A recent piece in The Los Angeles Times refers to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) as a “civil rights organization formed in 1980 to combat anti-Arab stereotypes in US media while promoting balanced reporting on Middle Eastern affairs.”
What The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets have failed to report is that the ADC consistently demonizes Israel and is a proponent of and active participant in the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, whose explicit goal is to eliminate to the world’s one and only Jewish state.
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ADC Spreads Apartheid Libel
As noted by news organizations such as CNN, for example, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has been a vocal advocate for worthy causes such as women’s empowerment, dispelling stereotypes, promoting racial equality and encouraging Arab-Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
However, these same outlets have omitted the fact that “the largest Arab American grassroots civil rights organization in the United States” spreads baseless accusations that Israel is maintaining a system of “apartheid” and carrying out “ethnic cleansing.”
This is what apartheid looks like. pic.twitter.com/SyiLNngMSv
— ADC National (@adc) January 29, 2020
The ADC has also tried to revive the thoroughly debunked claim that “Zionism is racism.”
Just a reminder that Israel is an Apartheid state.
Also, Zionism is Racism. #FreePalestine 🇵🇸 https://t.co/fmjhNG68U8
— ADC National (@adc) June 29, 2021
Ethnic cleansing. #Silwan #FreePalestine https://t.co/JF1lYAt6TZ
— ADC National (@adc) June 14, 2021
As the Israeli military in May shielded its citizens from rockets launched by Gaza Strip-based Palestinian terrorist groups, the United States urged a “de-escalation on all sides.”
However, Washington singled out Hamas for condemnation and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
Yet, Jinan Deena, a national organizer for the ADC, was on May 11 quoted in The Washington Post (WaPo) as saying: “There is no both sides here…. Palestinians are under occupation, and the United States has systematically supported this — whether through funding Israel’s military with our tax dollars or narratives such as this where blame is placed on both sides.”
Essentially, one of the organization’s leaders justified the indiscriminate launching of some 4,500 projectiles towards Israel by a US-designated terrorist group.
Our amazing National Organizer @j_deena’s interview with @ChuckModi1 at yesterday’s rally against ethnic cleansing. #SaveSheikhJarrah https://t.co/5T6c7qNrTR
— ADC National (@adc) May 12, 2021
Yet, WaPo has still referred to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee rather innocuously as a “civil rights group.”
A month later, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Biden Administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the Human Rights Council’s frequent criticism of Israel “appalling,” adding that “antisemitic” countries from the Middle East sit on the body.
In response, Abed Ayoub, the legal director of the ADC, said:
That’s a failure of leadership coming from the Biden Administration…. It ignores the bigger problem in the region, and that’s the Israeli war crimes, the apartheid and the lack of accountability towards Israel.”
ADC Supports Illegal Boycott of Israel
In 2004, the ADC signed on to a letter supporting the Palestinian “Right of Return.” According to Hussein Ibish, ADC’s former communications director, “the issue of the Palestinian right of return has become a central feature of Arab-American activism.”
Let’s be clear: the Palestinian leadership’s demand for some 5.7 million so-called refugees to be allowed into Israel would, if implemented, result in the end of Jewish self-determination.
Related Reading: AP Conflates Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Myth with Millions Displaced During Pandemic
Moreover, while a growing number of US states — including New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Maryland and Rhode Island — have sought to divest from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever following the Vermont-based ice cream company’s July decision to end sales in the disputed West Bank, ADC has been a vocal supporter of the move:
A huge victory for pro-Palestinian activists everywhere! Boycotting works. Protesting works. Speaking out works. Thank you to all the activists, protestors and dissenters who made this possible. #BDS #FreePalestine #benandjerrys #EndApartheid https://t.co/xxYt1VpBrq
— ADC National (@adc) July 19, 2021
When many US states passed anti-BDS legislation they did so because it was clear that such actions were part of an overall movement that opposes the existence of a Jewish state. In 2016, the Virginia Houses of Delegates decided such a law was necessary because the BDS movement is “inherently antithetical and deeply damaging to the causes of peace, justice, equality, democracy, and human rights for all peoples in the Middle East.”
Related Reading: Major Media Outlets Mute as US States Divest from Unilever Over Ben & Jerry’s Israel Boycott
In 2018, President of the ADC Samer Khalaf came out against the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which was aimed at keeping American companies from imposing sanctions on nations, primarily Israel.
The ADC even called for a boycott of the Walt Disney Company over a proposed portrayal of Jerusalem in a special exhibit at Disney World.
Accordingly, when citing the ADC, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other news outlets might consider noting the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s public support for a racist movement whose leaders openly call for the destruction of Israel.
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