CJFS-B Criticizes Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism for Relying on the ADL’s Faulty Audit & Sidelining Jewish Scholars of Antisemitism
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May 5, 2025
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“We therefore call on Jewish people of conscience everywhere, and on our university leaders and elected officials, to join us in rejecting the ADL’s ‘Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2024’ and in demanding an honest accounting of antisemitism—one that refuses to criminalize legitimate political dissent and recognizes that criticism of Israel is not, in itself, antisemitic.” – from CJFS’s full letter denouncing ADL’s “Antisemitism Audit”
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BOSTON – Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff - Boston Area (CJFS-B), comprising ~150 Jewish academics and staff members from Boston-area universities, renews its call for the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism to engage scholars of antisemitism, the Holocaust, and civil rights.
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The Special Commission has consistently ignored or refused CJFS-B’s invitations for a public hearing at which commission members could learn from local scholars who have dedicated their professional careers to topics including antisemitism, the Holocaust, civil rights, education policy, and freedom of expression. Instead, the Special Commission has devoted time to harassing the Jewish president of Massachusetts’ Teachers Association and levying Trump-like talking points about “indoctrination” in our schools.
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Now, the Commission has chosen to platform the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that has enabled and indeed reinforced the Trump administration’s assault on our communities and institutions by manufacturing faulty data that intentionally mislabels legitimate criticism of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian human rights as antisemitism. The Special Commission’s misguided and dangerous approach brings an authoritarian playbook to Massachusetts, disregards thousands of Jewish academics, and undermines our collective ability to combat antisemitism and other forms of bias and bigotry in our schools and our communities.
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CJFS-B members highlight why they are concerned about the Special Commission’s decision to rely on the ADL’s faulty audit and to sideline scholars of antisemitism, the Holocaust, and civil rights.
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Marjorie Feld, Professor of History, Babson College: “We urge the Special Commission on Antisemitism to turn away from unverified data on antisemitism; we invite them to join us in protecting academic freedom and scholarly inquiry by engaging local experts on these urgently important topics.”
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Jeremy Menchik, Former Associate Director, ADL New York Regional Office; Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Boston University: “It’s easy for policymakers to ignore technical issues about data and research methods. But the stakes are too high for policymakers to rely on the ADL’s deliberately misleading tally of antisemitic incidents.”
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Christopher Macdonald-Dennis, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Salem State University: “Learning and growth for all students—including Jewish students—depends on an environment where open, informed, and respectful discourse is protected. The exchange of diverse perspectives is essential to combating antisemitism and all forms of bigotry. When organizations seek to conflate legitimate criticism and advocacy with hate, they not only distort the meaning of antisemitism but also endanger the very dialogue that empowers students to become informed, ethical participants in a diverse society.”