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ADL head explains antisemitism as guest on hip-hop radio show ‘The Breakfast Club’
(New York Jewish Week) — Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt was a guest on the popular New York radio show The Breakfast Club on Wednesday, discussing the recent rise in antisemitism and the need to repair Black and Jewish relations.
“I believe you call people in before you call people out,” Greenblatt said, explaining to hosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy how he responds to antisemites. “I don’t believe in cancel culture, I believe in counsel culture.”
Greenblatt’s hour-long appearance was intended “to engage with different communities and learn from each other to prevent hatred from spreading,” according to an ADL spokesperson. The Breakfast Club, which originates at New York’s WWPR-FM (Power 105.1) and is syndicated nationally, has over 8 million listeners a month — more than half of them Black — according to Nielsen data. Its YouTube channel has over five million subscribers.
His appearance came after a period in which rapper Kanye West made headlines by spewing antisemitic comments and Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving promoted an antisemitic film.
“With antisemitism rising to unprecedented levels in the United States, and antisemitic conspiracy theories being normalized in high-profile ways, it is increasingly urgent to have thoughtful, in-depth conversations that are accessible to large, diverse audiences,” the ADL spokesperson added.
The on-air conversation that ensued was a sometimes tense but largely illuminating dialogue on the relationship between the Jewish and Black community.
@adl_national discusses the origin of how the #ADL came to be. Tap in
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— The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam) December 7, 2022
Early on in the program, Charlamagne Tha God — who in 2020 was criticized by Greenblatt for saying that “Jews have the power” — called out the ADL, saying that the organization “doesn’t have the same passion for anti-Blackness as it does antisemitism.”
Greenblatt responded that the organization was created “to protect Jewish people.”
“That’s why we exist,” Greenblatt said. “And so, at a time when antisemitism has literally reached an all time high, we’re putting a lot of resources on that.”
He added that those resources are going toward fighting extremists who “want to kill Black people and Jewish people.”
“These right-wing extremists, they’re the ones who are rejoicing, while they proceed, Black and Jewish people are fighting,” Greenblatt said. “They’re the ones who want to see Kanye and the ADL, or Charlemagne and whomever going at it, because they deeply, passionately hate both of us.”
Charlamagne also asked Greenblatt about the Black Hebrew Israelites, a religious sect whose members recently marched outside of Barclays Center in support of Irving. (In the aftermath of Irving’s tweet, the ADL attempted to work with Irving — who initially donated $500,000 to the organization — but the organization did not accept the donation after he did not apologize for his actions in a press conference.)
“They would say y’all aren’t Jews?” Charlamagne said. “They would say white people are not the original Jews?”
Greenblatt responded, pointing to an attack by two Black Hebrew Israelites on a New Jersey kosher grocery store which left six people dead in December 2019. “You’re entitled to believe whatever you want,” Greenblatt responded, “but I think we need to recognize that rhetoric can have real-world consequences.”
One such “consequence” is an explosion of antisemitic and hateful statements on the YouTube post of the show. While a few online commentators praised Greenblatt’s appearance on the show (“the conversation was all love”), the majority were less charitable.
“What this year taught me is that with The Tribe you need to act like you are literally in the presence of Darth Vader,” one comment said.
“I’m all for unity — unity in agreeing to kick Greenblatt and his fellow rats at the ADL out of this country,” another wrote.
“This guy proves Ye was right about everything,” another said, referring to West, who recently told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his Infowars program that “I like Hitler.”
The ADL spokesperson said not to “put much credence into what people are saying in the comments section on social media.”
“We absolutely have heard much positive feedback from Jonathan’s appearance,” the spokesperson added. “Antisemites, bigots and haters routinely come after us no matter what platform we are engaging on, and we refuse to let a fear of reactions from antisemites and others prevent us from doing the important work of combating hate. If we did listen, the antisemites would win.”
The ADL does have a relationship with multiple Black civil rights and justice reform groups including the NAACP and the Urban League.
“In all my offices, we’re working with Black-led organizations to fight anti-Black racism, to be a part of legislation, to be a part of initiatives,” Greenblatt said on the program.
The ADL has a controversial history in progressive spaces. Dozens of prominent organizations, including many Jewish ones, have signed an open letter called “Drop The ADL” which says the organization “has a history and ongoing pattern of attacking social justice movements.” At the same time, right-wing groups have attacked the ADL for promoting “far-left” ideas and prioritizing “marginalized communities” over Jewish community issues.
The Breakfast Club did not respond to a request for comment.
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The post ADL head explains antisemitism as guest on hip-hop radio show ‘The Breakfast Club’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Giuliani Says Mamdani Has ‘Hatred’ for Jews for Declining to Attend Israel Day Parade in New York City
Former Donald Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani arrives at US federal court in New York City, US, Nov. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has lambasted the city’s current mayor, Zohran Mamdani, for the latter’s decision not to attend the annual Israel Day parade, which is set to take place later this month.
“Mamdani’s decision to snub the Israel Day Parade demonstrates his deep disdain and hatred of the Jewish community,” Giuliani, a Republican, told the New York Post on Wednesday. “When you combine this with his failure to attend the investiture of the new Catholic Archbishop [Ronald Hicks], a pattern emerges, revealing a man on a mission to tear down the foundations of Western civilization.”
Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist, has made fierce anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career, leading many Jewish leaders and other critics to accuse him of antisemitism.
“Have New Yorkers awakened to the fact that they made a disastrous decision in November 2025 by electing this man?” added Giuliani, who served as New York City’s mayor from 1994 through 2001.
Mamdani confirmed earlier this month that he will skip this year’s Israel Day Parade. However, the avowed anti-Zionist first indicated that he would not attend the event in October 2025, the month before his election. At the time, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he looked forward “to joining — and hosting — many community events celebrating Jewish life in New York and the rich Jewish history and culture of our city,” but not including the parade.
“While I will not be attending the Israel Day Parade, my lack of attendance should not be mistaken for a refusal to provide security or the necessary permits for its safety,” Mamdani said last year. “I’ve been very clear: I believe in equal rights for all people — everywhere. That principle guides me consistently.”
Mamdani is reportedly the first mayor of New York City to skip the Israel Day Parade, which has been held annually since 1964. The parade takes place along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and is set this year for May 31 under the theme, “Proud Americans, Proud Zionists.”
For what is believed to be the first time in history, a Muslim group will march in the parade. Supporters of the nonprofit American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council will participate and be led by Anila Ali, the organization’s board chair and president.
As a supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, Mamdani has been highly critical of the country and has refused to recognize it as a Jewish state. New York City is home to the world’s largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
“Since the very first Israel Parade in 1964, every single sitting mayor of New York City has joined in the festive celebrations. New York has historically been proud of its deep relationship with Israel. Not joining the parade is an affront to the history of New York City,” Moshe Davis – former executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, a body formed by Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams – told Fox News Digital.
Adams told the news outlet that the Israel Day Parade “is a testament to one of New York City’s most important relationships.”
“From health care to technology to innovation, Israel and New York City are partners in building a better future,” he explained. “I want every New Yorker to join the Parade on Fifth Avenue because celebrating this bond isn’t just for the Jewish community; it’s for our entire city.”
Last week, Mamdani posted a video on social media in honor of “Nakba Day.” The word “nakba” is Arabic for “catastrophe” and used by Palestinians to describe Israel’s founding and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
Many Arabs left for varied reasons, including that they were encouraged by Arab leaders to flee their homes to make way for the invading armies to destroy the nascent Jewish state. At the same time, about 850,000 Jews were forced to flee or expelled from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 20th century, primarily in the aftermath of Israel’s declaring independence.
Several pro-Israel Jewish groups found the video posted by Mamdani offensive, and as a result, some Jewish leaders decided not to attend a pre-Shavuot event Mamdani hosted at Gracie Mansion in honor of Jewish Heritage Month.
The UJA Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, both of which are organizing the Israel Day Parade, declined to attend the gathering. They told the New York Post they made the decision because the event’s host is a mayor who “denies the core pillar of our heritage, the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.” At the event, Mamdani announced that his administration will allocate $26 million annually to expand efforts made by the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.
Since Mamdani assumed office, Jews have been targeted in the majority of all hate crimes committed in New York City, continuing a troubling trend of rising antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
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Vermont Police Investigate Anti-Israel Vandalism of Jewish-Owned Store as Possible Hate Crime
Graffiti is seen on the windows of DG Bodyworks in Cavendish on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The Vermont State Police has partially redacted profanity that appears on the window to the right. Photo: Vermont State Police
A Jewish woman’s store in Vermont was vandalized early Wednesday morning with anti-Israel graffiti in an incident that police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
“Free Palestine” and “F–k Israel” were spray-painted on the windows of DG Bodyworks, where Israeli flags were on display.
Vermont State Police said they are investigating the vandalism in the Windsor County town of Cavendish as a possible hate crime and will inform the Attorney General’s Office of the incident. Officers who responded to the crime scene reviewed security footage and saw an individual vandalizing the store with purple spray paint during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police released a photo of the suspect, a white male who wore a cap and covered his face while spray-painting the messages.
Shop owner Denise Gebroe said that her store was targeted because she is Jewish and that while she was “shaken” to discover the graffiti, “I am OK and will not be broken.”
“This was an act of intimidation directed at me because I am Jewish,” she added, in a statement shared with The Algemeiner by Vermont Friends of Israel. “I made Vermont my home because I love it here, but it does not feel the same as it once did. Incidents like this are happening more than many people realize, and most go unreported. I fear for the future of the Jewish community here, and Jewish friends of mine have already left.”
In a statement given to The Algemeiner, Mark Treinkman, president of Vermont Friends of Israel, also called the vandalism an anti-Jewish hate crime and said such an incident “is the predictable consequence of a political campaign in Vermont that demonizes Israel and pressures local communities to treat Jews and Zionists as equivalent to Nazis.” He referenced an Apartheid Free Community campaign active in Vermont, promoted by the Palestine Solidarity Coalition, that is marketed locally as “grassroots activism.”
“When anti-Zionist activists tell people that Jews with deep spiritual, cultural, and familial ties to Israel are ‘baby killers’ and ‘genocide supporters,’ it sends a dangerous signal that intimidation against them is understandable, deserved, or even justified,” Treinkman noted. “History teaches us where this goes. First come campaigns of dehumanization, slogans, pledges, and public shaming. Now a Jewish woman’s storefront has been vandalized in rural Vermont.”
“Synagogues in Vermont have been sent death threats. Swastikas are found on Vermont school walls,” he added, referring to threatening letters sent to several local synagogues and antisemitism graffiti discovered at an elementary school last year. “Jewish students are bullied. What comes next if this is not confronted?”
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Turkey Court Ousts Opposition Leader in Latest Blow to Erdogan’s Challengers
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), speaks to the media at party headquarters after a Turkish court dismissed a case seeking to remove him and annul the party’s 2023 congress, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Efekan Akyuz
A Turkish court effectively ousted the main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel on Thursday, annulling the 2023 party congress that elected him chairman in a ruling that dealt a blow to President Tayyip Erdogan’s challengers and hit financial markets.
The appeals court annulled the congress over irregularities and ruled that former Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a divisive figure within the party who lost to Erdogan in an election earlier in 2023 – should replace his successor Ozel.
The case was seen as a test of Turkey‘s shaky balance between democracy and autocracy, and the ruling may throw the opposition into further disarray and possible infighting. It could also boost Erdogan’s chances of extending his more than two-decade rule of the big NATO member country and major emerging market economy.
OPPOSITION HIT BY JUDICIAL CRACKDOWN
The CHP, running roughly even with Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in polls, has separately faced an unprecedented judicial crackdown since 2024 in which hundreds of members and elected officials have been detained as part of corruption charges that the party denies.
Among those imprisoned for more than a year is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is seen as the main rival of Erdogan and remains the CHP’s official candidate for a presidential election set for 2028 but that could come next year.
After the court ruling, Ozel convened party leaders to discuss possible steps and members were called to the CHP headquarters building in Ankara to protest against it.
Ali Mahir Basarir, CHP deputy parliamentary group chair, told Reuters the ruling “is an attempted coup carried out through the judiciary [and] a blow against the will of 86 million people.”
The party rejected the ruling, he said, adding that those who signed off on it were “complicit in this coup attempt and will be held accountable before the courts.”
Turkey‘s main Borsa Istanbul .XU100 dropped 6% in response, triggering a market-wide circuit breaker, while Turkish government bonds slid. Sovereign bonds sold off as much as 1.2 cents, which for many was the biggest fall since late March.
The ruling by the Ankara court overturned a decision last year by a court of first instance that said the case surrounding the CHP’s 2023 congress had no substance.