Dear John,

Twenty-four days.

For me, those three words invoke a shocking incident that took place 14 years ago this month. It had a deep effect on me that persists to this day.

Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish cellphone salesman, was kidnapped and held for ransom in a basement in a Paris suburb. For 24 days, his captors starved and tortured him before they gave up their depraved plan to cash in on a young Jewish life.

His death was caused by a single stereotype: Jews are wealthy. But Ilan’s working-class family had nowhere near the fortune the captors demanded. The kidnappers eventually realized they had committed terrible crimes over those 24 days without any hope of reward, and dumped him by the side of a road. Ilan died from his injuries on the way to the hospital.

Reading about Ilan’s horrific fate felt like a dagger plunged into my soul. So when I started at ADL, France was the first country that I visited outside the U.S. and Israel, and I met with Ilan’s mother Ruth Halimi while I was there.

At the end of our wrenching conversation, when I asked Ruth if there was anything that ADL could do to help her, she handed me her manuscript. Three years later, it is truly a privilege to honor Ruth’s request. Her gripping memoir, 24 Days, is now available in the US in a new translation co-published by ADL.

Why is retelling Ilan’s story important for American audiences? Because we have seen what can happen when anti-Semitic tropes are taken to their seemingly logical conclusion: If the Jews are so powerful and malignant, then something must be done to stop them.

During the past three years we have seen this kind of thinking lead to violence against Jews in Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City and Monsey — American cities where we had thought we were immune to the disease of violent anti-Semitism that has plagued France.

Ilan’s fate shows the deadly consequences that can occur anywhere, or to anyone, when hatred is left unchecked.

Taking Action to Disrupt Extremists

At ADL, exposing hatred and disrupting extremism is a core part of our work. It’s the goal of the expert analysts in our Center on Extremism (COE), who just released a new report showing that white supremacists’ distribution of anti-Semitic, racist and anti-LGBTQ propaganda hit the highest levels on record in 2019. It’s important to reveal and reject this tactic, especially on campus, where extremist groups seek to recruit new members. The extensive media coverage of this COE report — from CNN to Fox to NPR — is a recognition of the vital need to stamp out extremist language before it leads to extremist action.

COE also recently provided information to law enforcement to support the arrest of an extremist who was involved with a white supremacist group — and was also an active member of our armed forces.

On February 10th, U.S. Army Specialist Jarrett William Smith pled guilty to unlawfully distributing instructions for making explosive devices and weapons of mass destruction. He was associated with the neo-Nazi Feuerkrieg Division at the time of his arrest and had discussed targeting Democratic politician Beto O’Rourke, destroying cell phone towers and bombing CNN.

The following day, Mark Pitcavage, a COE senior research fellow, testified before the a House subcommittee regarding white supremacy in the military. (Watch video of his testimony. ) Mark asserted that each time white supremacism surges in US, it surges in the armed forces, and added that “extremists in the military have planned terrorist attacks, engaged in murders and hate crimes, stolen weapons and military equipment and provided information to other extremists.”

Mark appealed to Congress and military leaders to take ADL-recommended steps to curtail extremism in the military — to speak up and take action. This is a message we repeat each time we testify before Congress or gives a talk in a community. We can’t say it often enough.

I urge you, too, to speak out against hate, whenever and wherever you have the opportunity. And please read 24 Days. Take action in memory of Ilan Halimi, and may his memory be a blessing.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL