(JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League has removed entirely from the “What We Do” page of its website a section called “Protect Civil Rights.”

The removal eliminated a passage that read, “Our founders established ADL with the clear understanding that the fight against any one form of prejudice or hate cannot succeed without countering hate of all forms.”

The change to the website, which has not been previously reported, was made amid other website edits following a flurry of right-wing criticism and an unprecedented attack on the organization earlier this month by FBI Director Kash Patel.

On Oct. 1, just hours before Jews on the East Coast would start fasting on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, President Donald Trump’s handpicked top cop said the law enforcement agency was cutting ties with the ADL. The Jewish group was “functioning like a terrorist organization” because of how it tracks and reports extremism on the right, Patel told Fox News.

Patel’s announcement came days after Elon Musk mischaracterized a section of the ADL website to accuse the group of anti-Christian hatred. His post on X triggered a pile-on of condemnation. The ADL removed the section from its website as part of a purge of more than 1,000 other entries making up its Glossary of Extremism and Hate.

An ADL spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the passage committing the ADL to the protection of civil rights was removed as part of an “ongoing review” of its website and its contents.

“This month, ADL has conducted deferred maintenance on the website, which had grown in recent years to more than 25,000 pieces of content — some even dating back to more than 30 years ago and clearly no longer relevant or reflective of ADL’s work today,” the spokesperson said.

A recent article by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt makes clear how the ADL’s focus has changed: He outlined a withdrawal from the group’s commitment to the protection of all vulnerable minorities in favor of a mission centered more exclusively on anti-Jewish hatred.

The ADL is not commenting on its relationship with the FBI or Patel’s attack beyond the statement praising the agency it issued in the immediate aftermath.

“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference,” the statement said.

It’s still not yet clear what impact Patel’s announcement will have — in part because the ADL didn’t receive an official notice that might have offered details.

“ADL has not yet received any formal communication from the Administration, and we are working to learn more,” Greenblatt said in a note to Jewish groups that arrived in inboxes just hours after Fox News published its exclusive interview with Patel and minutes before Yom Kippur started.

A longstanding partnership that provided FBI agents training on topics such as hate crimes, violent extremism and antisemitism through a workshop at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is thought to be terminated.

Meanwhile, however, the ADL’s extremism trackers continue to exchange tips with the FBI, JTA has learned.

The ADL’s initial reaction may have been shaped by the shock of Patel’s decision, but the group’s ongoing silence on the issue appears to be part of a strategy.

The group never sought to rally a communal outcry from Jewish organizations. In fact, it did the opposite, pleading behind the scenes for them to shut up, an extraordinary move for an organization — and a community — that has in the post World War II era prided itself in speaking out against injustice.

“We’re really following ADL’s lead here,” said a senior official of a major Jewish group that has refrained from commenting on the FBI letter, and who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. “They’re determining how to navigate it in the way that makes sense for them.”

The muted reaction by Jewish legacy organizations can be read, their critics say, as acquiescence to an administration accused of leveraging government power to silence and destroy civil society critics.

Another factor is a community profoundly roiled by the hostility to Israel and Jewish attachment to the country that has emerged among the left and Democrats, the community of American thought where most Jews have thrived for more than a century.

But not everyone is willing to go along with the approach.

Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said Patel’s attack was evidence that it was futile to hope that the trumpeting of common ground with the Trump administration, as the ADL and others have done on Israel policy, would lead to comity.

“This is a reminder that they’re coming for everyone that doesn’t 100% align with their agenda and their approach,” Spitalnick said. “This is about a far more systemic abuse and weaponization of the federal government to advance a political agenda. And that should frighten all of us.”

Appeals by Spitalnick and others for a united Jewish front against the Trump administration’s assault on civil liberties have not just fallen on deaf ears among legacy Jewish groups, they have encountered active resistance. The Jewish Federations of North America, the goliath umbrella body for 150 or so local federations, in April urged constituent groups not to sign onto a JCPA-led statement decrying the Trump crackdown on speech under the pretext of stemming antisemitism.

Six months later, Jewish officials are wondering whether traditional Jewish advocacy on issues such as civil rights will survive the onslaught.

Officials are closely reading a Sept. 25 National Security Presidential Memorandum, purportedly spurred by the killing of Charlie Kirk, that sets up a task force that includes nonprofits among the entities it will investigate for “support” of “political violence, terrorism, or conspiracy against rights; or the violent deprivation of any citizen’s rights.” It also identifies “common threads” of such movements as including “anti-Christianity” bias or “hostility toward those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

These catchall phrases are so broad that they may place numerous NGOs in the government’s crosshairs, said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“When the White House erroneously accuses the ADL of ‘anti-Christian’ bias and ‘functioning like a terrorist organization,’ it creates fear of who is next, and honestly, that fear is justified,” Soifer said.  “It’s clear the Trump administration is aiming to expand  the definition of terrorism, to weaponize it against Americans with whom they disagree.”

Close to 4,000 nonprofits, including dozens of liberal Jewish groups, signed an open letter last month expressing alarm at the presidential directive.

“This attack on nonprofits is not happening in a vacuum, but as a part of a wholesale offensive against organizations and individuals that advocate for ideas or serve communities that the president finds objectionable, and that seek to enforce the rule of law against the federal government,” said the letter.

Jonathan Jacoby, the president of the Nexus project, which seeks to combat antisemitism while mitigating its weaponization, said Trump had the Jewish community in his sights.

“The Trump administration’s actions are not just challenging liberals or progressives or Democrats, they’re challenging Jews to respond. They’re challenging every Jewish organization,” he said. “It’s a clear example of why every Jewish organization, or every organization that represents Jewish interests, should be calling this out loud and clear.”

One of the ironies of Patel’s attack is that it has brought out groups that have clashed with the ADL over whether the group has blurred the differences between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel to the group’s defense, while the ADL and its allies remain silent.

“While we have had our differences with the ADL over the years, the organization has played a central role in combating antisemitism and extremism in the United States for more than a century,” J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group said in a statement. “Ending the FBI’s long-term partnership with the ADL, while smearing the organization in this manner, will only embolden extremists and make American Jews less safe.”

The organizations that have lobbied hardest for further protections of synagogues and other institutions have been silent on the FBI-ADL breach; the JFNA, the Orthodox Union and the Secure Community Network declined or did not respond to requests for comment.

Leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements released statements for this story emphasizing the necessity of the ADL’s work with law enforcement — but without criticizing or even mentioning Patel’s attack.

“For decades, the ADL has worked with our movement’s network of congregations and also with law enforcement at every level, whose commitment we deeply respect,” said Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, the CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. “These partnerships protect our communities and must continue, and we are expressing our support for the ADL’s collaboration with law enforcement through the most appropriate and effective channels.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism said his movement was “aligned with the ADL’s commitment to fighting antisemitism and advancing Jewish communal safety … We hope the FBI will continue to join in that effort as it has over many decades to the benefit of the nation overall.”

The ADL has endeavored since Jan. 20 to accommodate Trump 2.0, praising some of its actions targeting universities where pro-Palestinian activism has at times created a hostile environment for Jewish students. Greenblatt, in comments first reported by the Forward, in June praised the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities in an address to a conference of Republican state attorneys general.

“I don’t agree with everything the Trump administration is doing, I don’t want to shut down these schools altogether,” he said. “But you know what? God bless [Education] Secretary [Linda] McMahon.”

Such statements have spurred claims that Greenblatt is steering the organization right, perhaps at the behest of donors the ADL shares with Trump or to avoid clashing with an administration that has sought to punish its critics. A New York Magazine deep dive in August into Greenblatt’s apparent shifts laid out what it said was evidence of a rightward drift.

Greenblatt in a subsequent interview with The New York Times said the group remained steadfastly nonpartisan. “We’ve worked with presidential administrations over generations, right and left,” Greenblatt said. “We don’t agree with them on everything, but where we can find common ground, we try. And where we have a point of disagreement, we make that known.”

Attempting to assign to Greenblatt a place on the left-to-right continuum may not make sense. His trajectory is more outside to inside, expansive to insular. He is emblematic of the many American Jews who until Oct. 7, 2023, felt comfortably ensconced in the precincts of liberalism, and who have since felt politically homeless.

Multiple sources pointed to Greenblatt’s Oct. 16 op-ed in eJewish Philanthropy as representative of this sentiment.

“It is a sad truth that so many of our self-described allies simply disappeared or deeply disappointed us when we needed them,” he wrote. “In this environment, we have no choice but to concentrate our energies like a laser beam on our core purpose, the reason why the ADL actually was founded so many generations ago — to protect the Jewish People.”

The post ADL removes ‘Protect Civil Rights’ from website as it narrows its mission amid right-wing attacks appeared first on The Forward.

ווען איך קום אַרײַן אין צימער שטראָמט אַרײַן אַ האַרבסטליכט פֿון די אַרומיקע קאַטסקיל־בערג. די בלעטער אויף די ביימער אַנטפּלעקן זייער פֿילפֿאַרביקייט און דער הימל האָט נאָך נישט באַשלאָסן צי ער איז כמאַרנע, צי בלוי.

אין הינטערגרונט הערט זיך דער מעלאָדישער רעפֿרען פֿון אַ ליד: „קער זיך אום, קער זיך אום.“ אויף יעדן בענקל הענגט אַ קאַרטל מיט אַ נאָמען. איך געפֿין מײַנס. אַרום מיר זע איך ווי די ראַבײַס און ראַבינער־סטודענטן מיט וועמען איך האָב פֿאַרבראַכט די לעצטע צוויי טעג שטעלן זיך אין אַ קרײַז אַרום אונדזער גרופּע פֿון 30 מענטשן.

„עפֿנט דעם זאַק אויף אײַער בענקל,“ זאָגט דער מדריך. אינעווייניק ליגט אַ טלית. יעדער פֿון אונדז מורמלט די ברכה און טוט אים אָן. איך צי מײַן נײַעם טלית איבערן קאָפּ. דאָס געוואַנט רירט זיך צערטלעך איבער מײַן נאַקן און איך קלער, צי דער טלית וואָס איך האָב באַקומען בײַם ווערן אַ בר־מיצווה געפֿינט זיך נאָך בײַ טאַטע־מאַמע אין שטוב אין לאָס־אַנדזשעלעס.

„עפֿנט דעם קאָנווערט,“ זאָגט ווײַטער דער מדריך. אינעווייניק ליגט אַ בריוו פֿון דער ראַבינערטע, וואָס האָט מיך רעקאָמענדירט פֿאַר דעם רעטריט. זי שרײַבט אַז מײַן אַרבעט אין ייִדישער דערציִונג האָט שטאַרק משפּיע געווען אויף מײַנע סטודענטן און אַז איך וואָלט געקענט זײַן אַ געראָטענער ראַבינער. עס רירט מיך צו זען ווי זי גלייבט אין מיר. עס שטייען מיר אַזש טרערן אין די אויגן.

גלײַכצײַטיק טראַכט איך זיך: „אָבער איז דאָס נישט אַלץ אַ ביסל איבערגעטריבן?“ אפֿשר יאָ. פֿון דעסט וועגן ווירקט עס אויף מיר. איך פֿיל זיך אַ ביסל אַנטפּלעקט, דאַנקבאַר, אומזיכער, ווי איך וואָלט געשטאַנען אויפֿן שוועל פֿון עפּעס נײַס. „איז דאָס אַ צווייטע בר־מיצווה צערעמאָניע?“ קלער איך. אויב יאָ בין איך איצט אָבער ווײַט פֿון יענעם 13־יאָריקן ייִנגל. אַ דערוואַקסענער, מיט לעבן־דערפֿאַרונג, מער אַחריותן און אַ מער קאָמפּליצירטן צוגאַנג צו ייִדישקייט און צו זיך אַליין.

דערנאָך שטייט ווײַטער: „אינעם פּעקל אויף דײַן בענקל וועסטו געפֿינען אַ שפּיגעלע. האַלט אים פֿאַרן פּנים. קוק זיך אָן און שטעל זיך פֿאָר וואָס פֿאַר אַ מין ראַבינער דו וואָלטסט געקענט זײַן.“ אַ לאַנגע צײַט קוק איך זיך אָן, טראָגנדיק אַ טלית וואָס האָט נאָך דעם ריח פֿון פֿרישער סחורה. מײַן אָפּשפּיגלונג שאָקירט מיך אַ ביסל און, ווי אַ מין ייִדישער נאַרציז, בין איך אַ ביסל פֿאַרכּישופֿט דערפֿון.

ס׳איז שווער צו באַשרײַבן דאָס געמיש פֿון געפֿילן אין יענעם מאָמענט: באַגײַסטערונג וועגן די מעגלעכקייטן פֿון מאָרגן; דאַנקבאַרקייט פֿאַר דעם וואָס מע שאַצט מיך דאָ אָפּ; חרטה פֿאַר די דרכים וואָס איך האָב נישט אויסגעקליבן און אַ חידוש וועגן דעם וואָס קאָן נאָך פּאַסירן. אָט אַזאַ מאַגישער מאָמענט איז טאַקע דער ציל פֿון אָט דעם רעטריט: נישט גלײַך צו ווערבירן נײַע ראַבינער, נאָר צו געבן מענטשן ווי מיר אַ געלעגנהייט צו קענען זיך פֿאָרשטעלן אין אַזאַ פּאָזיציע.

די אונטערנעמונג הייסט דער „ראַוו“ רעטריט („ראַוו“ באַטײַט די ראָשי־תּיבֿות פֿון Rabbinic Accelerator Venture, די איניציאַטיוו אַרײַנצוברענגען ראַבינער) — אַ דרײַטאָגיע פֿאַרזאַמלונג וואָס באַמיט זיך אָנצוצינדן אַן אינטערעס צום ווערן אַ ראַבינער, בײַ ייִדן וואָס האָבן דאָס אפֿשר קיין מאָל נישט באַטראַכט.

דער רעטריט איז געשטיצט געוואָרן פֿון „מעם גלאָבאַל“ — אַן אָרגאַניזאַציע וואָס פּרוּוט איבערצוצײַגן יונגע ייִדן צו פֿירן אַ מער אַקטיוו ייִדיש לעבן, לויט זײערע אייגענע אינטערעסן.

במשך פֿון די צוויי טעג האָט מען געלערנט תּורה צוזאַמען, געהערט דיסקוסיעס, זיך באַטייליקט אין לעבעדיקע געניטונגען, אַפֿילו אַ „טעלעוויזיע־שפּיל“. מיר האָבן געהערט לעקציעס אויף די טעמעס, „וואָס טוט אַ ראַבײַ?“ און „פֿאַר וואָס איך וואָלט געקאָנט זײַן אַן אידעאַלער ראַבײַ.“

„מעם גלאָבאַל“ איז נישט פֿאַרבונדן מיט קיין ראַבינער־סעמינאַר און האָט נישט געהאַט קיין אינסטיטוציאָנעלע אינטערעסן אין ווערבירן אונדז. די אָרגאַניזאַציע האָט פּשוט געשאַפֿן אַן אָרט פֿאַר ייִדן וואָס וואָלטן אפֿשר באַטראַכט זיך צו לערנען אויף ראַבינער, כּדי צו שטעלן ערנסטע שאלות וועגן אונדזער לעבן און וועגן דער פּראָפֿעסיע בכלל. דער עיקר איז נישט געווען „וווּהין זאָל איך גיין?”, נאָר גיכער פֿאַר וואָס צו גיין אַהין, אָדער צי ס׳איז כּדאַי צו גיין בכלל.

איך אַליין בין אַ גאַסט־פּראָפֿעסאָר פֿון ייִדישע לימודים אין הײַדלבערג, דײַטשלאַנד. כ’בין נישט קיין אָפּגעהיטער ייִד. כאָטש איך עס נישט קיין חזיר היט איך נישט קיין כּשרע שטוב. איך האָב ליב צו דאַווענען אין שיל פֿרײַטיק־צו־נאַכטס אָבער מײַן דאַווענען איז נישט אויסגעהאַלטן. שוין יאָרן לאַנג וואָס איך לערן מיט סטודענטן און אויך מיט זיך אַליין פֿאַרשידענע רעליגיעזע טעקסטן. אָבער אָפֿט מאָל איז דאָס פֿון אַ קריטיש קוקווינקל. איך האָב ליב די טיפֿקייט פֿון דער ייִדישער רעליגיעזער ירושה, איר לשון און די ייִדישע קולטור בכלל, אָבער איך בין נישט זיכער אַז איך וויל, אַז אַנדערע זאָלן מיך זען ווי איינער וואָס פּאַסט זיך אַרײַן אינעם מוסטער פֿון אַ „רעליגיעזן“ ייִד.

אפֿשר דערפֿאַר, ווען איך קוק אַרײַן אין שפּיגל, האָט די פֿראַגע געפֿילט ווי אַ זאַך וואָס איך האָב שטילערהייט געקלערט יאָרן לאַנג. ס׳איז זעלטן וואָס עמעצער בעט דיך דירעקט, זאָלסט זיך פֿאָרשטעלן ווי אַ ראַבינער. שוין לאַנג וואָס מײַן באַציִונג צו ייִדישקייט איז אַן אינטעלעקטועלע, אַ פּראָפֿעסיאָנעלע, אַ ליטעראַרישע, אַן עמאָציאָנעלע און פֿון צײַט צו צײַט — אַ גײַסטיקע. און איצט האָט מען מיך געבעטן פֿלעכטן די פֿעדעמער פֿון דעם וואָס איך בין און וואָס איך טו אויף אַ נײַעם אופֿן.

אַנדערע באַטייליקטע האָבן באַמערקט ווי דער רעטריט האָט זיי געהאָלפֿן באַטראַכטן אַ צוקונפֿט ווי אַ ראַבינער און האָט זיי געגעבן אַ געפֿיל אַז זיי גייען אַלע אויף אַן ענלעכן דרך.

„ס׳איז מער נישט סתּם אַן אַבסטראַקטער באַגריף, נאָר גיכער עפּעס רעאַליסטישס, עפּעס וואָס קאָן טאַקע מקוים ווערן,“ האָט איינער געזאָגט.

„ביז איצט — האָט אַ צווייטער געזאָגט — איז מײַן חלום צו ווערן אַ ראַבינער געווען אַן איינזאַמע גײַסטיקע רײַזע. עטלעכע רבנים און מײַן פֿרוי האָבן מיך טאַקע געמוטיקט אין דעם, אָבער דאָ, צום ערשטן מאָל, האָב איך געפֿילט אַן עמציאָנעלע שטיצע פֿון אַנדערע וואָס קלערן די זעלבע זאַך וואָס איך.“

מיר איז ספּעציעל געפֿעלן וואָס איין באַטייליקטער, שלמה, האָט געזאָגט וועגן זײַן אייגענעם גײַסטיקן איבערגאַנג. אַנשטאָט זיך צו מאָדעלירן אויפֿן מוסטער פֿון אַבֿרהם אָבֿינו, וואָס האָט געהערט אַ קול פֿון שמיים און עס געפֿאָלגט, האָט ער אַליין זיך געפֿילט באַקוועמער מיטן מוסטער פֿון משה רבינו, וואָס קומט אַראָפּ פֿון באַרג סיני און ברענגט די תּורה צום ייִדישן פֿאָלק. מיט אַנדערע ווערטער, אַ ראַבינער ווערט מען הײַנט ווייניקער צוליב אַ גײַסטיקער אַנטפּלעקונג, און גיכער צוליב דער קהילה, דורך זײַנע באַציִונגען מיט אַנדערע ייִדן.

שלמהס ווערטער זענען מיר נאָכגעגאַנגען, בפֿרט צוליב די ווערטער פֿון משה רבינו, וואָס איך געדענק נאָך פֿון מײַן בר־מיצווה פּרשה, „ניצבֿים“:

דאָסדאָזיקע געבאָט וואָס איך געביט דיר הײַנט, דאָס איז ניט פֿאַרהוילן פֿון דיר, און דאָס איז ניט צו ווײַט. ניט אויפֿן הימל איז דאָס, אַז דו זאָלסט זאָגן: ווער וועט אונדז אַרויפֿגיין אויפֿן הימל און עס נעמען פֿאַר אונדז, און עס אונדז לאָזן הערן, כּדי מיר זאָלן עס טאָן? (איבערזעצונג פֿון יהואש)

זיצנדיק מיטן צונויפֿגעלייגטן טלית אין שויס, האָב איך געקלערט וועגן די ווערטער. דער פּסוק פֿון דבֿרים באַשרײַבט די תּורה ווי אַ צוטריטלעכע זאַך, נישט עפּעס ווײַטס אָדער מיסטישס. דער רעטריט האָט פֿאַרבונדן אָט דעם געדאַנק מיט דער ראַבינערשאַפֿט אַליין: אַז דאָס ווערן אַ ראַבינער איז אַ מעגלעכער, צוטריטלעכער דרך פֿאַר ייִדן, וואָס זאָרגן זיך וועגן דער ייִדישער און מענטשישער צוקונפֿט.

הגם איך בין אַוועק פֿון די קאַטסקילס אָן אַן אָננעמבריוו פֿון אַ ראַבינער־שול, האָב איך יאָ מיטגענומען עפּעס וואָס איך האָב זיך אויף דעם נישט געריכט — אַ נײַעם טלית און אַ דערמאָנונג אַז די מעגלעכקייט פֿון ווערן אַ ראַבינער איז נישט קיין הימלישע זאַך וואָס איז ווײַט פֿון מיר און שווער צום דערגרייכן — נאָר דווקא דאָ, ממש אָנצוטאַפּן.

(איבערגעזעצט פֿון שׂרה־רחל שעכטער)

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The Anti-Defamation League has removed entirely from the “What We Do” page of its website a section called “Protect Civil Rights.”

The removal eliminated a passage that read, “Our founders established ADL with the clear understanding that the fight against any one form of prejudice or hate cannot succeed without countering hate of all forms.”

The change to the website, which has not been previously reported, was made amid other website edits following a flurry of right-wing criticism and an unprecedented attack on the organization earlier this month by FBI Director Kash Patel.

On Oct. 1, just hours before Jews on the East Coast would start fasting on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, President Donald Trump’s handpicked top cop said the law enforcement agency was cutting ties with the ADL. The Jewish group was “functioning like a terrorist organization” because of how it tracks and reports extremism on the right, Patel told Fox News.

Patel’s announcement came days after Elon Musk mischaracterized a section of the ADL website to accuse the group of anti-Christian hatred. His post on X triggered a pile-on of condemnation. The ADL removed the section from its website as part of a purge of more than 1,000 other entries making up its Glossary of Extremism and Hate.

An ADL spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the passage committing the ADL to the protection of civil rights was removed as part of an “ongoing review” of its website and its contents.

“This month, ADL has conducted deferred maintenance on the website, which had grown in recent years to more than 25,000 pieces of content — some even dating back to more than 30 years ago and clearly no longer relevant or reflective of ADL’s work today,” the spokesperson said.

A recent article by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt makes clear how the ADL’s focus has changed: He outlined a withdrawal from the group’s commitment to the protection of all vulnerable minorities in favor of a mission centered more exclusively on anti-Jewish hatred.

The ADL is not commenting on its relationship with the FBI or Patel’s attack beyond the statement praising the agency it issued in the immediate aftermath.

“ADL has deep respect for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and law enforcement officers at all levels across the country who work tirelessly every single day to protect all Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, political affiliation or any other point of difference,” the statement said.

It’s still not yet clear what impact Patel’s announcement will have — in part because the ADL didn’t receive an official notice that might have offered details.

“ADL has not yet received any formal communication from the Administration, and we are working to learn more,” Greenblatt said in a note to Jewish groups that arrived in inboxes just hours after Fox News published its exclusive interview with Patel and minutes before Yom Kippur started.

A longstanding partnership that provided FBI agents training on topics such as hate crimes, violent extremism and antisemitism through a workshop at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is thought to be terminated.

Meanwhile, however, the ADL’s extremism trackers continue to exchange tips with the FBI, JTA has learned.

The ADL’s initial reaction may have been shaped by the shock of Patel’s decision, but the group’s ongoing silence on the issue appears to be part of a strategy.

The group never sought to rally a communal outcry from Jewish organizations. In fact, it did the opposite, pleading behind the scenes for them to shut up, an extraordinary move for an organization — and a community — that has in the post World War II era prided itself in speaking out against injustice.

“We’re really following ADL’s lead here,” said a senior official of a major Jewish group that has refrained from commenting on the FBI letter, and who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. “They’re determining how to navigate it in the way that makes sense for them.”

The muted reaction by Jewish legacy organizations can be read, their critics say, as acquiescence to an administration accused of leveraging government power to silence and destroy civil society critics.

Another factor is a community profoundly roiled by the hostility to Israel and Jewish attachment to the country that has emerged among the left and Democrats, the community of American thought where most Jews have thrived for more than a century.

But not everyone is willing to go along with the approach.

Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said Patel’s attack was evidence that it was futile to hope that the trumpeting of common ground with the Trump administration, as the ADL and others have done on Israel policy, would lead to comity.

“This is a reminder that they’re coming for everyone that doesn’t 100% align with their agenda and their approach,” Spitalnick said. “This is about a far more systemic abuse and weaponization of the federal government to advance a political agenda. And that should frighten all of us.”

Appeals by Spitalnick and others for a united Jewish front against the Trump administration’s assault on civil liberties have not just fallen on deaf ears among legacy Jewish groups, they have encountered active resistance. The Jewish Federations of North America, the goliath umbrella body for 150 or so local federations, in April urged constituent groups not to sign onto a JCPA-led statement decrying the Trump crackdown on speech under the pretext of stemming antisemitism.

Six months later, Jewish officials are wondering whether traditional Jewish advocacy on issues such as civil rights will survive the onslaught.

Officials are closely reading a Sept. 25 National Security Presidential Memorandum, purportedly spurred by the killing of Charlie Kirk, that sets up a task force that includes nonprofits among the entities it will investigate for “support” of “political violence, terrorism, or conspiracy against rights; or the violent deprivation of any citizen’s rights.” It also identifies “common threads” of such movements as including “anti-Christianity” bias or “hostility toward those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

These catchall phrases are so broad that they may place numerous NGOs in the government’s crosshairs, said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

“When the White House erroneously accuses the ADL of ‘anti-Christian’ bias and ‘functioning like a terrorist organization,’ it creates fear of who is next, and honestly, that fear is justified,” Soifer said.  “It’s clear the Trump administration is aiming to expand  the definition of terrorism, to weaponize it against Americans with whom they disagree.”

Close to 4,000 nonprofits, including dozens of liberal Jewish groups, signed an open letter last month expressing alarm at the presidential directive.

“This attack on nonprofits is not happening in a vacuum, but as a part of a wholesale offensive against organizations and individuals that advocate for ideas or serve communities that the president finds objectionable, and that seek to enforce the rule of law against the federal government,” said the letter.

Jonathan Jacoby, the president of the Nexus project, which seeks to combat antisemitism while mitigating its weaponization, said Trump had the Jewish community in his sights.

“The Trump administration’s actions are not just challenging liberals or progressives or Democrats, they’re challenging Jews to respond. They’re challenging every Jewish organization,” he said. “It’s a clear example of why every Jewish organization, or every organization that represents Jewish interests, should be calling this out loud and clear.”

One of the ironies of Patel’s attack is that it has brought out groups that have clashed with the ADL over whether the group has blurred the differences between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel to the group’s defense, while the ADL and its allies remain silent.

“While we have had our differences with the ADL over the years, the organization has played a central role in combating antisemitism and extremism in the United States for more than a century,” J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group said in a statement. “Ending the FBI’s long-term partnership with the ADL, while smearing the organization in this manner, will only embolden extremists and make American Jews less safe.”

The organizations that have lobbied hardest for further protections of synagogues and other institutions have been silent on the FBI-ADL breach; the JFNA, the Orthodox Union and the Secure Community Network declined or did not respond to requests for comment.

Leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements released statements for this story emphasizing the necessity of the ADL’s work with law enforcement — but without criticizing or even mentioning Patel’s attack.

“For decades, the ADL has worked with our movement’s network of congregations and also with law enforcement at every level, whose commitment we deeply respect,” said Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, the CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. “These partnerships protect our communities and must continue, and we are expressing our support for the ADL’s collaboration with law enforcement through the most appropriate and effective channels.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism said his movement was “aligned with the ADL’s commitment to fighting antisemitism and advancing Jewish communal safety … We hope the FBI will continue to join in that effort as it has over many decades to the benefit of the nation overall.”

The ADL has endeavored since Jan. 20 to accommodate Trump 2.0, praising some of its actions targeting universities where pro-Palestinian activism has at times created a hostile environment for Jewish students. Greenblatt, in comments first reported by the Forward, in June praised the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities in an address to a conference of Republican state attorneys general.

“I don’t agree with everything the Trump administration is doing, I don’t want to shut down these schools altogether,” he said. “But you know what? God bless [Education] Secretary [Linda] McMahon.”

Such statements have spurred claims that Greenblatt is steering the organization right, perhaps at the behest of donors the ADL shares with Trump or to avoid clashing with an administration that has sought to punish its critics. A New York Magazine deep dive in August into Greenblatt’s apparent shifts laid out what it said was evidence of a rightward drift.

Greenblatt in a subsequent interview with The New York Times said the group remained steadfastly nonpartisan. “We’ve worked with presidential administrations over generations, right and left,” Greenblatt said. “We don’t agree with them on everything, but where we can find common ground, we try. And where we have a point of disagreement, we make that known.”

Attempting to assign to Greenblatt a place on the left-to-right continuum may not make sense. His trajectory is more outside to inside, expansive to insular. He is emblematic of the many American Jews who until Oct. 7, 2023, felt comfortably ensconced in the precincts of liberalism, and who have since felt politically homeless.

Multiple sources pointed to Greenblatt’s Oct. 16 op-ed in eJewish Philanthropy as representative of this sentiment.

“It is a sad truth that so many of our self-described allies simply disappeared or deeply disappointed us when we needed them,” he wrote. “In this environment, we have no choice but to concentrate our energies like a laser beam on our core purpose, the reason why the ADL actually was founded so many generations ago — to protect the Jewish People.”

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