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Middle East
ADL reacted to the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan released by the White House and held a leadership briefing with analysis by David Makovsky.
ADL condemned a Price Tag attack by extremist Israeli Jews who desecrated a Jerusalem mosque, and welcomed the gesture of solidarity by the many Jews who later visited the mosque.
ADL condemned the official Palestinian Authority newspaper for publishing an op-ed calling for terror attacks in order to disrupt the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.
With rising tensions between Iran and the U.S., ADL monitored Iranian and regional sources for anti-Jewish/Israel conspiracy theories regarding the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani, and convened a conference call briefing for the National Commission, featuring experts Suzanne Maloney and Meir Javedanfar.
Racist and hateful remarks by Israeli Chief Rabbi Yosef against immigrants from the former Soviet Union were denounced.
In an op-ed for International Holocaust Day that was published in the UAE’s The National, Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg shared for an Arab and Muslim readership his personal thoughts about the Holocaust and how interfaith allyship can help push back against hate and anti-Semitism.
ADL sent a letter of condolence to the new Sultan of Oman on the passing of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, writing: “Sultan Qaboos was a visionary leader who transformed his nation and sent an unwavering message of peace to all nations, including to the Jewish State. His commitment to tolerance made the world a better place.”
ADL Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg accompanied the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE) for joint meetings with a broad range of government officials to discuss anti-Semitism and other forms of hate in government-published Middle Eastern school textbooks.
Europe
ADL SVP for International Affairs, Sharon Nazarian, held a series of meetings in Germany with government officials, including Anti-Semitism Commissioner Dr. Felix Klein, and partners such as Executive Director Daniel Botmann of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Sharon participated in the Holocaust commemoration ceremony at Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg.
European Affairs Director Andrew Srulevitch spoke
at the annual international shabbaton of the Porto Jewish community in Portugal, which included 400 guests from around the world and a welcome message from Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. Andrew also visited the Jewish community of Barcelona, where he also met with the Director of Intelligence of the Catalan police, with two members of the Catalan Parliament, and with senior officials at the Barcelona municipal government in charge of police and security issues. In Paris, he met with with the director of CRIF, the French Jewish representative organization, with the director of SPCJ, the French Jewish security organization, and with DILCRAH, the bureau in the Prime
Minister's Office, which coordinates government policy against anti-Semitism, racism, and homophobia.
ADL submitted a statement for the record to a hearing on Resisting Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia in Europe, by the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment on January 29th.
ADL welcomed the UK’s decision to label the entirety of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist group, removing the artificial distinction between their military and so-called political wings.
Latin America
ADL examined the top issues facing Jewish communities in Latin American in 2020, including political changes, the influence of Iran and Hezbollah, anti-Semitism and relations with Israel.
ADL denounced the conspiracy theories raised against Israel in a Teheran meeting between President Rouhani Venezuelan Foreign Minister Arreaza.
On the 5th anniversary of his death, ADL remembered former AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman and denounced Moshen Rabbani, one of the Iranian officials sought by the Interpol in connection to the AMIA case, for spreading conspiracies surrounding Nisman’s death.
ADL SVP of International Affairs Sharon Nazarian was hosted by the Brazilian acting Ambassador to the US, Nestor Forster, to discuss the potential adoption of the IHRA definition and declaring Hezbollah a terrorist entity in Brazil.
The decisions by the governments of Honduras and Columbia to declare the Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organization were welcomed.
Global
ADL condemned anti-Semitic attacks and trends globally including: The vandalizing of the Turku synagogue in Finland; a swastika on a synagogue in Wellington, New Zealand; a package resembling a bomb outside a Kosher eatery in Amsterdam
; a Star of David was stolen from a Holocaust monument and anti-Semitic slogans like “Jewish snakes out” was painted on an outside wall of a synagogue in Greece; two separate anti-Semitic assaults in Berlin; an elderly man had a Swastika drawn on his head in a care facility in
Toronto; a Jewish cemetery was vandalized in France; and a 13-year-old Jewish boy was punched on a bus in London.
ADL Senior Vice President for International Affairs Sharon Nazarian and ADL Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg met with the Ambassadors of Austria, Egypt, and Brazil to the United States to discuss a range of topics pertaining to the fight against antisemitism and all forms of hate.
ADL endorsed and helped collect signatures for a bipartisan letter by 104 Members of Congress to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres encouraging him to appoint a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism and engage with Jewish communities.
ADL, a member of Jewish Rohingya Justice Network, signed on to a JRJN letter calling on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to mark up S. 1186, a bill supporting the Rohingya people.
International Affairs in the Regions
Jerusalem: ADL Israel held anti-bias workshops (for the 3rd year) at the Paula Ben Gurion school in Jerusalem. The workshops delved into issues of identity – particularly relevant in the school where 15% of its students are asylum seekers and children of foreign workers.
Los Angeles: ADL Los Angeles met with Hazza Alkaabi, Consul General of the United Arab Emirates. | 
