Author: Chen Rosenberg

This article was originally published in the Jerusalem Post on September 28th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein

Yes, associating with antisemites should be unacceptable.

We live in an age in which ideas, including extreme ones, spread instantly. This allows hate and bigotry, including antisemitism, to flourish both online and in person. In this digital age – where legacy media, politicians, and corporations no longer shape the collective consciousness as they once did – the responsibility of holding antisemites accountable has broadened.

This responsibility now falls on the shoulders of each one of us. We must involve American leadership, and civil society institutions to condemn and call out this hatred whenever we encounter it.

Why should we care? The Hate that Starts with Jews Never Ends With Jews said Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Antisemitism threatens not only the Jewish community, but all Americans. Sooner or later, antisemites also peddle racial, ethnic, and religious hatred against other communities.

As antisemitism is being normalized in America, time is of the essence to identify antisemites and hold them accountable.

We Must Establish and Enforce Clear Norms. 

To effectively combat antisemitism, we must not only confront those who directly promote this ideology, but also those who indirectly associate with anti-Semites.

There is no doubt in our mind that associating with known antisemites should be unacceptable, regardless of any excuse or explanation. To properly adjudicate what is and what is not acceptable, we must establish the following guardrails:

Ignorance is No Excuse.

In 2015, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now a presidential candidate, visited Louis Farrakhan, one of the most infamous antisemites of our times, and lauded Farrakhan as a “truly great partner” for his critical views on vaccines. He continued his associations with members of Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam until at least 2021. When challenged on the encounter, Kennedy claimed ignorance about Farrakhan’s history of antisemitism.

Kennedy also interacted with other promoters of antisemitism, such as Ice Cube and Roger Waters. It’s hard to believe he was not aware that these individuals have perpetuated bizarre conspiratorial antisemitic beliefs and actions, but even if he did, he should have condemned them immediately, which he did not.

Kennedy claimed he was he misunderstood, and that he is a strong champion for Israel. However, his decision to join forces with these antisemites effectively giving their history a pass, is unacceptable.

Self-proclaimed innocence is not innocence

Accountability extends to even the highest echelons of power. Last year, former president, Donald Trump, hosted Kanye West and Nick Fuentes for dinner – both of whom publicly expressed vicious antisemitism. By hosting them, Trump not only validated, but elevated them.

In response to the backlash, Trump claimed “not to know about Fuentes”. However, alleging ignorance in response to public backlash is not a valid excuse. Trump’s pro-Israel policies do not grant a free pass for platforming blatant antisemites. He too should be condemned for these associations.

Antisemitic Patterns Matter

Patterns of behavior cannot be ignored. For example, antisemitism has been a problem on CUNY campuses for years. Numerous incidents, including an anti-Israel commencement speech by known antisemite Nerdeen Kiswani in 2021, as well as a survey revealing high levels of antisemitism among CUNY students demonstrate CUNY’s tolerance of antisemitism.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission even cited CUNY in 2021 for failing to protect a Jewish professor from discrimination based on his faith. The decision in 2013 to host Fatima Mohammed – a radical anti-American and antisemitic – as commencement speech was the cherry on top.

Many Jewish leaders, including Ronald Lauder, called for the law school dean to be fired after she was among the faculty on stage who applauded Mohammed’s speech, but were ignored.

CUNY’s association with antisemites and pattern of behavior is undeniable, and we should not shy away from calling, condemning and sanctioning the University for its support of antisemitism.

What Can Each of Us Do:

1. Be Firm in Condemnation: We must encourage American leaders, institutions, the media, and any other establishment that has a stance in the public domain to hold antisemites accountable for their hate by refraining from associating with them. Excuses like “but I am not antisemitic” should not suffice.

2. Engage in Discourse: Don’t solely condemn someone based on associations. It is also essential to engage in thoughtful dialogue. Understanding perspectives, intentions, and values can lead to more productive conversations on the dangers of antisemitism to our common values.

3. Encourage Accountability: Individuals should be held accountable for their associations and actions. If someone knowingly associates with antisemites, even if they don’t espouse direct antisemitism themselves, should acknowledge their mistake openly, apologize if necessary, and demonstrate a commitment to change. We must hold ourselves and the ones we associate with in the highest regard and not make excuses.

4. Promote Education: Fostering an environment of education and open discussion is crucial for recognizing the signs of antisemitism and other forms of hate and bigotry before they manifest. We must call antisemites out in public and educate others about the hate that is underlying their views. Antisemitism often serves as a disguise for anti-American sentiments and a threat to democracy. This connection should be made explicitly. Education helps inform individuals to make informed decisions about their association

Confronting those who openly espouse antisemitism is often easier than standing up against those who validate or provide platforms for this hate. Association with antisemites emboldens them to continue in their hateful course of action. To combat hate, bigotry and antisemitism effectively, we must collectively establish clear norms and hold individuals accountable not only for their actions, but for the unavoidable results of their actions as well. By doing so, we can work towards a more tolerant society where antisemitism has no place.

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter, and on Facebook. 

This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. 

 

This article was originally published in the Daily Caller on September 11th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein.

Many in the Jewish American community have their fair share of disagreements with the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) approach to fighting antisemitism. As others have pointed out, the legacy Jewish organization, which was established in 1913 to combat antisemitism, has become increasingly partisan over the last decade, hurting its ability to confront Jew-hate as effectively as it once did.

However, this past couple of weeks, the ADL has become the target of a vicious campaign of blatant antisemitism. And that is a problem. Following X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk’s allegation that the ADL is responsible for the bulk of the platform’s loss in advertiser revenue, the ADL is being strategically targeted by antisemites around the world.

Any frequent user of Twitter (and now X) has undoubtedly encountered the hashtag, #BanTheADL. Initially popularized by far-right figures, the hashtag’s prominence recently skyrocketed after Musk engaged with posts containing it.

But the hashtag, posted over 400,000 times between August 31 – September 6, isn’t just an attack on the ADL; it’s an attack on all Jews.

A quick glance at its usage reveals it to be nothing more than a thinly veiled assault on Jews, invoking virtually every single age-old antisemitic trope, canard, and outright lie to portray Jews as shadowy puppeteers manipulating global events, child molesters, Christ-killers, fake Jews, and racial supremacists. (RELATED: SHOSHANA BRYEN: Here’s What Really Lies Behind The Biden Admin’s Icy Israel Relationship)

For instance, one post alleges the ADL was “Birthed to defend a murdering child rapist, financed by mass murdering terrorists and organized crime, narcotic peddling, gun running, psychopaths.” Another post featuring the hashtag claims that “Zionism is the default ideology of the ruling class. It is a violent ethno-supremacist ideology.”

These narratives aren’t new, but their widespread acceptance today is alarming.

Whether Musk’s allegations against the ADL are true or not, one thing is crystal clear: antisemites are capitalizing on this quarrel to unabashedly spew hatred toward Jews. And Elon Musk, with his vast influence and 156,000,000 followers on X, has inadvertently given a platform to these poisonous voices, amplifying their incitement and reach.

Yet, while the far-right’s antisemitic agenda is evident, it’s essential to recognize that they aren’t the only culprits capitalizing on the Musk/ADL feud. In attempts to delegitimize Israel and the Jewish right to self-determination, far-left and Islamist activists have long targeted the ADL using the hashtag #DropTheADL.

This #DropTheADL Islamo-leftist campaign, which garnered a measly 1,600 posts and 17,000,000 potential views in the past year, seeks to demonize pro-Israel Jews by blaming the ADL for, among other evils, police brutality against the Black community and general oppression of minorities.

When the #BanTheADL hashtag gained traction in the past weeks, far-left and Islamist activists saw an opportunity to revitalize their dwindling antisemitic campaign. For example, on September 4th, notorious British academic and commentator for Iranian state-owned TV, David Miller, posted that the ADL is a “spy agency” targeting Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian activism since before Israel’s establishment. Another post claimed that “the FBI [is] being trained to represent the interests of Israel instead of the United States.”

As evidence that anti-Israel activists are trying to exploit the Musk/ADL controversy, a social media analysis shows that over 15,000 posts with the right-wing #BanTheADL hashtag also reference Palestinians, Zionism, and Israel – topics usually addressed by Islamo-leftist antisemitism, the promotors of the new “acceptable” form of 21st-century antisemitism. These posts have amassed over 800,000,000 potential views in just 6 days.

This highlights the widespread nature of antisemitism. And it clearly demonstrates how far-left, Islamists, and far-right ideologies unite in their hatred against the Jewish community. The horseshoe theory has never been clearer.

Many may not always agree with the ADL’s approach, but all Jews should realize that the motives behind the #BanTheADL and #DropTheADL hashtags are merely using the legacy Jewish organization as a proxy for attacking the Jewish people. As countless grassroots organizations combatting antisemitism have repeatedly underscored, antisemites, regardless of their political alignment, will exploit any chance to target Jews, masking their motives behind seemingly valid criticisms. (RELATED: JACOB OLIDORT: Here’s What The Left Gets Wrong About Benjamin Netanyahu’s Vision For Israel)

We must unite as a community and encourage Musk to recognize this unfortunate truth.

While Musk’s relationship with the ADL may be strained beyond repair, there are many other organizations combating antisemitism that can provide him with insights into the deep-rooted and multifaceted nature of this age-old prejudice. By engaging with various voices, Musk can gain a deeper understanding of the various manifestations of antisemitism and the importance of addressing it responsibly.

As we navigate these troubling times, it’s essential to be able to differentiate between legitimate criticism and veiled hatred, whether against a Jewish organization or the Jewish state, to ensure that the Jewish people remain safe and resilient in the face of this ever-growing threat.

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter, and on Facebook

This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on August 16th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein and Elena Yacov.

Nonprofits across the wide-ranging Jewish philanthropic spectrum face a common challenge: fundraising effectively without compromising their impact.

 

In the philanthropic world, driving and tracking results is difficult. The Jewish nonprofit community is no different. This challenge is particularly painful for small and medium-sized nonprofits – many of which cannot afford professional fundraising teams yet must stay laser-focused on achieving their missions in an insecure financial environment.

In the United States, the work of these organizations is more important than ever. Antisemitism is on the rise, Jewish communities struggle to engage the next generation, and organizational legacy models are failing.

The constant pressure to fundraise often distracts the leaders of the small and medium sized nonprofits. The time and resources needed to endlessly fundraise takes priority and redirects the necessary work required to drive change towards their actual missions.

Without the resources to hire professional fundraisers, talented executives are forced to spend more and more time calling and engaging with donors, when they should be running operations, building their teams and executing their action plan. This problem is only compounded by the abundance of Jewish nonprofits across the country whose missions overlap, crowding out access to donors.

This current fundraising paradigm creates three major challenges for Jewish nonprofits:

First, the constant need to appeal to donors leads to mission creep. When it comes to fundraising, focus drifts as nonprofit leaders feel pressured to appeal to different donors, to make promises they cannot keep and take stances misaligned with their organization’s core mission.

For nonprofits to be more productive and efficient, they must remain focused on their mission and their leaders must remain results-oriented to create meaningful and long-lasting impact.

Second, the focus on fundraising in Jewish nonprofit management causes operational issues. Fundraising efforts carry high administrative costs. And they require nonprofit staff to spend ample time and resources on galas, fancy marketing materials, and travel – each with excessive costs. This diverts time and money away from each organization’s key focus—driving impact for the Jewish community.

Nonprofit leaders tend to get caught in a vicious cycle. Their continuous focus on fundraising merely to sustain operations diverts from their organizational missions. Too many philanthropic endeavors have transformed from impact-focused entities to cyclical fundraising operations.

Third, nonprofits with aligned goals end up competing for the same donors’ dollars. This competition strains relationships between groups that should be collaborating. The fight for donors and dollars not only incentivizes wasteful inter-organizational pettiness, but it can also lead to conflict.

Too often, donors prioritize PR “victories”, and competing organizations claim false successes to appeal to donors and supporters. Organizations won’t collaborate for fear of losing their donors in favor of their partner organizations, and zero-sum frameworks prevail.

Underlying these challenges is an unfair reality: It’s often not the organizations with the most impact that get the funding, but those with professional graphic designers and the glitziest marketing. Organizations with meager impact but impressive PR capabilities thrive, despite doing little to advance their cause.

Meanwhile, nonprofits that strategically work behind the scenes or those who focus resources on their programming rather than on marketing struggle to make ends meet. All too often, funding in the Jewish nonprofit world comes down to a popularity contest.

A New Paradigm 

To make a real impact and combat antisemitism in America, we need a new fundraising model. One that empowers Jewish nonprofits and encourages them to spend more time on their missions and less on fundraising. The new paradigm should also create financial incentives for Jewish nonprofits to work together.

This new paradigm can be based on the vision of the Impact Forum, a network of likeminded philanthropists who come together to vet, select and support nonprofits who align with the mission of fighting antisemitism, supporting the State of Israel, and championing American democracy.

At the Impact Forum, selected small and medium-sized organizations are provided with a platform to fundraise, network with donors, and create lasting relationships allowing them to focus on impact rather than on fundraising. For many organizations this platform is a lifeline.

In return, the Impact Forum philanthropists urge nonprofits to work together, collaborate, build synergies, and execute joint campaigns.

Success Stories

One organization that presented at the Impact Forum a few years ago secured major financial support and created a long-lasting relationship with a donor who provided six figure grants over several years.

In another case, Impact Forum philanthropists invested in an early-stage nonprofit that fights antisemitism using cutting edge technologies, fully funding the groups’ first year operational budget.

The Impact Forum also runs a Venture Fund program, through which donors can support a group of 10 vetted and selected organizations with one single donation. Funding to the selected nonprofits is provided specifically for capacity building and collaboration amongst the group. Funding collectives rather than singular organizations enhances the capabilities of each organization individually and creates a multiplier effect with greater impact for the Jewish community.

Jewish and pro-Israel nonprofit professionals, visionaries and supporters are essential to the Jewish future. But effective campaigns need more than just goodwill. It takes money to achieve big wins for the Jewish community. To secure these victories for Jews and for Israel, we need to free nonprofits and their leaders from the burden of fundraising and allow them to maximize their time on causes like combating the delegitimization of Israel (BDS), antisemitism, and extremism.

By incentivizing nonprofits to work together and using solutions like the Impact Forum network to help relieve the fundraising burden, we can help make this a reality.

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter, and on Facebook

Elena Yacov is the Executive Director of the Milstein Family Foundation and the TalkIsrael Foundation. She can be reached at [email protected]

This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Shawn Eni.

This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on July 27th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein. 

Normalized and tolerated antisemitism is both a catalyst and warning sign.

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks famously said, “Antisemitism isn’t a threat just for Jews, it’s a threat first and foremost to Europe and the freedoms it centuries to achieve.” The recent social breakdown in France provides yet another example of an age-old historical truth: untreated antisemitism is both a catalyst and warning sign of a broader sickness in society. Antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine – and when unchecked, it’s followed by broad social upheaval, economic destruction, and cultural stagnation – throughout history and today.

Over the last several decades in France, a pattern has played out that is familiar across history.

Antisemitic violence has proliferated in French society, often going unpunished by the judicial system, unaddressed by the political establishment, and unabated by the public. Hate crimes, muggings, terrorism, and intimidation have targeted the small Jewish community. 74% of French Jews were victims of antisemitic acts during their lifetime and 61% of anti-religious acts in France have been directed at Jews.

Although Jews represent less than 1 percent of the French population, 40 percent of all violent hate crimes in France are antisemitic. Due to “political correctness” France has not done nearly enough to combat antisemitism. And like many western nations, France’s antisemitism is not confined to one political camp. It comes mostly from growing hostile Muslim population, but also from the far left and the far right.

The appeasement of vicious antisemitism in France, as Jews have been killed in high-profile terror attacks and hate crimes, has allowed the seeds of social unrest to fester. This tolerance of hatred has resulted in French Jews emigrating in record numbers, ultimately leading to the situation today in France – rioting, lawlessness, and political violence.

Elected leaders must protect France from repeating the mistakes of the past. If they don’t, you can find many other examples in history to see where the country may be headed.

Throughout History, the hate that began with Jews never ended with Jews

For thousands of years, Iraqi Jews constituted one of the world’s oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. In 1941, a pogrom, known as the Farhud, was carried out on the Jewish population. Hundreds of Jews were murdered, thousands were injured, and looting overtook Jewish businesses. The pogrom began a decade of severe persecution, leading to the ultimate Jewish exodus of Iraq in the early 1950’s after the establishment of a safe homeland for the Jewish people in Israel. What followed was the cultural, societal, and economic downfall of Iraq. The throughline is clear. Iraq persecuted, attacked, and dispossessed their vital Jewish community – leading to a decline in intellectual and cultural diversity, and a tarnished reputation on the international stage – leading to diminished foreign investment, trade, and diplomacy.

Like Iraq, the Soviet Union was home to a significant Jewish community for decades. But under Josef Stalin’s reign, antisemitism became normalized and embraced. Jewish intellectuals, professionals, and political dissidents were targeted by the state. Widespread discrimination, purges, and executions targeted Jews throughout the county. The Soviet Union’s embrace of antisemitism contributed to an overall climate of fear, leading to the stifling of intellectual progress and a weakening of the social fabric of society. Following years of persecution, Jews left the Soviet Union in droves, landing in mainly Israel and the United States. The Soviet Union was left with major brain drain of a productive chunk of their society – and ultimately collapsed within decades.

France’s path forward is not inevitable. To slow its direction towards social breakdown, it should focus on two priorities:

First, Protect liberalism and second, bolster institutions.

At its best, liberalism’s commitment to the principles of equality, human rights, and the rule of law provides a strong foundation for protecting Jewish communities. Ongoing vigilance, robust legislation, and community engagement help ensure the continued safety, security, and well-being of Jewish individuals and communities within these democracies. Liberal democracies grant Jewish communities the right to practice their faith without persecution or fear. When synagogues are targeted, or Jews are attacked for being Jews, liberal democracies use the rule of law to punish perpetrators. When religious targeted crime goes unpunished, the public loses faith in the rule of law, and public confidence in the state erodes.

Around the world, we’re seeing institutions weakened. Media, government, elected leaders, corporations, etc. have all lost the trust of the public. Mission creep corporations becoming political actors and skewed incentives, such as politicians being rewarded for “hot takes” and fundraising ability vs. effectiveness, have eaten away at institutional authority and societal health.

Yuval Levin writes how institutional decay has led to collective societal anomie and division in A Time to Build, stating: “”We trust an institution when we think that it forms the people within it to be trustworthy — so that not only does it perform an important social function, educating children or making laws or any of the many, many goods and services that institutions provide for us, but it also at the same time provides an ethic that shapes the people within it to perform that service in a reliable, responsible way.”

Weakened democratic institutions struggle to protect minority rights, including those of Jewish communities. In the absence of reliable institutions, extremist ideologies, including antisemitism, flourish. Weakened educational institutions may fail to provide accurate historical context, perpetuating stereotypes, and biases. Compromised journalistic institutions enable conspiracy theories to thrive and go unchecked. And a crisis of leadership enables antisemitic narratives to exploit societal grievances.

In conclusion

Antisemitism’s destructiveness cannot be overlooked when analyzing a nation’s demise. From social divisions to economic setbacks and cultural losses, antisemitism plays a significant role leading to societal breakdown.

It is essential for France to acknowledge the historical, destructive power of antisemitism, and work to bolster its institutions and confront its internal strife. Only through such efforts can France prevent the recurrence of history’s tragic mistakes and forge a path forward for liberalism, western democracy, and pluralism.

This article was originally published in Space Coast Daily on July 24th, 2023, written by Space Coast Daily.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) movement is ostensibly intended to promote a deeper understanding and fairer treatment of those from historically marginalized communities.

However, in practice, DEI threatens to undermine core American values and the right of Jewish Americans to live securely within their Jewish identities.

That’s the argument made by Israel-American philanthropist and community leader Adam Milstein, an immigrant to the United States who built a successful business and now acts as a venture philanthropist. His focus, including his work with the Milstein Family Foundation, which he runs with his wife, Gila Milstein, is to strengthen American democracy, support the U.S.-Israel alliance, and combat antisemitism, hatred and bigotry in all forms.

Adam Milstein fears the current approach to DEI is harmful to Jewish Americans, including university students.

In an opinion piece written for the Jerusalem Post, he writes that DEI “has been deployed to advance a radical agenda that undermines fundamental American values by promoting equality of outcome over equality of opportunity, collective identity (race, gender, etc.) over individual character, censorship of opposing viewpoints over freedom of speech, and a victim culture that crudely bifurcates society into oppressors and oppressed.”

Who Is Adam Milstein?

Adam Milstein was born in Israel and moved to the U.S. in 1981 to pursue an MBA degree at USC. He served in the Israeli Defense Force during the Yom Kippur War. Once he arrived in the U.S., he built a successful career in commercial real estate in California, where he still lives.

Through the Milstein Family Foundation, Adam and Gila support tens of nonprofit organizations that strengthen U.S.-Israel ties and fights antisemitism. Some of the programs of these nonprofits support the Jewish community and the wider community, including people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

For example, the foundation supports organizations that combat antisemitism on college campuses and support numerous organizations that work to strengthen American democratic values

The Prevalence of DEI in the United States

In a relatively short amount of time, American universities, as well as the government and many corporations, have embraced DEI. For example, one study that looked at the staff for 65 universities in the five major collegiate athletic conferences found that, on average, staff hired to focus on DEI outnumbered history professors.

The study also found that, on average, the DEI staff at these universities outnumbered, by a factor of 4.2, the number of people on staff focused on helping disabled students. The average number of people each university employs to focus on DEI has reached 45.

However, rather than bring people together, many DEI programs seem to have divided people into different social identity groups that constantly remain at odds with each other, Adam Milstein wrote in the JPost, especially the groups identified as “oppressed” vs. those identified as “oppressors.”

As the number of people dedicated to DEI has grown, so have troubling instances of antisemitic beliefs. In perhaps the most well-known case, Google had to remove the leader of its diversity team after a social media post surfaced in which he wrote that the Jewish people “have an insatiable appetite for war.” He also wrote that Jews have an “insensitivity” toward the suffering of others.

Unfortunately, the Google case is far from the only one. A Heritage Foundation study of the social media accounts of 741 DEI personnel from 65 American universities found that “the overwhelming pattern” is that they pay great attention to Israel and nearly always attack Israel.

At the same time, antisemitic incidents have reached an all-time high, according to the Anti-Defamation League, including a 50% increase in these incidents on college campuses and in schools in 2022 alone.

“Rather than promoting diversity and inclusion, universities may be contributing to an increase in anti-Jewish hatred by expanding DEI staff and power,” the Heritage Foundation study stated.

The Destructive Power of “Erasive Antisemitism”

Adam Milstein argues that the rise of DEI, its ties to critical race theory, and the increase in antisemitic acts all signal a trend that threatens to harm the Jewish people but also undermines American values.

“Erasive antisemitism is destructive because it denies the ability of Jews – a people from geographic Asia, some of whom were forcibly exiled to Europe by the Roman forerunners of Western Civilization, who against all odds persistently maintained our own unique Jewish Civilization through two thousand years of statelessness – to claim and celebrate our own identity,” he wrote in the Jerusalem Post.

He notes that some have incorrectly compared the DEI movement to the cultural change that happened in the U.S. in the 1960s. Adam Milstein noted that in the 1960s, “There were still strong feelings of sympathy for the Jewish people who had survived the Holocaust and other terrible acts of persecution, such as the expulsion of nearly one million Jews from Muslim countries after the independence of Israel.”

He continued, “These led Jews to be early and prominent leaders in the Civil Rights movement, like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Rabbi Heschel was a close confidant of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and marched alongside him in Selma in solidarity.”

That same sense of solidarity does not seem present in the modern DEI movement. Milstein noted that college students who work in DEI call for killing “Zionists” but are not reprimanded by their university. In another case, a college professor reportedly harangued Jewish students in a DEI class about their supposed power and privilege during DEI classes and also brought in antisemitic speakers.

Weaponizing DEI Against Jewish Students

Adam Milstein particularly voiced concern about the impact DEI is having on students. Noting what DEI staffers at universities say about Israel on social media, he voiced concerns about the harm caused to Jews on campus.

“The average university now employs is close to 50 45 DEI staffers. These small armies rarely celebrate Jewish identity or work towards our inclusion; far more often, they exclude and marginalize Jews on campus and label them as white privilege, whether or not this matches their self-identity,” he wrote.

University staff have also started raising warning flags about what is happening on campus. Two Stanford University employees filed state and federal complaints, alleging that the university’s DEI program created a hostile environment for Jewish employees. Their attorney noted that while the program’s stated intent was to support diversity and inclusion, “What happened, in reality, is that those goals were undermined and perverted because what they did instead promoted prejudice and bigotry against one group.”

Adam Milstein noted that some of those involved in DEI programs voice ideas that fall under the working definition of antisemitism from the widely-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. That definition includes: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”; “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”; “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis”; and “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.”

“College DEI staffers have demonstrated all of these – establishing college campuses as unfriendly and unwelcoming spaces for young Jews,” Adam Milstein wrote. He added, “A generation of college students is being governed by an ideology hostile to Jews that are inculcating ideas about our community that are very different from the principles that our faith embodies, and the United States purports to champion.”

A Call to Reevaluate DEI

Teaching cultural diversity and inclusion through a method that excludes an entire sector of the population is harming both Jewish students and the American people as a whole, Adam Milstein wrote. He called for people at the highest levels of government, education, and the corporate world to reevaluate the current approach to DEI.

“As I have repeatedly warned… antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem – it is an American problem,” he wrote. “DEI policies may disproportionately target and harm Jewish students, but the DEI agenda ultimately seeks to undermine and replace fundamental American values and replace it with its own radical vision. As we’ve seen before, what starts with elites quickly spreads to society as a whole.”

He called for changes that allowed people from all cultures to live safely within their identity, including the Jewish people. He also called for an end to the public comments by DEI leaders that disparage support for Israel. He listed the establishment of the Jewish state as “one of the integral aspects of Jewish Civilization.”

He said the alternative to reevaluating DEI means continuing down a troubling path that leads to harmful actions and, at the extreme, a continued rise in antisemitism.

“If American institutions continue to adopt and reflect extreme DEI ideologies, Jews will suffer,” Adam Milstein wrote. “For as George Orwell presciently wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on June 13th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein. 

From pull factors, to collaboration, to going on the offensive

The new antisemitism of our century, also known as modern (or contemporary) antisemitism, reinvented itself from the classical hatred of Jews, which is no longer publicly acceptable, to a now “tolerable” form, the hatred of Israel. The increased vitriol for the State of Israel and a growth in antisemitism is no coincidental correlation. Once seen as a darling of the world, an underdog, a weak nation in need of help, a sanctuary for Jews after the Holocaust, Israel has become a victim of its own success. Outside political forces are committed to paint Israel and the Jewish people as just another target in their obsessive racialized world view. Zionism, which is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel, has become a vile concept.

Younger generations, especially Americans, see only one State of Israel – “a strong Israel”, an “oppressive” Israel, a “colonizer” Israel, a “Zionist” Israel, an Israel that fits into pre-existing, yet unrelated, social and political constructs of race and power. To secure the future of the U.S.-Israel alliance friends and allies of Israel must wake up. The lines have shifted, our strategies must adjust swiftly.

The battle for the future of Israel is playing out everywhere, in high schools and college campuses, across mainstream media and social media, in Congress and the European Union, and even at Jewish dinner tables. As stewards of Israel’s cause and advocates for the Jewish people, to fight back against this tide, we must commit to the following three principles:

1. Create “pull factors” that help young people understand what’s “right about Israel”, not what’s “wrong about Israel”.

We must explore and highlight why Israel’s founding, existence and endurance is important today not only for the Jewish community, but also for America, and for the world. Israel’s creation was against all odds and nothing short of a miracle. Yet today’s younger generation has little concept for how close it was from ceasing to be and an obscure idea of the actual facts that led to Israel’s establishment. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister declared, “in Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.” His words should be repeated, retold, and heeded.

As supporters of Israel’s past, present, and future, we must emphatically declare what is certifiably true – Israel’s existence, its persistence, and its unparalleled resilience, are miraculous.

We must also continuously showcase and communicate the wonderful humanity and diversity Israel represents. Shimon Peres, Israel’s 9th president said, “In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we discovered the greatest resource of all: human capital, which is richer than any of the resources in the earth.” This small country, roughly the size of New Jersey, with a population of just over 9 million people, is the technology hub of the world, imbued with rich multiculturalism and a humanitarian core.

We also need to strengthen connections of Americans to Israel through business ties, innovation, and science. Our mutual democratic values, our unbreakable bonds through history and shared faith serve as strong links through decades of solidarity. And programs like Birthright, Tamid Group, Itrek, Onward-Israel and Gap Year Israel, are needed more than ever to bolster efforts to bring young Jewish and non-Jewish Americans to Israel to solidify the bonds that only personal experience can create.

2. Collaborate with friends and allies

Israel’s values such as individual rights, equal opportunity, freedoms of speech, protest, and an independent press are America’s values. Israel’s interests such as liberty, prosperity and security are America’s interests. And Israel’s enemies such as the Islamo-leftist alliance which is comprised of radical Muslims and the far-left extremists are America’s enemies. Despite these fundamental facts, an increasing number of groups in America, some of them anti-American themselves, are adopting and spreading the new anti-Semitism, advancing lies about the Jewish State. We need to empower and support our American allies – helping them to understand that anti-Semitism starts with the Jews, but never end with the Jews – and that this evil is a danger to America, and the values that make it great.

3. Going on the offensive is imperative – defense is a losing preposition

While the Jewish diaspora is often reactive, Israel’s military and intelligence are known to be proactive and excel in taking the war to the turf of the enemy. American Jews must collectively adopt the same strategy and the embrace an unabashed tenacity. We must not apologize for being proud Jews or for being Zionists and teach our kids so be proud as well. If we’re to concede and appease our detractors, we’ll lose not only our courage, but also our standing. Without going on the offense and being proactive, terms are constantly re-defined, and events are skewed with competing “narratives” – flying in the face of historical facts.

When we’re always explaining, we’re losing. For example, the establishment of Israel was branded by the Islamo-leftist alliance as the “Nakba” leaving us trying to fight against a nebulous, dubious definition instead of telling our factual miraculous story. In fact, “Nakba” was originally coined as a reference to the so called “catastrophe” of the six Arab armies losing to the Jews in Israel’s War of Independence. In the last several decades, however, it’s been co-opted by the UN and Israel’s enemies to reflect Palestinian alleged ethnic cleansing, human rights violations and victimhood.

Secondly, the Palestinians’ “Right of Return” needs to be called out for what it is. It is not a call for justice, but annihilation of the Jews living in the land of Israel. Believed by many to be a tool in the negotiating toolkit for the conflict, the ‘Right of Return’ is just another perpetual piece of semantic propaganda to undermine the State of Israel and prevent peace for future generations. We must continue to expose Israel’s critics for what they are through research, facts, and media efforts.

In the last two decades, we’ve witnessed a significant shift in rhetoric and support for Israel across the Western world. It’s no accident that antisemitism has increased as well. Too often, Jews are left responding to assertions made by others – hesitant about telling OUR story, and reluctant to go on offense. We must prepare one another, our allies, and the next generations for how to have conversations on our terms…as proud Jews and supporters of Israel. We, the Jewish people, in the face of an overwhelming opposition, must re-commit to be bold. To be unapologetic. And to maintain a gaze to the future.

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @AdamMilstein, and on Facebook www.facebook.com/AdamMilsteinCP.

This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Anders Bjerkhoel.

This article was originally published in The Jewish Journal on May 8th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein. 

DEI initiatives are weaponized against Jewish students, maliciously portraying them and Israel as vicious oppressors.

Today in America, institutions, from universities to governmental agencies and to corporate workplaces, continue to embrace Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and associated ideologies closely linked to critical race theory (CRT). In the process Jews, particularly those on college campuses, find it impossible to live securely and safely within their Jewish identities.

The asserted goals of DEI are positive: to promote the representation, participation, and fair treatment of historically marginalized groups. In practice though, DEI, which require its adherents to follow its tenets blindly without doubt or reservation, has been deployed to advance a radical agenda that undermines fundamental American values by promoting equality of outcome over equality of opportunity, collective identity (race, gender, etc.) over individual character, censorship of opposing viewpoints over freedom of speech, and a victim culture that crudely bifurcates society into oppressors and oppressed.

In particular, DEI initiatives are weaponized against Jewish students, maliciously portraying them and the Jewish State as vicious oppressors. Kamau Bobb, the head of diversity at Google, wrote that Jews have an “insatiable appetite for war” and an “insensitivity to the suffering [of] others.” Nowhere is his attitude more prevalent than in the DEI offices that now populate colleges and universities across the country.

Some compare the present cultural change in America to the 1960s, but for the Jews, that analogy is incorrect. In the 1960s, there were still strong feelings of sympathy for the Jewish people who had survived the Holocaust and other terrible acts of persecution, such as the expulsion of nearly one million Jews from Muslim countries after the independence of Israel.

These led Jews to be early and prominent leaders in the Civil Rights movement, like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Rabbi Heschel was a close confidant of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and marched alongside him in Selma in solidarity.

Today, Kenneth Marcus, Founder and Chairman of the Brandeis Center for the Protection of Human Rights Under Law, shares “[i]n the DEI programs, we’re seeing anti-Jewish stereotypes, biases, defamations, separation of Jews from other groups, and so-called ‘erasive antisemitism,’ which is to say denial of what it means to have a Jewish identity.”

Erasive antisemitism is destructive because it denies the ability of Jews – a people from geographic Asia, some of whom were forcibly exiled to Europe by the Roman forerunners of Western Civilization, who against all odds persistently maintained our own unique Jewish Civilization through two thousand years of statelessness – to claim and celebrate our own identity. One of the integral aspects of Jewish Civilization has always been the devout desire to restore our ancient nation in the Land of Israel.

A recent study showed that the private social media accounts of DEI officers at university campuses exhibit a remarkable level of virulence against the State of Israel, compared to generally positive feelings towards the People’s Republic of China. The authors noted that “[o]f the tweets about Israel, 96 percent were critical of the Jewish state, while 62 percent of the tweets about China were favorable. There were more tweets narrowly referencing “apartheid” in Israel than tweets indicating anything favorable about Israel whatsoever.

Regarding Israel, the word genocide was associated nine times, the term ethnic cleansing appears seven times, and the accusation that children are specifically targeted appears 27 times. Meanwhile, DEI staffers generally praised China and even wrote glowingly about Chinese efforts to reduce poverty in Tibet, where China is pursuing cultural genocide of the Tibetan people. The report determined that “DEI staff have an obsessive and irrational animus toward the Jewish state.” DEI staffers on university campuses are supposed to be advocates for students, helping them navigate issues of inclusivity and belonging. When DEI staff and administration hold clear animus and bias against the world’s only Jewish state, universities are implicitly and unfairly discriminating against Jewish students.

People are imperfect, so criticism always has a role to play. However, the irrational malice DEI staffers demonstrate against Israel is of a different order. Under the widely-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which is used by the U.S. State Department, examples of antisemitism include “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”; “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”; “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis”; and “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” All of these have been demonstrated by college DEI staffers – establishing college campuses as unfriendly and unwelcoming spaces for young Jews.

The average university now employs roughly 45 DEI staffers. These small armies rarely celebrate Jewish identity or work towards our inclusion; far more often, they exclude and marginalize Jews on campus and label them as white privilege, whether or not this matches their self-identity. Some states, notably Texas, are considering legislation that would ban DEI programs at public universities.

In the meantime, a generation of college students is being governed by an ideology hostile to Jews that is inculcating ideas about our community that are very different from the principles that our faith embodies, and the United States purports to champion. If American institutions continue to adopt and reflect extreme DEI ideologies, Jews will stuffer. For as George Orwell presciently wrote, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American “Venture Philanthropist.” He can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter, and on Facebook.

This article was originally published in The Jewish Journal on May 3rd, 2023, written by Alan Zeitlin. 

“If we want to defeat antisemitism, we can’t do it alone.” – Adam Milstein

A decade ago, when Adam Milstein told people the ugly monster of antisemitism was on its way to America and would unleash violence against Jews, most people didn’t believe him. Milstein, an Israeli-American businessman, philanthropist and activist who served for the IDF in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, believes there are no easy answers to the question of how to combat antisemitism and the demonization of Israel. In the sea of Jew hatred, where a rant from a celebrity can set off a deluge, he insisted that to stay afloat, American Jewry needs all hands on deck. “I was told I was an alarmist and if I would not speak about this, it would go away,” Milstein said of the antisemitic Boycott Divest and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against Israel. “Today, antisemitism is normal in the United States. I think antisemitism is a danger to America. Antisemites are the enemies of the American people and not just the Jewish people. We need to understand that the battle is about America.”

Milstein says there is no “silver bullet,” to fight hate and argues that a number of different strategies must be used.

So, five years ago, together with his wife Gila and a group of devoted Los Angeles based philanthropists he founded the Impact Forum. The Impact Forum, which has since evolved into a 501c3 nonprofit organization, convenes a network of like-minded philanthropists, coming together to empower a network of organizations whose mission is to fight antisemitism, and support the State of Israel and the United States. The organizations in the Impact Forum network are provided with financial support, as well as other resources to improve capacity and maximize their impact. Through the Impact Forum, participating nonprofits are encouraged to collaborates with other groups that share the same mission and compliment their work. “If we want to defeat antisemitism, we can’t do it alone,” Milstein said. “We need to have a network or an alliance of many organizations, working together, fighting on different fronts. No one organization can do it all. We need to have many organizations that are on our side and willing to join forces.”

“We need to have a network or an alliance of many organizations, working together, fighting on different fronts. No one organization can do it all. We need to have many organizations that are on our side and willing to join forces.”

On May 11, The Impact Forum Foundation will host “A Night of Impact,” an exclusive dinner for philanthropists in Los Angeles. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Sheila Nazarian, a Beverly Hills-based plastic surgeon. Her Netflix show “Skin Decision: Before and After” received an Emmy nomination for “Outstanding Lifestyle Series.” She’s also an influencer who speaks out against antisemitism, once tweeting, “If you are silent when terrorists murder Israelis, stay silent when Israel defends itself.”

A panel of social media influencers will discuss questions of how best to fight antisemitism and establish an Iron Dome through social media. Emily Austin, an actress and model who hosts “Daily Vibes with Emily Austin” on Instagram Live and has more than 1.1 million Instagram followers, will participate in the panel. She was instrumental in getting the Miami Heat to recognize Holocaust Remembrance Day. She’s joined by Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic, a star of “The Vampire Diaries” and “Saving Zöe” with four million total social media followers.  Although he is Christian, he has led tours in Israel and believes in the country’s right to self-determination. Lizzy Savetsky, a former cast member of “The Real Housewives of New York,” is an influencer who prides herself on fighting against antisemitism. Her throngs of followers appreciate her honesty, her fearlessness, her passion for fashion and matchmaking, and she even developed a show “Bashert” for IGTV.

The evening will feature presentations by StopAntisemitism, a social media watchdog that holds antisemites accountable; and Tazpit Press Service, an Israel-based news agency which disseminates crucial news across the globe in real-time.

The Impact Forum Foundation has provided funding, services, and strategic guidance to about 50 organizations, including social media organizations, think tanks and others.

CyberWell, a beneficiary of the Impact Forum, monitors online hate on social media — specifically cases of Jew-hatred. CyberWell’s findings of over 1,000 antisemitic tweets on Twitter, were the basis of a joint letter sent by 180 organizations to Elon Musk asking him to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism for Twitter.

CyberWell Chief Executive Officer Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor gave credit to the Impact Forum. “We wouldn’t have been able to get off the ground without the support of the Impact Forum,” she said. “Adam is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. He not only has a great understanding of what is needed but a realization that in these times, tech is powerful. He also recognizes the importance of young leadership.”

According to Milstein, people should not underestimate the power of social media and famous people who target Israel and Jews, including Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. “Celebrities criticizing Israel have an outsized impact and there are many people that believe everything Kanye says.

“The only thing that works is fighting back, together,” Milstein said.

There is no way to stop all attacks against the Jewish community, he said, but a coordinated effort that is strategic and diverse will result in more impact. Events such as “A Night of Impact” offer philanthropists an opportunity to see what impact they can make in the struggle against antisemitism with their funding.

“It is not strictly a Jewish problem, but a problem for all of America.”

For information about attending the event, and related inquiries, contact [email protected].

This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on April 13th, 2023, written by Alan Rosenbaum. 

Making an impact in fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel

‘There is no silver bullet,” says Adam Milstein, prominent Israeli-American businessman, philanthropist, and activist, speaking of organizations that combat antisemitism and stand against the enemies of Israel. “It takes a network of allied organizations to defeat the network of our detractors,” he adds.

The problem, Milstein explains, is that many of these pro-Israel nonprofit organizations are competing for funding with each other and have major redundancies but prefer to work independently so they can claim all the credit, and even claim credit for the work of other groups. As a result, he explains, there is little unity and coordinated effort among these groups, and donor funds are not being optimized.

Milstein, who has been supporting and working with many nonprofits for the past two decades, understands how organizations work and believes he has a way to enable them to work in synergy toward a common goal. “How do we bring them together?” he asks rhetorically. “We have to offer incentives.” One incentive would be to provide funding to organizations conditional on their collaborating and sharing information with other groups. Another way would be to provide certain capabilities that all groups can benefit from – like research services— and use these capabilities to spur collaboration among different groups.

LOS ANGELES-BASED philanthropists attending a recent Impact Forum Foundation dinner.

“Research organizations are very important in the world of fighting antisemitism,” says Milstein, “because they investigate antisemitic and anti-Israel organizations, their funding, their agenda and their current and future plans and provide the information to other groups which can then take action against them on multiple fronts. We can make a huge impact when we distribute this information to other organizations,” he explains. “Small organizations cannot conduct research and do not have funding for it; but providing them with this kind of service free of charge improves the quality of their work and enhances the impact they can make.”

With these ideas in mind, Milstein founded the Impact Forum Foundation, a community of like-minded philanthropists in Los Angeles and around the US that empowers a diversified network of organizations that support the State of Israel, fight antisemitism, and stand against the enemies of the US which, not surprisingly, he says, are the same.

“Antisemitism is first and foremost an American problem,” says Milstein. “My approach to fighting antisemitism is to build alliances with Americans who are fighting the internal and external enemies of America, which also happen to be the enemies of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Combating antisemitism and strengthening Israel go hand in hand with fighting the enemies of the US.”

The Impact Forum offers participating organizations funding and services, such as communications services, strategic guidance and research material. “We bring philanthropists together, demonstrating the concept of creating a greater impact by encouraging many organizations to work together,” says Milstein. The Impact Forum Foundation provides funding to approximately 50 effective organizations, including media and social media organizations, think tanks, research and legal organizations and “boots on the ground” groups that are present in areas of conflict, such as college campuses.

Since 2017, the Impact Forum has hosted events in Los Angeles for groups as large as 120 philanthropists. At each event, two organizations present their work and organizational vision to those in attendance. Milstein says that an average of $200,000 was raised for each presenting organization at the most recent dinners held in Los Angeles.The Impact Forum Foundation brings prominent speakers to these events in order to attract interest and attendance among philanthropists who want to learn more about fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel. Previous speakers have included former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren; author and speaker Daniel Gordis; former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky; and New York Times columnist Brett Stephens.

Next month, the Impact Forum Foundation is holding its quarterly dinner in Los Angeles featuring several social media mega influencers who will discuss the vital role of media and social media in fighting antisemitism. The event will also feature presentations by two nonprofits, StopAntisemitism and Tazpit Press Service, which will be raising money to support their work. The keynote speaker, Dr. Sheila Nazarian, with over 1.7 million followers on Instagram alone, will be accompanied by TV personalities and digital media mega influencers Emily Austin, Nathaniel Buzolic, and Lizzy Savetsky for a panel discussion.

The events organized by the Impact Forum enable organizations to obtain additional funding and expand their work. One of the beneficiaries of the Impact Forum is Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel-based nonprofit research institute known for its in-depth research of Palestinian society from a broad range of perspectives.Arabic language researchers at Palestinian Media Watch monitor, translate and analyze PA-controlled newspapers, TV shows, radio programs, social media sites, and schoolbooks to understand the messages the Palestinian Authority and other Palestinian leaders send to their people.

Itamar Marcus, founder of Palestinian Media Watch, who presented at a recent Impact Forum event, pointed out that his organization, as a beneficiary of the Impact Forum, will share its information with other groups and said, “One of the goals of the Impact Forum Foundation is to strengthen contacts between different pro-Israel organizations and thereby to maximize coordination. Palestinian Media Watch, as a supplier of critical information to all Israel-supporting organizations, welcomes this coordination, as it will help maximize our impact in the US and internationally.”

He added that the fact that the Impact Forum connects philanthropists with important nonprofits that work toward a common goal not only benefits the organizations themselves but also benefits the philanthropists who are looking for ways to use their money wisely to fight antisemitism.

Milstein expands further on the benefits that accrue to donors and says, “They are usually familiar with a small number of organizations. We are vetting more than 50 effective organizations, active in different disciplines, thus complementing each other and giving the philanthropists the ability to make a personal impact by using their dollars where they can make the most impact.”

One example of how organizations that operate under the Impact Forum Foundation share and benefit each other, he notes, is that of CyberWell, the first open live database of antisemitic content that enables people to see the state of online antisemitism by interacting with the content and by using the organization’s visualization tools. CyberWell applies technology and open-source intelligence to monitor social media platforms for antisemitic content.

CyberWell’s findings were the foundation of a letter submitted jointly by 180 organizations worldwide to Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, substantiating the proliferation of antisemitic content on the platform and calling on Musk to update the company’s anti-hate policies and adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. This definition has been officially adopted by the US and 37 other national governments, as well as numerous local governments, universities, law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, and international bodies worldwide, including the UN and the EU.

“This amazing network of 180 organizations signed and sent the same letter on the same day to Elon Musk and his senior management team at Twitter,” Milstein says. Speedy cooperation of this type among Jewish groups is unusual.

The Impact Forum Foundation is planning to expand its vision to other communities in the US where Jewish donors are serious about fighting antisemitism, including locations in Florida and New York. When the Impact Forum begins operations in other cities, he says, it will be able to add more organizations to its roster. In addition, says Milstein, the Impact Forum is creating a venture fund through which a group of 10 to 20 vetted and selected organizations will receive additional support and guidance on how to build effective collaborations with other organizations. For philanthropists, the venture fund is an extraordinary opportunity to support a group of several nonprofits through one donation.

The organizer, coordinator and catalyzer among all the organizations working with the Impact Forum Foundation is Milstein and his foundation team, who are working hand in hand with the Impact Forum board – a group of philanthropists who are devoted to the vision of empowering a diversified network of organizations that support the State of Israel, fight antisemitism and stand against the enemies of America.

Adam Milstein believes in thinking out of the box and using innovative techniques and strategies to fight our detractors. “We need to be extraordinary at what we are doing,” he says. “We need to continue expanding our work so we can increase our network of philanthropists and the number of organizations we are supporting.”He is certain that the Impact Forum’s work of getting organizations to work with one another and share information is paying dividends. “We are making these organizations 10 times better,” says Milstein. “Everyone wants to be better.”

This article was written in cooperation with the Impact Forum Foundation.

For more information about the Impact Forum and to register for the May 11 event, contact: [email protected]

This article was originally published in the The Jerusalem Post on March 28th, 2023, written by Adam Milstein.

We need to build alliances between Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus.

America was founded by people fleeing religious persecution. Our society flourished based on the unique atmosphere of religious tolerance, which was very different from Europe and other parts of the world. These fundamental principles are now threatened by Critical Race Theory (CRT), and its related ideologies, which present a danger to the values underlying a thriving America – and potentially, to its faith-based communities.

Once considered to be fringe subject matter to be studied as theory, CRT and its spin-offs ideologies such as intersectionality, which argues marginalized and oppressed groups must come together to fight against other groups perceived as their oppressors, are now used as lenses to view America and the world. These ideologies have been rubber stamped by educational institutions, corporate America, major brands, the entertainment industry, and the media.

At its core, the idea behind intersectionality and CRT seems positive – helping oppressed communities to stand up for themselves and regain their voice. But when you see how this ideology is applied in practice, it erodes the core principles that make our country exceptional, such as America’s commitment to individual rights and equality, rule of law, tolerance, pluralism, due process, freedom of speech, and free-market capitalism.

CRT and intersectionality classifies all people as undivided members of identity groups who lack individualism, and independence from their ethnicity, gender, and/or sexuality. It promotes “us” vs. “them” structures that are infecting our politics and puts “victimhood” at the center – the more “oppressed” you are, the greater your cultural and social capital is.

Perhaps the greatest targets of CRT are people of faith – Christians, Jews, and others whose values fall outside the CRT framework.

Here are a few reasons why the ideology of CRT/intersectionality is particularly harmful for faith based communities and as such for America:

CRT disparages proven principles – often rooted in faith – that have made America successful and discourages the development of new, worthy ideas.

Christians and Jews are generalized as structurally exclusive and discriminatory. This is a major catalyst, and a convenient excuse, for hate against these groups. Jews, for example are being generally labeled as a group of white, nationalists’ oppressors which caused an exponential rise in antisemitism since intersectionality was born.

In CRT’s search for “equity”, religious communities, regardless of the individual views and beliefs of their members, are lumped together as oppressive institutions that need to be radically remade if not dismantled.

CRT demonizes success, arguing that achievement is the product of exploitation and also undermines free speech and enforces ideological conformity by forcefully shutting down views and opinions that put the individual in the center, and encourages individual accountability and responsibility.

One of the core tenets of CRT and intersectionality is that a society based on “meritocracy” is inherently white supremacist. For America to continue to flourish, excellence should be rewarded, not used as ammo in cultural wars and ideological debates.

AP classes are being eliminated, grades are disappearing from schools, and SAT scores for college admission are going extinct. For decades these metrics have helped assess students’ individual abilities and tailor programs for their specific needs and talents. Meritocratic excellence, familiar to faith-based communities, is being systematically replaced with Marxist-inspired equity.

CRT pits group against group and foments hatred for the “other”.

Understanding that all people have the power and resources to fulfill their potential, regardless of their ethnic background, is imperative for a diverse society to flourish. Individuals are capable of great evil, great courage, and everything in between. An oppressor/oppressed binary pits people against people, without distinction.

Efforts by radical left activists in shaping California’s ethnic studies curriculum demonstrates how CRT/intersectionality functions in the school system. Jews and Asians, although minorities and regardless of their individual achievements and life circumstances, are considered “white adjacent” and are therefore beneficiaries of the white power structure and contribute to the oppression of people of color. This framework disallows merit, the complexity of American society, and causes bigotry and ignorance.

Americans who choose to prioritize traditional values, are seen as “oppressor adjacent” and promoters of a “white supremacist” ideal. The result is that instead of leading to a more equal and better society under CRT/intersectionality the oppressors become oppressed, and the cycle of hate continues.

America is too diverse, complex, and open-hearted to be pitting fellow Americans against each other. It goes against the ethos of America’s “Golden Rule” of interpersonal respect and tolerance.

America was founded by people fleeing religious persecution. We built a society rooted in religious tolerance. The spread of CRT is a danger to every person of faith. We need to build alliances between Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and everyone who believes in objective right and wrong, and the traditional values on which this country is built.