The Jewish advocacy and anti-hate group is at the center of a rightwing backlash campaign led by Musk over the ADL’s online database on extremism
The Anti-Defamation League, one of the most prominent Jewish advocacy and anti-hate organizations in the US, has been the center of a rightwing pressure campaign that intensified on Wednesday when the FBI director, Kash Patel, denounced the group and said the agency would cut ties with the non-profit.
Patel’s announcement followed days of attacks by rightwing influencers and Elon Musk on the ADL over its online database on extremism, which included a page on slain far-right pundit Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA and the organization’s links to far-right extremists. On Tuesday, the ADL deleted its entire Glossary of Extremism, a flagship project which contained more than 1,000 entries on groups and movements with connections to hateful ideologies. The move failed to quell the backlash.
The fury against the ADL this week has placed the 112-year-old organization in a difficult position. It has faced years of internal turmoil as well as accusations it has attempted to appease the Trump administration and Musk at the expense of its core values. Now it finds itself targeted by some of the same conservative powers it once praised.
