line between free speech and violent rhetoric? Can you point to SJP examples like “Globalize the Intifada” — and explain why they’re the “photo inverse” of white nationalists?
ADL strongly supports the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and assembly. However, there is a clear line between protected speech and rhetoric that crosses into supporting terrorism or terror organizations, inciting violence or creating a hostile environment of harassment and intimidation targeting Jewish and Zionist students.
After Oct. 7, 2023, Students for Justice in Palestine’s national leadership and many campus chapters explicitly endorsed Hamas’s actions and armed attacks on Israeli civilians. Their “Day of Resistance” toolkit praised the October 7 terror attack as “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and called for “armed confrontation.” Some chapters promoted Resistance News Network, which shares violent images and videos of attacks on Israelis and disseminates Hamas propaganda.
The phrase “Globalize the Intifada” is particularly egregious because it is a reference to two periods of Palestinian violence against Israel — in the late 1980s and from 2000 to 2005 — which saw Palestinian terrorists commit indiscriminate acts of violence against Israelis, including suicide bombings, shootings, and stabbings, resulting in over 1,000 people being killed. This slogan is generally understood as a call for indiscriminate violence against Israel, and potentially against Jews wherever they live.
How are U.S. and Canadian campus rallies fuelling culture wars and political divides — what alarms you beyond the rhetoric?
What’s most alarming is not just the rhetoric or the political pressure in these rallies, but the normalization of intimidation and, in some cases, physical violence.
Across both the U.S. and Canada, we’ve seen protest tactics escalate from speech to coercive conduct — blocked access to campus spaces, harassment, threats, property damage, and assaults. While the overall number of campus protests and rallies has declined over the past year, the disruptive conduct and rhetoric associated with some of these events have intensified on some campuses.
Rhetoric that embraces, echoes, or legitimizes terrorist organizations or acts can create a deeply hostile environment on campus. Likewise, calls for excluding Jewish communal organizations from campus are clearly antisemitic and discriminatory, and must be recognized as such.
In late 2024, I spoke to one Jewish student who had stickers with the faces of Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar on them. They were handed to him when protesters took over the library where he was studying at Barnard College. The protest he witnessed was only really stopped when the police arrived in response to a bomb threat. I mean, this goes so far beyond rhetoric. Hateful rhetoric and terrorist propaganda don’t just instil fear; they can lead to other acts of violence and hate.
ADL’s Global 100 found that 46 per cent of adults worldwide harbour antisemitic views — that’s up 20 percentage points from 2014. How does this break down generationally, and what do you believe is driving this surge, especially among young people?
That’s correct, we found this important global measure of antisemitic attitudes dramatically increased over the last decade, and there were some significant demographic shifts. We’ve been doing these polls since the 1960s and, for decades, it was mostly older adults who harboured higher levels of antisemitic attitudes. But in our most recent poll, we saw younger respondents show a greater prevalence of antisemitic attitudes. About half of those under the age of 35 had elevated levels of antisemitic sentiments, which is 13 percentage points higher than adults over 50. We see this as a demographic time bomb.
For example, among those in the under-35 age group, 40 per cent agreed with the statement that “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars” and another 47 per cent agreed that “Jews have a lot of irritating faults.” And only 39 per cent of those in the youngest category hold accurate views of the Holocaust, 11 percentage points less than those above 50.
As for what is driving this trend, it’s not clear and can vary from country to country. But we suspect, generally, that the spread of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media and through societies has led to a wider belief in some of the oldest tropes. What’s more, distrust of government institutions and greater polarization in society can lead to a climate where Jews can become a scapegoat.
And in some countries, we have what we might call the “ Al Jazeera effect ” — where antisemitism in the media contributes to the spread of antisemitism in countries across MENA, Africa, Asia, and beyond. In these societies, views about Israel and Jews are often shaped through problematic and biased media sources.
Do you associate the rise in antisemitism with the rise of populism in the U.S. and around the world? What promising steps have U.S. presidents (Joe Biden and Donald Trump) taken to thwart such behaviour? What more should Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney do to deter antisemitism in the U.S. and Canada?
Antisemitism is not confined to one ideology or one political movement, and combating it requires leadership across parties and across borders.
In the U.S., we are fortunate that there remains a bipartisan consensus that antisemitism must be combatted using every tool available, and we are pleased that the presidents of both major political parties have made the fight against antisemitism a key priority.
Whether through President Trump’s executive order on additional measures to combat antisemitism and the resulting federal task force, or former President Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, our last two administrations have devoted serious resources and energy to trying to address antisemitism in society.
We were very disappointed when the Canadian government eliminated the position of special envoy on antisemitism . Canada is home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. Ending that role sends a very problematic message to the international community regarding Canada’s commitment to fighting antisemitism.
Having a special envoy office adequately staffed and resourced is considered a best practice for governments to ensure a whole-of-society approach to fight antisemitism. Indeed, prior Canadian special envoys Irwin Cotler and Deborah Lyons were global thought-leaders on understanding and addressing antisemitism.
Incidents in Canada have reached an all-time high . The threat level against the Jewish community remains high. We have heard from Canadian Jews that they fear what happened on Bondi Beach in Australia could easily have happened in Canada. The government must show that it is serious about antisemitism and Jewish security, including through ensuring adequate security support and the enforcement of existing laws to protect the community.
How can campuses implement the ADL playbook without facing a backlash over censorship? Do you have specific advice for Canadian campuses?
To be clear, there’s nothing in our recommendations or best practice guides that suggests censorship is an appropriate way to fight antisemitism.
We work with partners around the world, including in Canada, sharing our analysis of developments and best practices. Through our Campus Antisemitism Report Card , which assesses 135 U.S. schools based on 30 criteria, ADL is simply urging all campuses to implement and enforce policies that protect all members of the campus community. Taking actions such as maintaining strong and more transparent complaint processes and ensuring there are well-trained staff responsible for handling reports are just some of the steps that will benefit the entire campus community, including Jewish students, faculty, and staff.
Those campuses succeeding at protecting their Jewish students are the ones that clearly distinguish protected speech from conduct but also recognize that even some forms of protected speech can create a hostile environment.
In December, we reached a settlement with Pomona College to resolve claims that the college permitted severe discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The original complaint highlighted antisemitic bullying and harassment, including intimidation and physical threats. Under the terms of the settlement, Pomona agreed to appoint a Title VI Coordinator responsible for overseeing the college’s compliance. Pomona will also implement significant policy updates governing student conduct, including the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, among several other changes to make campus safer for Jews and all students.
Jewish students, like all students, deserve to live, study, and work in an environment that is free of harassment and intimidation. Our recommendations give campuses and administrators clear guidelines to ensure that all students feel protected, included, and safe.
National Post
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