Podcast / On the Nose
On the Nose is our biweekly podcast. The editorial staff discusses the politics, culture, and questions that animate today’s Jewish left.
The Other ADLs
Duration
0:00 / 43:43
Published
October 31, 2024

In 2003, a group of Indian Americans deeply involved in India’s Hindu supremacist movement, or Hindutva, established the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an organization explicitly modeled on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Just as the ADL has long insisted that fighting American antisemitism requires bolstering support for Israel, the HAF committed itself to lobbying for Hindutva in the name of protecting Hindu Americans’ civil rights, an approach that helped the group’s rightwing politics find a foothold in liberal, anti-racist circles. The HAF is not the only organization that has drawn inspiration from the ADL. In 2021, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF) was formed in direct partnership with the ADL as a way to address growing anti-Asian racism. While lacking connection to a single ethnonationalist movement, TAAF nevertheless drew on the ADL’s and HAF’s approaches in positioning anti-Asian racism as a unique problem requiring carceral solutions instead of solidaristic organizing. As such, TAAF debuted with ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt as the only non-Asian person on its board, and Hindu nationalist Sonal Shah as its founding president.

The HAF and TAAF’s use of the ADL model has thus far helped them achieve support and legitimacy. However, as the ADL itself faces an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy in the wake of October 7th, affiliation with it now risks becoming a liability. For instance, following members’ criticism over its ties to an increasingly repressive Greenblatt, TAAF removed him from his board this July (while still affirming its “strategic relationship” with the ADL). As dissent continues to grow in Asian and South Asian American communities—with reporters and activists questioning ties of anti-racist groups in the US to injustices abroad—it is not just ties to the ADL but the power of the ADL model of antiracism that stands to come into question. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan spoke to associate editor Mari Cohen, New Yorker contributing writer E. Tammy Kim, and Savera coalition activist Prachi Patankar about the similarities and differences between the ADL, the HAF, and TAAF; their embrace of a “hate crimes” approach to anti-racism and what it leaves out; their ties to supremacist movements; and their shifting fortunes in the wake of the pressures over the past year.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”


Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents

ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” Savera Coalition

The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents

The ADL of Asian America,” E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker

The Asian American Foundation’s ADL partnership is a betrayal to Asian American communities,” Sharmin Hossain, Mondoweiss


Transcript forthcoming

Nov 5 2024
Bipartisan Empire: Foreign Policy, Regional War, and the 2024 Election (01:13:52)
Alex Kane talks to Stephen Wertheim, Maya Berry, and Spencer Ackerman about the presidential election.
Oct 31 2024
The Other ADLs (this page)
Aparna Gopalan speaks with Mari Cohen, E. Tammy Kim, and Prachi Patankar about the Hindu American Foundation and the Asian American Foundation.
Oct 17 2024
What Ta-Nehisi Coates Saw (40:23)
Peter Beinart speaks with the acclaimed author about his new book, which confronts the reality of Israeli apartheid.
Oct 10 2024
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In a conversation from Jewish Currents Live, Arielle Angel speaks with Noura Erakat, Fadi Quran, Dana El Kurd, Amjad Iraqi, and Ahmed Moor about the future of the movement for Palestinian freedom.
Oct 2 2024
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Aug 9 2024
The Killing of Ismail Haniyeh (31:51)
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Jul 25 2024
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Alex Kane talks to Matt Duss and Suzanne Schneider about the vice presidential candidate’s break from neoconservatism and his hawkish approach to China and the Middle East.
Jul 10 2024
The Fraught Promise of Arab-Jewish Identity (49:00)
Jonathan Shamir speaks to Hana Morgenstern, Yaël Mizrahi-Arnaud, and Moshe Behar about the potential and limits of Arab-Jewish politics.
Jul 5 2024
Jamaal Bowman’s Primary Loss (27:09)
Alex Kane talks to Ryan Grim and Waleed Shahid about AIPAC’s electoral strategy and the future of the movement to elect leftist Democrats.
Jun 20 2024
“Beyond the Capacity of English to See” (27:50)
A conversation with Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah about his new book, [...].
Jun 13 2024
Synagogue Struggles (51:44)
Nathan Goldman, Cynthia Friedman, Raphael Magarik, and Devin E. Naar discuss the role of politics in synagogue after October 7th.
Jun 6 2024
Religion, Secularism, and the Jewish Left (46:30)
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May 23 2024
The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (52:02)
Jewish Currents discusses the conclusion and legacy of an iconic Jewish American sitcom.
May 16 2024
On Zionism and Anti-Zionism (50:58)
As protest encampments have forced a reckoning with the meaning of Zionism, Jewish Currents staffers discuss the different ways they describe their opposition to Jewish statehood and supremacy.
May 2 2024
Controversy at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (33:40)
Two anti-Zionist artists discuss their divergent decisions to stay or pull out of a group show at San Francisco’s Jewish art museum.
Apr 26 2024
Chevruta: Understanding Aaron Bushnell’s Sacrifice (38:51)
Rabbi Lexie Botzum leads Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel in a chevruta exploring how much we must sacrifice for justice.
Apr 25 2024
Jewish Organizing at Columbia’s Encampment (41:58)
Jewish Currents speaks with three student organizers at Columbia about their experience at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
Apr 11 2024
Unpacking the Campus Antisemitism Narrative (42:55)
Jewish Currents staff discuss recent campus antisemitism reporting and consider its consequences.
Mar 28 2024
Campus Politics Takes the Stage in "The Ally" (38:06)
Arielle Angel, Alisa Solomon, and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi discuss The Ally, a new play about campus politics and liberal Jewish discomfort with the left.
Mar 14 2024
Language, the Media, and Palestine (34:46)
Arielle Angel talks to Ali Gharib, Dalia Hatuqa, and Jazmine Hughes about the language the media uses to discuss Israel/Palestine, and what it says about the state of journalism today.