ADL confirms that CEO Jonathan Greenblatt backed out of Israeli antisemitism conference
Others have withdrawn to avoid sharing a stage with far-right leaders. The Yemeni-Swedish pro-Israel influencer Luai Ahmed, meanwhile, said he would attend.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt speaks onstage at ADL’s Never Is Now conference on March 3, 2025 in New York City. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
(JTA) — As participants in an antisemitism conference organized by the Israeli government backed out over the course of several days, citing the presence of far-right politicians, an unexplained change unfolded on the event’s website.
The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, disappeared from both the page showcasing participants and from the agenda for the conference, organized by Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli.
But as of Tuesday morning, neither the U.S. antisemitism watchdog group nor Greenblatt had commented publicly on why. On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the group issued a statement that filled in some of the gaps.
“In light of some of the recently announced participants at the Israeli government’s antisemitism conference, Jonathan decided last week that he would no longer be attending the event, and he notified the Israeli government about the decision after the weekend,” the spokesperson wrote.
The statement did not specify which of the participants had concerned Greenblatt. Other participants had proclaimed on social media that they were backing out because the event included far-right politicians, including the leader of a French political party with a history of outright antisemitism.
Chikli sees the far-right parties as partners in a shared fight against Muslim influence in Europe. Israel has recently changed official policy to open relations with the far-right in several countries, though not in Germany or Austria, where far right parties are ascendant.
A handful of participants have expressed their commitment to attend despite others’ concerns. Natan Sharansky announced on Monday that he was still in, though he cautioned that Israel should be consulting Jewish communities abroad, whose leaders generally oppose the far right, while planning conferences concerning them.
On Tuesday, the Yemeni-Swedish pro-Israel influencer Luai Ahmed posted on social media that he, too, remained excited about the conference, taking place near the end of the month in Jerusalem. He said he was looking forward to meeting Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a celebrity crusader against Islamic extremism, before addressing the issue of the far-right speakers. (Ali posted about her plan to attend without addressing the issue.)
“Regarding the complaints about the conference inviting predominantly European right-wing political parties, perhaps the absence of European leftist parties has more to do with the fact that large portions of the European left have been cozying up to Islamist fascists — those who dream of killing all Jews and eradicating the only Jewish state?” Ahmed wrote. “Just a thought.”
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
