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The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State
The first-ever history of the Anti-Defamation League and its determined, century-long alliance with Western empire.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a major US political organization, yet its politics have gone largely unexamined. While the ADL is often portrayed as a defender against antisemitism and racism, its history shows that it is better understood as a proponent of the racial state and US empire. From "correcting" the embarrassing racial difference of immigrant Jews to policing the leftist politics of Black, Arab, and Jewish groups, the ADL pursued a conservative version of civil rights paired with aggressive anti-communism. Even as it became an authority on white nationalism in the 1970s, the ADL joined with the emerging anti-left, anti-Arab, and pro-Western neoconservative movement.
This history presaged the ADL's work, from the 1980s to the present, in developing the hate crimes framework as a pro-state policing project, which soon merged with the "War on Terror," the "antisemitism scare," and anti-Palestinian racism. The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State presents the ADL's history through its conflicts with social justice movements, illuminating the ADL's outsize role in shaping the ideas about race and rights that have underwritten US empire.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a major US political organization, yet its politics have gone largely unexamined. While the ADL is often portrayed as a defender against antisemitism and racism, its history shows that it is better understood as a proponent of the racial state and US empire. From "correcting" the embarrassing racial difference of immigrant Jews to policing the leftist politics of Black, Arab, and Jewish groups, the ADL pursued a conservative version of civil rights paired with aggressive anti-communism. Even as it became an authority on white nationalism in the 1970s, the ADL joined with the emerging anti-left, anti-Arab, and pro-Western neoconservative movement.
This history presaged the ADL's work, from the 1980s to the present, in developing the hate crimes framework as a pro-state policing project, which soon merged with the "War on Terror," the "antisemitism scare," and anti-Palestinian racism. The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State presents the ADL's history through its conflicts with social justice movements, illuminating the ADL's outsize role in shaping the ideas about race and rights that have underwritten US empire.
- GenresNonfictionJudaismHistory
342 pages, Hardcover
Published June 16, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 28, 2026
This is a rather odd book in which activist Emmaia Gelman, founder of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, goes beyond specific criticisms of the ADL’s history or policies and veers into conspiratorial claims that the ADL is literally central to global white supremacy. Most of the sources in this book are not mainstream historians but radical ethnic studies or critical theory scholars who are inclined to share Gelman’s views, or are actually published in Gelman’s own journal, Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism (JCSZ).
There is much to criticize about the ADL; it has monitored left-wing activists, it was anticommunist during the Cold War, it responds chiefly to the interests of wealthy donors, it conflates legitimate criticisms of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism, it praises and works with right wing Republican presidents, and its current CEO is particularly unlikeable. If Gelman limited her critiques to this, and provided sufficient evidence, this book could be interesting and enjoyable. Instead, Gelman makes vague claims about whiteness, imperialism, queer Black and brown activism, and inflates the ADL’s historical power to shape outcomes to implausible heights. Instead of a critical history of the ADL written in the interest of honest scholarship, it seems that Gelman started out particular ideological convictions about the ADL being responsible for every evil in 20th century American history and then looked for evidence of it.
Gelman faults the ADL for its “statist” strategy of pursuing legal protections from hate crimes, and its pursuit of equality under law rather than its efforts to promote equality of outcomes. For this reason, she misunderstands how civil rights groups function, implying that she thinks most civil rights foundations should by default support radical redistribution of wealth and power. It would be nice if mainstream civil rights organizations favored socialism and total equality, but it’s simply not how they work. By Gelman’s logic, every liberal organization, by virtue of its lack of support for communism, is complicit in the promotion of white supremacy, regardless of how much activism it has done to monitor white supremacists.
The biggest issue with this book is that for Gelman, there is no difference between mainstream liberalism (for all of its flaws) and far-right white supremacy which blames supposed Jewish control of banks and media for every problem in society. Though it’s true that the ADL does regrettably condemn pro Palestine activism as antisemitic, it’s also true that some antisemites use the ADL as a dog whistle for Jewish control. This is why Elon Musk calls for “defunding” the ADL, and white supremacists hate it. While radical ethnic studies professors may see no difference between liberalism and overt white supremacy, most people outside of that framework do not see it that way.
In conflicts after the civil rights movement between Jewish and Black Americans, Gelman generally sides with Black nationalists and against Jews. Many Jews at this time did become more conservative and some became racist and fully bought in to the New Right alliance with conservative Christians, but some Black nationalists also singled out Jews as exploiters and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. It seems like Gelman chooses to ignore real antisemitism in American society when it goes against her preferred narrative of good vs. evil. Many of these arguments rely more on theory or normative ideas about how things should be rather than historical assessments of 20th century America.
Some of her sources are random tweets, YouTube videos, or websites. Other sources are documents from LGBT archives which lack names or dates, purportedly showing the conflict between the ADL and “Bay Area Black and brown queer activists.” Who these activists were, how influential they were, what they believed, or why they matter for this book are left unclear.
For Gelman, Jews are divided into “good” (communist or anarchist, poor Central or Eastern European immigrants who immigrated to the U.S. between 1880 and 1924) and “bad” (wealthier, German Jews who supported Zionism and Israel in the 20th century). These groupings may have some validity, but over the 20th century these categories became irrelevant.
Gelman’s writing style is irritating, using the passive voice to present her opinions or normative claims as well-established fact. She uses words like “increasingly” without giving any time frame or footnotes. She seems to take for granted that most Americans like capitalism and don’t necessarily see it as inherently white supremacist outside of the ivory tower. Although the framework of racial capitalism is accepted by some ethnic studies scholars and activists, it is not universally accepted and many historians have a more nuanced view. It isn’t clear when Gelman is simply presenting the views of her activist subjects or wholeheartedly endorsing them as objective truth.
Much of this book is devoted to the framework of hate crimes and the ADL’s work with local and federal law enforcement in their prosecution. While some Americans may object to the expansion of carceral policies, hate crime sentencing remains broadly popular despite its mixed efficacy. Collaboration with law enforcement is pretty common for groups that monitor hate groups, whether the ADL, SPLC, the NAACP or even CAIR.
Many of her arguments in this book do not logically follow or simply are not supported by the footnotes provided and would require stronger evidence. Some of the arguments are true according to the author’s moral framework, but are not falsifiable in any objective sense. This is particularly grating because many American Jews collectively cringed when ADL CEO Greenblatt defended the odious figures of Trump and Musk. Even former ADL staff and regional board members resigned in protest, because Musk is one of the biggest online voices amplifying antisemitic conspiracies daily on X. There is definitely truth to the argument that the ADL aligns itself with racist and even antisemitic figures, prioritizing the promotion of U.S.-Israel relations over broader goals of fighting racism and prejudice. While this is regrettable, it is not evidence that, as Gelman concludes, “As flattened notions of race and rights have lent power to a new wave of global imperialism, the ADL has remained involved, even central.” (269)
There is much to criticize about the ADL; it has monitored left-wing activists, it was anticommunist during the Cold War, it responds chiefly to the interests of wealthy donors, it conflates legitimate criticisms of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism, it praises and works with right wing Republican presidents, and its current CEO is particularly unlikeable. If Gelman limited her critiques to this, and provided sufficient evidence, this book could be interesting and enjoyable. Instead, Gelman makes vague claims about whiteness, imperialism, queer Black and brown activism, and inflates the ADL’s historical power to shape outcomes to implausible heights. Instead of a critical history of the ADL written in the interest of honest scholarship, it seems that Gelman started out particular ideological convictions about the ADL being responsible for every evil in 20th century American history and then looked for evidence of it.
Gelman faults the ADL for its “statist” strategy of pursuing legal protections from hate crimes, and its pursuit of equality under law rather than its efforts to promote equality of outcomes. For this reason, she misunderstands how civil rights groups function, implying that she thinks most civil rights foundations should by default support radical redistribution of wealth and power. It would be nice if mainstream civil rights organizations favored socialism and total equality, but it’s simply not how they work. By Gelman’s logic, every liberal organization, by virtue of its lack of support for communism, is complicit in the promotion of white supremacy, regardless of how much activism it has done to monitor white supremacists.
The biggest issue with this book is that for Gelman, there is no difference between mainstream liberalism (for all of its flaws) and far-right white supremacy which blames supposed Jewish control of banks and media for every problem in society. Though it’s true that the ADL does regrettably condemn pro Palestine activism as antisemitic, it’s also true that some antisemites use the ADL as a dog whistle for Jewish control. This is why Elon Musk calls for “defunding” the ADL, and white supremacists hate it. While radical ethnic studies professors may see no difference between liberalism and overt white supremacy, most people outside of that framework do not see it that way.
In conflicts after the civil rights movement between Jewish and Black Americans, Gelman generally sides with Black nationalists and against Jews. Many Jews at this time did become more conservative and some became racist and fully bought in to the New Right alliance with conservative Christians, but some Black nationalists also singled out Jews as exploiters and spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. It seems like Gelman chooses to ignore real antisemitism in American society when it goes against her preferred narrative of good vs. evil. Many of these arguments rely more on theory or normative ideas about how things should be rather than historical assessments of 20th century America.
Some of her sources are random tweets, YouTube videos, or websites. Other sources are documents from LGBT archives which lack names or dates, purportedly showing the conflict between the ADL and “Bay Area Black and brown queer activists.” Who these activists were, how influential they were, what they believed, or why they matter for this book are left unclear.
For Gelman, Jews are divided into “good” (communist or anarchist, poor Central or Eastern European immigrants who immigrated to the U.S. between 1880 and 1924) and “bad” (wealthier, German Jews who supported Zionism and Israel in the 20th century). These groupings may have some validity, but over the 20th century these categories became irrelevant.
Gelman’s writing style is irritating, using the passive voice to present her opinions or normative claims as well-established fact. She uses words like “increasingly” without giving any time frame or footnotes. She seems to take for granted that most Americans like capitalism and don’t necessarily see it as inherently white supremacist outside of the ivory tower. Although the framework of racial capitalism is accepted by some ethnic studies scholars and activists, it is not universally accepted and many historians have a more nuanced view. It isn’t clear when Gelman is simply presenting the views of her activist subjects or wholeheartedly endorsing them as objective truth.
Much of this book is devoted to the framework of hate crimes and the ADL’s work with local and federal law enforcement in their prosecution. While some Americans may object to the expansion of carceral policies, hate crime sentencing remains broadly popular despite its mixed efficacy. Collaboration with law enforcement is pretty common for groups that monitor hate groups, whether the ADL, SPLC, the NAACP or even CAIR.
Many of her arguments in this book do not logically follow or simply are not supported by the footnotes provided and would require stronger evidence. Some of the arguments are true according to the author’s moral framework, but are not falsifiable in any objective sense. This is particularly grating because many American Jews collectively cringed when ADL CEO Greenblatt defended the odious figures of Trump and Musk. Even former ADL staff and regional board members resigned in protest, because Musk is one of the biggest online voices amplifying antisemitic conspiracies daily on X. There is definitely truth to the argument that the ADL aligns itself with racist and even antisemitic figures, prioritizing the promotion of U.S.-Israel relations over broader goals of fighting racism and prejudice. While this is regrettable, it is not evidence that, as Gelman concludes, “As flattened notions of race and rights have lent power to a new wave of global imperialism, the ADL has remained involved, even central.” (269)
July 5, 2026
A Must-Read to Unmask the ADL
From the 1st page, I was hooked. “On April 9, 1993, newspapers from San Francisco to Baltimore blared variations on a stunning headline: “Anti-Defamation League Offices Raided by Police, Spy Data Sought in San Francisco.” The ADL–the organization school districts consider a trusted teacher trainer– was busted for spying on civil rights groups!
Gelman’s book unmasks the ADL to reveal its little-known origin story as a 1913 organization founded by white upper class midwestern German Jews to rescue their image endangered by the arrival of poor “unassimilated laboring-class Jewish immigrants–Eastern European Jews.” From there, Gelman documents the ADL’s attacks on leftists during the 1950’s Red Scare, Black liberationists in the 60’s and anti-Zionists in the present, all the while offering a class of wealthy charitable donors a network to build business, social and political relationships that would advance their assimilation into whiteness, and crown the ADL as a “quasi-state agency” in the fight against antisemitism and the “new antisemitism” redefined as opposition to the State of Israel.
Along the way, Gelman notes how the strategic ADL published educational pamphlets–later school curriculum, held “Fireside Discussion Groups” for Jews, especially those not active at synagogues, and “blanketed” US newsrooms with an article “Russian Jews Against Bolshevik rule” to win favor with the capitalist class and brand itself as a defender of democracy and warrior against hate.
In the ADL’s crusade against Palestinian rights, Gelman writes the ADL counted each protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza as an antisemitic incident, fueling a conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism as lawmakers cited ADL statistics to justify school censorship.
“The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State” is a book for all of us wishing to understand how the ADL masquerades as a civil rights organization to plant a Zionist foothold in education and politics and colonize the American mind. Read the book, send it to a lawmaker, a teacher, a rabbi.
From the 1st page, I was hooked. “On April 9, 1993, newspapers from San Francisco to Baltimore blared variations on a stunning headline: “Anti-Defamation League Offices Raided by Police, Spy Data Sought in San Francisco.” The ADL–the organization school districts consider a trusted teacher trainer– was busted for spying on civil rights groups!
Gelman’s book unmasks the ADL to reveal its little-known origin story as a 1913 organization founded by white upper class midwestern German Jews to rescue their image endangered by the arrival of poor “unassimilated laboring-class Jewish immigrants–Eastern European Jews.” From there, Gelman documents the ADL’s attacks on leftists during the 1950’s Red Scare, Black liberationists in the 60’s and anti-Zionists in the present, all the while offering a class of wealthy charitable donors a network to build business, social and political relationships that would advance their assimilation into whiteness, and crown the ADL as a “quasi-state agency” in the fight against antisemitism and the “new antisemitism” redefined as opposition to the State of Israel.
Along the way, Gelman notes how the strategic ADL published educational pamphlets–later school curriculum, held “Fireside Discussion Groups” for Jews, especially those not active at synagogues, and “blanketed” US newsrooms with an article “Russian Jews Against Bolshevik rule” to win favor with the capitalist class and brand itself as a defender of democracy and warrior against hate.
In the ADL’s crusade against Palestinian rights, Gelman writes the ADL counted each protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza as an antisemitic incident, fueling a conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism as lawmakers cited ADL statistics to justify school censorship.
“The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State” is a book for all of us wishing to understand how the ADL masquerades as a civil rights organization to plant a Zionist foothold in education and politics and colonize the American mind. Read the book, send it to a lawmaker, a teacher, a rabbi.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A bold and bracing history of the ADL's century-long campaign to enforce and depict a nonexistent Jewish American hegemony around Israel, capitalism, and US state-building. Gelman deftly traverses German/Eastern European Jewish class differences, the divergent range of Jewish commitments to civil rights and Black power, and Ocean Hill-Brownsville and urban divides over power-sharing, while courageously confronting the ADL's organizational investment in overstating antisemitism as a tactical reaction to growing anti-Zionism among US Jews. This is a paradigm-shifting must-read.
August 7, 2026
The ADL and the Racial State is essential reading for anyone interested in the ascendance of far-right forces in US politics. Gelman's sharp analysis, backed by rich archival research, pulls back the curtain on the long history of the ADL's support for these forces, its long history of undermining both efforts to expand democracy and campaigns for redistributive justice.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews