As part of this year’s United Nations General Assembly, ADL staff and senior leadership joined with other Jewish organizations to meet with nearly two dozen visiting world leaders and diplomats. Among the issues discussed were global antisemitism and extremism, the Abraham Accords, relations with Israel, Iran’s continued threats to global stability, and other items.

This list of ADL meetings included: Austria's Foreign Minister, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister, Bahrain's Foreign Minister, Belgium’s Foreign Minister, Colombia's President , Greece’s Prime Minister, Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Italy’s Foreign Minister, Jordan’s King, Latvia’s President and Prime Minister, Netherlands’s Foreign Minister, Russia's Foreign Minister, Spain’s Foreign Minister, Sweden’s Prime Minister, and UAE’s Minister of State.

ADL also participated in a special meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on issues of mutual concern to the Israeli government and diaspora Jewry, on the heels of the Prime Minister’s first UNGA address.

In the weeks leading up to the UN conference marking the 20th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban – which was marred by antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment – ADL successfully lobbied numerous countries to not attend the meeting.

When the Conference was held, at least 38 countries did not attend, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Uruguay and the US.

ADL welcomed an unprecedented event featuring over 300 Iraqis from various demographics who gathered in Erbil, Iraq to declare their support for the normalization of ties with Israel, and for Iraq to reconcile with its dispossessed Jewish community.

Tragically, in response to this gathering, participants subsequently received threats to their safety from extremist religious leaders and senior Iraqi government officials, including the Prime Minister and President. ADL denounced these attacks, called for those to making the threats to apologize, sent letters to President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Iraqi PM Al-Kadhimi, and Iraqi President Salih urging them to support the safety of the Iraqi participants in the summit, and promoted an article by Amb. Dennis Ross about the importance of the event.

Israel

Anniversary of Abraham Accords:

To mark the one-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, ADL hosted a Fighting Hate from Home webinar featuring CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Israel Office Director Carole Nuriel, and UAE senior official Ali al Nuaimi to discuss the impact of the agreement on Israel, the UAE and the region. Watch the full webinar here.

In an op-ed, Ken Jacobson, Deputy National Director, explains why the Abraham Accords have been so important for Muslim-Jewish relations and the future of the Middle East.

Congressional Funding for Iron Dome:

ADL reacted to the controversy surrounding US Congressional legislation to provide emergency funding for the restocking of Israel Iron Dome anti-missile system, including criticizing the small group of Representatives who opposed the legislation, welcoming the bi-partisan passage of the stand-alone bill, calling on the Senate to pass similar legislation, thanking House Majority Leader Hoyer and Representative DeLauro for their efforts to get the bill passed.

ADL opposed Congressional legislation that would ban Israel from receiving US military while minimizing casualties on both sides.

Other items:

ADL called out Palestinian President Abbas for his UNGA speech which included language denigrating Israel, and rejected his assertion that criticism of Israel cannot be antisemitic.

ADL marked the anniversary of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic games.

ADL said it was heartbroken at reports of a 3-year-old Palestinian boy who was injured in an attack by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

ADL Israel condemned the raising of the Nazi party flag near the West Bank village of Beit Umar.

ADL Israel reflected on the legacy of Soviet Refusenik Ida Nudel who passed away earlier this month.

Middle East

Marking the 20th anniversary of 9/11, ADL co-authored a new report with the Tony Blair Institute which examined over a dozen curricula in the Arab world. The report found that in the two decades since 9/11 some improvements have been made but much more work is needed to replace hateful content with peace and tolerance education.

ADL, along with partner organization IMPACT-SE, were encouraged that Saudi Arabia removed problematic passages from its school textbooks, but said more needed to be done to fight hate.

ADL condemned the UNGA speech of Iran’s president for UN speech to stoking antisemitism, and offering a plan for Israel's extermination.

Sudan’s unraveling of Hamas's extensive terror finance networks in the country was welcomed.

Europe

ADL expressed gratitude to German law enforcement for interrupting a suspected plan by Islamist extremists to attack a synagogue in Hagen on Yom Kippur, just two years after the deadly terror attack on the Halle synagogue.

ADL remembered the murder of the Jews of Kyiv at Babi Yar, which occurred 80 years ago.

ADL welcomed the decision by the Madrid Assembly to formally adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

ADL welcomed the European Union Commission’s recognition that Palestinian Authority textbooks contain "very deeply problematic content" about Jews and Israel. ADL had previously reached out to the EU Commissioner about this issue.

Dalia Grinfeld, Assistant Director of European Affairs, was interviewed by the American-German podcast Common Ground about being Jewish in Germany today.

Latin America

ADL commended the Jewish community of Guatemala on erecting a new Anne Frank memorial in La Antigua.

The University of Buenos Aries’s launching of an institute to monitor antisemitism was welcomed.

In an effort to reach and expand ADL’s Spanish speaking audiences in the US and around the world, several ADL op-eds were translated into Spanish and published in Spanish language media sites:

• Ken Jacobson’s Oped on Durban
• ADL Blog on Extremist Groups in Afghanistan
• Greg Ehrie’s Op-Ed on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Global & Communal