In a recent essay, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), warned that “anti-Semitism is creeping into progressivism,” as if left-wing anti-Semitism were a brand-new phenomenon. Worse, writes Ran Baratz, Greenblatt’s ADL seems to impose a political double standard, issuing “sober and appropriately harsh” evaluations of anti-Semitism on the right while taking an “apologetic tone” when it emanates from the left. And that’s not all:

[D]uring Barack Obama’s second term, physical assaults against Jews [in the U.S.], certainly the worst form of anti-Semitism, rose sharply from seventeen incidents in 2012 to 31 in 2013, 36 in 2014, and 56 in 2015, according to the ADL’s own reports. This staggering rise of 330 percent in four years was not met with a proper response by the ADL. To a lesser extent, a rise was evident in all other forms of anti-Semitism throughout this period. However, only now do we find the ADL campaigning against the growth in anti-Semitism, with Greenblatt comparing the [anti-Semitism in the period since Donald Trump declared his candidacy] to that of the 1930s. . . .

[Moreover], the ADL, according to Greenblatt, . . . wants to stop “the use of excessive force and the killing of unarmed African-Americans by some in law enforcement,” “to combat discriminatory laws such as the [so-called] Muslim ban,” “to champion marriage equality,” and “to resist efforts to turn back the clock under the guise of religious freedom.” And [therefore] the ADL and Greenblatt want to partner with those radical organizations [that share this agenda].

But what does one do, as an organization sworn to fight anti-Semitism, when one’s partners turn out to be anti-Semitic? Greenblatt’s solution [is to] denounce forcefully those who would slander the Jewish community. . . . This is utterly ridiculous. This notion of “we support and collaborate with anti-Semites when they do not specifically engage in anti-Semitic activities, and we reserve the right to denounce their anti-Semitism when they do,” is not only completely detrimental to the cause of battling anti-Semitism, it is in fact helping anti-Semites to whitewash their hatred. . . .

In truth, one has to admit that the problem is more fundamental than political or organizational connections between the ADL and the radical left. . . . For example, Greenblatt declared that “there’s no doubt that the vast majority of American Jews live with what we would call white privilege.” And yet fashionable rhetoric about “privilege” is the perfect disguise for left-wing anti-Semitism. If being privileged is a sin; and if the more privileged you are, the greater the sin, then the Jews and Israel are clearly sinful, and hatred toward them is not only justified, it is almost morally dutiful. Greenblatt may not realize it, but he is riding an anti-Semitic tiger.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.