Dear John,

Today, ADL welcomes the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, a plan to comprehensively address hate and antisemitism on campus, online and from extremists on both the far right and the far left. It’s particularly notable that this approach recognizes that antisemitism is not about politics — it’s about principles.

In 2019, the ADL community urged the White House to create this strategy because combating antisemitism requires a whole of government, whole of society approach. ADL actively assisted in the plan’s development, contributing more than 30 policy recommendations. Ambassador Susan Rice, the White House Domestic Policy Advisor, addressing our leaders during ADL’s National Leadership Summit, called ADL’s recommendations “helpful, creative and smart.” She committed to “doing everything in our power to beat back and root out antisemitism, wherever it exists.”

The White House strategy contains key provisions that we have worked hard to ensure would be included in the plan. It embraces the IHRA definition of antisemitism and addresses antisemitism across the political spectrum. The strategy includes:

• Protecting the physical safety and security of the Jewish community, including through support for nonprofit security grants
• Recognizing and confronting online antisemitism
• Supporting the Office of the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism
• Implementing antisemitism and DEI training for federal government personnel
• Supporting improved hate-crime reporting and
• Expanding efforts to promote Holocaust and antisemitism education in and out of the classroom and working to fight antisemitism on college campuses.

To support the implementation of the strategy, ADL is committing to continue our work as leaders in the fight against antisemitism. Alongside partners serving diverse communities, we will convene conversations to address bigotry and hate, more deeply invest in combating antisemitism on college and university campuses, support Jewish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and strengthen our partnership with the Interparliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism. You can read more about ADL’s response here.

We welcome the Administration’s unveiling of a White House National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism as a historic contribution to fighting hate, and are pleased that it comes during Jewish American Heritage Month. Now we need the government to keep doing its part. The administration must make good on its plan to implement the strategy in full, and Congress must fund these efforts and ensure the White House holds to its commitments. But we all have a role to play as we move forward. Today, we urge you to tell your Members of Congress to help implement the plan.