ADL: “Israeli innovation can be the foundation for peace across the entire region”
ADL: “Israeli innovation can be the foundation for peace across the entire region”
Anti-Defamation League National Director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt visited Israel in the aftermath of October 7 and amid record levels of antisemitism in the US.
Leading anti-hate organization Anti-Defamation League National Director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt praised Israel’s high-tech ecosystem and has called it the “drug” that could help support Israel as the war with Hamas continues. Speaking at an event hosted at Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz and Israeli Public Service Venture Fund Tmura, Greenblatt highlighted some of the ways Startup Nation can join the fight against antisemitism.
“I'm a very intense Zionist, but I think this moment has clarified for me that, you know, Am Yisrael Chai isn't just a phrase you say at summer camp,” he told the crowd. “We've got to show up for one another. And in America, as your brothers and sisters, we need to be there for you just like you're here for us. So what can this tech sector do?”
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2023 was the fourth time in five years that broke the record of anti-Jewish attacks.
(Photo: T. Schneider/shutterstock)
Greenblatt spoke in Israel during a time of unpreceded antisemitism faced by Jews in the United States. According to figures he provided to the crowd, 2023 saw a 900% increase in anti-Jewish harassment, vandalism, and violence. The number represented a 140% increase from 2022, which itself broke the record set in 2021. As of this year, the ADL confirmed that 2023 was the fourth time in five years where the record of anti-Jewish attacks was broken. “Empirically speaking, attitudes are changing, worsening,” he admitted. According to Greenblatt, 30% of the U.S. held “intense antisemitic attitudes” in the 1970s but by 2019 that number gradually decreased to between 8-12%.
However, in 2024 that number has risen again to 24%. “Americans who express intense antisemitic attitudes have more than doubled in the past five years,” Greenblatt said. “America has been the best country for Jews in diaspora for 2000 years… And yet, at some point, it feels like for Jews, the music always stops.”
Israel has faced severe backlash by some social factions in how it has responded to the October 7 attacks committed by Hamas. While the IDF claims to act morally and within the international rules of war, mistakes are often made (and admitted), only fuelling hatred in those who seek to see an end to the state of Israel and who take that frustration out on Jews overseas. Greenblatt specifically highlights behavior by “despicable, mendacious” congresswoman Rashida Tlaib who spreads lies about Israel, as well as a fraction of Trump supporters who he claims are “emboldened extremists on the right.”
The fraught situation in the U.S. is only made more delicate since it is now in full swing in election season, where tensions are running high and both candidates are campaigning on policies that may impact Israel and its response to the war. As for Startup Nation, Greenblatt maintained that its strength can help the country during the difficult period.
“Just continue doing what you're doing,” he told the room which included entrepreneurs and investors. “This war will end. And Israeli innovation is the drug. It is the engine of this economy, and it can be the foundation for peace across the entire region. So I need you guys to keep founding companies, keep scaling innovation, keep having successful exits… That's what ultimately brings this together, brings us all together.”
Speaking to CTech exclusively after the event, Greenblatt added: “I think there's a remarkable opportunity if it can lean into innovation as a means by which to engage countries in the region, engage people around the world who see Israel for the true miracle that it is. So I have a lot of optimism, even though it's a hard moment.”
Greenblatt’s admiration for tech goes beyond the success of Startup Nation. Before joining the ADL, he served in the White House as Special Assistant to President Obama and Director of the Office of Social Innovation. Before that, he had a seasoned career in business as co-founder of Ethos Brands, which was later acquired by Starbucks Coffee Company. He is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor.
The ADL was founded in 1913 and is the oldest anti-hate organization in America. It has a budget of $125 million, 500 full-time employees, and 25 offices in the United States alone, with a presence in the Gulf and in Europe. “If I were inventing ADL today… I would probably be technology first. So I would start with a team of engineers, not a team of community professionals. And I would be algorithm-centric, not physical presence-centric. We have a situation where we still need to respond effectively when someone gets harmed, but I think there's technology that allows us to do things much more effectively than we're doing right now,” he concluded.
