Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a Jewish international non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late September 1913 by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization, in the wake of the contentious murder conviction of Leo Frank. ADL subsequently split from B'nai B'rith and continued as an independent US section 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Its CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt, who succeeded Abraham Foxman in July 2015. Foxman had served in the role since 1987. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States including a Government Relations Office in Washington, DC, as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe. In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants. Its total operating revenue is reported at$80.9 million. In the 1930s, ADL worked with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to oppose pro-Nazi propaganda in the United States. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, ADL has sought to counter views that are critical of the occupation of the Palestinian territories and sympathetic towards the Palestinians, bringing it into conflict with activists, who argue that the ADL's new antisemitism concept conflates antisemitism with anti-Zionism. In the 1980s, it was reportedly involved in propaganda against Nelson Mandela of South Africa before embracing him the following decade. The ADL did not recognize the Armenian genocide until 2007, instead calling it a "massacre" and an "atrocity" in years prior. In its early decades, the ADL benefited from being among the few highly centralized Jewish community relations organizations alongside the American Jewish Committee and American Jewish Congress.