Anti-Defamation League — UNCIVIL Website

Advocacy Group

The Anti-Defamation League

Background

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is often grouped with civil rights organizations like the ACLU or Human Rights Watch, but many scholars and journalists argue that such comparisons are misleading. While ADL’s work has sometimes overlapped with efforts to combat racism and white supremacy, it is also a hawkish pro-Israel advocacy organization that has supported aggressive tactics by law enforcement and national-security institutions. Historian Emmaia Gelman has documented how the ADL developed a conservative version of civil rights politics shaped by anti-communism, support for Israel, and opposition to Black, Arab, Jewish, and other left-wing movements. Similarly, the #DropTheADL coalition argues that ADL has repeatedly aligned itself with policing, surveillance, and efforts to suppress Palestinian and other social-justice activism.

Advocacy

Advocacy for Civil Discourse and Viewpoint Diversity in Higher Education

In 2025, the Anti-Defamation League introduced “Civil Discourse Initiatives on Campus” as a scoring factor in its Campus Antisemitism Report Card criteria. Since that time, ADL has released multiple publications that invoke “civil discourse” and “viewpoint diversity” in ways that position those terms in direct opposition to pro-Palestine activism. For example, a July 2024 policy guide for university leaders—co-authored with Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization)—includes the following recommendations:

[E]ncourage intentional integration of Israeli perspectives on campus to enable viewpoint diversity….

Reject BDS, including soft and shadow boycotts…. [Universities] should publicly affirm their commitment to the free exchange of ideas…by featuring the work of Israeli scholars and researchers….

Promote structural reform, intellectual diversity and institutional transparency….

Invest in opportunities for dialoguing across differences.

Advocacy for the Adoption of IHRA

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism has been criticized by human rights groups and scholars for the risk that its Israel-related examples can be used to suppress criticism of Israel; Kenneth Stern, the definition’s lead drafter, has repeatedly opposed its use as a campus speech code.

Nevertheless, ADL has promoted the IHRA Working Definition since at least 2019 and recommends that colleges and universities use it when developing nondiscrimination policies. Its 2024 higher-education toolkit urges college and university leaders to “embrace and use the [IHRA] Definition of Antisemitism” and to treat anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism; the 2026 Campus Antisemitism Report Card criteria (see above) likewise reward schools whose policies make clear that antisemitism includes anti-Zionism. In February 2025, ADL also backed the federal Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would direct the Department of Education to use IHRA as a framework when enforcing Title VI on college campuses.

Advocacy Against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement

In August 2024, as campus protesters called on universities to divest from Israel, ADL issued a primer for university endowment leaders, urging them to reject divestment. The document argues that the BDS movement’s “anti-normalization” policy blocks “dialogue opportunities” between Israelis and Palestinians and “hinders dialogue and understanding.”

Advocacy for Restrictions on Protester Face-Coverings

In June 2024, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt helped launch #UnMaskHateNY, a campaign to toughen New York’s restrictions on “masked harassment and intimidation.” In his remarks at the launch event, Greenblatt claimed that “hoodlums who conceal their identities” have “erupt[ed] into all-out violence...on our streets, on our campuses and beyond.” Similarly, in January 2025, the ADL supported New York State legislation framed around “masked intimidation” and an ADL staff member pointed to “masked individuals threatening Jewish students and civilians on our campuses” as part of the rationale for the law. In August 2025, ADL called on other state lawmakers to criminalize the use of masks “when they are worn with the intent to harass or intimidate others and place them in reasonable fear of physical harm.” (This guidance to state lawmakers appears in the same document as recommendations for opposing BDS and adopting the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism.)

By contrast, representatives of the ACLU and its New York chapter have argued against bans on face covering, noting that peaceful protesters may wear masks as protection from surveillance and doxxing. Similar concerns about restrictions on protesters’ use of masks have been raised by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.

Notable Funders

Crimson Lion Foundation

$4.8 million (2021-2024)

Established by Bain Capital executive Jonathan Lavine and his wife Jeannie Lavine. Jonathan is chair emeritus of Columbia University. According to an October 2024 report in The Forward, he complained that Columbia’s protest rules were “toothless” because “‘antisemites’ in the faculty senate could block enforcement of them.” For reference, see Crimson Lion’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

The Tepper Foundation

$4.55 million (2022-2024)

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder, David Tepper. The foundation is a major donor to the Anti-Defamation League and also funds anti-BDS groups such as Israel on Campus Coalition (which the Center for Constitutional Rights describes as an organization that “coordinates anti-Palestinian advocacy groups”). In November 2023, the foundation invested $2 million in a “Security Fund to Protect College Campuses and Jewish Meeting Places Amid Rising Antisemitism” and collaborated with Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization) to “identify college campuses that require increased security for their students.” For reference, see the Tepper Foundation’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Klarman Family Foundation

$4.05 million (2020-2023)

Established by billionaire hedge fund founder Seth Klarman. Klarman is co-owner of The Times of Israel and he cites “support for the State of Israel and the Jewish people” as a philanthropic priority in his 2013 Giving Pledge (co-signed with his wife, Beth). The Klarman Family Foundation gives large amounts to pro-Israel and Zionist organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization). In October 2023, Klarman joined Joanna Jacobson (see One8 Foundation) and three other Harvard alumni in signing an open letter to Harvard’s leadership, accusing them of failing to confront a “meteoric rise in antisemitism” on campus following October 7, 2023; Klarman and the co-signers called on Harvard to regulate protests and require students to take a semester-long course in “productive discourse.” See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Klarman’s giving to pro-Israel causes.

Crown Family Philanthropies

~$1.37 million (2022-2024)

Established by heirs of industrialist Henry Crown. A 2026 Forbes report estimated the Crown family’s combined wealth at $18.3 billion, including a 10% stake in the military defense contractor General Dynamics. Crown is a major donor to the Jewish United Fund, which Palestine Legal has described as “a group with a documented history of funding anti-Muslim hate groups.” The Crown family also makes significant grants to Birthright Israel and Hillel International (an explicitly anti-BDS organization). For reference, see Crown Family Foundation’s tax filings for 2025, 2024, and 2023, along with Ida and Ida Crown Memorial’s tax filings for 2024, 2023, and 2022.

See also: Interfaith America.

Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust

$225,000 (2020)

Established by billionaire oil fortune heir, Charles Koch, the foundation has been a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades. Koch invests millions into the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, including climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Koch’s giving.