Major US groups Hillel and ADL link up to tackle Jew-hate

Two of the biggest American Jewish organisations have teamed up over anti-Jewish racism on campus by distinguishing themselves from Israel advocates who equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

Hillel International and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said they would work together to create a college-level curriculum on antisemitism and jointly document antisemitic incidents on US campuses.

Bucking a recent trend, however, they said that not every student vote endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Israel would be registered, and that a pro-BDS resolution on its own does not count as antisemitism.

“Anti-Israel activism in and of itself is not antisemitism,” an ADL spokesperson told JTA. “Situations vary widely with BDS; we will carefully evaluate each one and make a determination based on our criteria for antisemitism.”