<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="en" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/anti-defamation-league-surveillance?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other">theguardian.com</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Internal memo reveals Anti-Defamation League surveillance of leftwing activist</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Tom Perkins</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">July 8, 2024<br></div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-maincontent"><p>The
Anti-Defamation League has surveilled leftwing activists and “regularly
tracks, profiles and sends threat assessments of individuals” it
perceives as a problem, according to an internal email obtained by the
Guardian.</p><p>The May 2020 email was sent from ADL’s head of security
to chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt and unspecified employees of the
Jewish group, which labels itself the “leading anti-hate organization in
the world”. A self-styled civil rights organization, it plays an
outsize role in shaping public sentiment and national policy around
antisemitism, but it has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/jan/05/adl-pro-israel-advocacy-zionism-antisemitism">plagued by controversy</a> in recent years over its attacks on Israel critics and social justice groups.</p><p>The memo shows the ADL collected information on a Black Indianapolis activist, Tatjana Rebelle, who worked on <a href="https://deadlyexchange.org/frequently-asked-questions-deadly-exchange/">Deadly Exchange</a>, a national campaign against an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/17/adl-police-delegations-israel">ADL-backed</a> program to send US police officials for training with the Israeli military.</p><p>Rebelle,
however, said the local campaign on which they worked did not target
the ADL, and they had never directly engaged with the group.</p><p>In
the email, which included a picture and personal information about
Rebelle, ADL head of security Chris Delia concluded Rebelle was “a
radical with antisemitic and hateful views” but was “not a threat” to
the organization. Still, he recommended the file be referred to the
organization’s Center on Extremism, which tracks, in its words,
“extremist trends, ideologies and groups across the ideological
spectrum”.</p><p>Rebelle, who left the Deadly Exchange program in
mid-2018 to work with a youth climate nonprofit, said they were
“terrified” for themself and their family after learning about the 2020
assessment.</p><p>“It scared the shit out of me,” Rebelle said, adding
that it has had a chilling effect on their activism and what they say
publicly. “It stopped me from moving forward because I don’t want to put
people in my life at risk – I work with youth, so it stopped me in my
tracks.”</p><p>The ADL did not respond to specific questions from the
Guardian, but sent a statement that said: “The memorandum was
inappropriate and withdrawn at the time. ADL does not discuss personnel
matters.”</p><p>The ADL has come under fire in recent years as it has <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-defamation-league-list-tars-human-rights-groups">leveled charges</a>
of antisemitism against leftwing Jewish groups, Black Lives Matter,
Palestinian rights groups and other organizations critical of Israel. It
has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/15/adl-lobby-antisemitism-definition">increasingly lobbied</a>
for federal legislation on antisemitism, some of which critics say is
intended to target leftwing Jewish and Palestinian rights groups.</p><p>It
has become more aggressive since the Gaza war’s outset, but its
credibility has also suffered – most recently, Wikipedia’s editors <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/wikipedia-adl-report-jewish-israel-palestine-b2565058.html">found</a> the ADL could not be trusted to give reliable information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.</p><p>The
memo is the latest evidence that the ADL has spied on, surveilled or
tracked its opponents on the left and right. In 1993, the ADL faced <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/24/us/anti-defamation-league-accused-of-spying.html">multiple lawsuits</a> and an FBI investigation over a nationwide intelligence network <a href="https://www.israellobby.org/ADL-CA/">it developed</a> over the span of several decades with an investigator on its payroll, Roy Bullock.</p><p>Bullock was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-13-mn-22383-story.html">alleged</a>
to have infiltrated or kept files on the United Auto Workers union,
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, neo-Nazi groups, Mother Jones magazine, the
American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and many more. He also
allegedly sold personal information on US politicians and others to the
apartheid South African government at the ADL’s behest. The ADL
initially backed the apartheid regime, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/05/24/israels-most-illicit-affair/">labeling</a> Nelson Mandela’s party “totalitarian, anti-humane, anti-democratic, anti-Israel, and anti-American”.</p><p>In the wake of the far-right’s deadly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/12/charlottesville-far-right-crowd-with-torches-encircles-counter-protest-group">2017 Charlottesville rally</a>, the ADL, which also tracks white supremacy, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/633f390842d948449524a5e37667ec5a">claimed</a> it did not “directly” track leftwing groups. However, it put up a post on its website around that time <a href="https://forward.com/news/381488/adl-tells-police-to-infiltrate-and-film-antifa-protests/">encouraging police</a> to surveil and infiltrate anti-fascist groups.</p><p>An
anonymous ADL employee who shared Delia’s memo wrote in an email that
“threat assessments” Delia developed on Rebelle are conducted regularly.
The staffer also noted that “many ADL staff rebelled in horror” and
apologized to Rebelle.</p><p>Rebelle worked through 2018 for the
American Friends Service Committee, which partnered with Jewish Voice
for Peace (JVP) on the Deadly Exchange initiative. Rebelle says they
helped train local activists on how to address police abuses, worked on
immigration issues and raised awareness of the problems with exchange
programs between US police and the Israeli military.</p><p>Delia states
in the 2020 memo that he was asked to assess the activist during a
recent “JVP meeting”, referencing the leftwing US Jewish group, a
regular ADL <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/11/11/palestine-israel-protests-ceasefire-antisemitic/">target</a>.</p><p>In
a statement, JVP executive director Stefanie Fox said: “It’s appalling,
though not surprising, that the ADL is spending enormous time and
resources attacking one of the largest progressive Jewish organizations
in the country and surveilling African American organizers.”</p><p>Delia
characterizes Rebelle as a “very angry person, looking for a group to
belong to”, who complains about “the Black dad she never knew, and white
mom and family she didn’t feel she belonged to”. Rebelle also complains
about being judged for being bisexual and binational, Delia wrote. He
alleges Rebelle “does not like white women, especially suburban white
women”.</p><p>Delia included a quote from Rebelle’s social media, in
which they express they are “no longer in the business of helping white
folks cope with their privilege, nor speaking out against the terrorism
of white supremacy or state sanctioned murder of Black and brown folks
by the police”.</p><p>“As always, remember Black Lives Matter, Free
Palestine, gender and sexuality is a spectrum, Indigenous rights matter,
climate change is real, defund the police, and there is no change
without discomfort. Peace upon you all.”</p><p>Rebelle said they had
been previously targeted by local white nationalists and pro-Israel
groups that tried to get them fired from jobs or removed from speaking
engagements, but the ADL memo came as a surprise because the group was
not involved with her work in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/indianapolis">Indianapolis</a>.</p><p>Rebelle said the ADL was “targeting black queer folks”, and is evidence of a larger problem with the organization.</p><p>“It’s
the personal way that they described me … [it] is the same way we would
describe a white nationalist or a lone shooter profile,” Rebelle said.
“I really was trying to build community and liberation, and we never
harm anyone.”</p><p>Fox said the surveilling shows the ADL “is simply not credible as a civil rights organization”.</p><p>“They
are willing to trample on civil rights, smear racial justice activists,
and harm progressive movements in order to advance their primary work:
ensuring Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide go unchecked and
unchallenged,” she said.</p></div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div></div>