Edited by Emmaia Gelman and Heike Schotten
Pluto Press
9/20/2026, paperback
SKU: 9780745351438
For over a century, the Anti-Defamation League has been regarded as one of the most prominent civil rights watchdogs in the US. Its data informs law enforcement and its talking points influence the headlines.
But behind the ADL's progressive image lies a very different reality. The Anti-Defamation League: A Critical Reader brings together scholars, organizers, and activists to expose the ADL as a deeply reactionary and conservative force in American politics. From its roots in a Cold War-era framework of Western supremacy, to its modern day support for militarized policing, surveillance, and the repression of Palestinian rights, the ADL has long advanced a vision of justice rooted in empire, not liberation.
Contributors trace how the ADL has weaponized the charge of antisemitism to shield itself from criticism, silenced dissent, and undermined movements for racial justice, Palestinian freedom, and collective safety. As the call to #DropTheADL grows louder, so too does the need for urgent reflection and action.
Reviews:
"Bringing together an impressive array of scholar-activists from various fields, this critical reader explodes the myth of the ADL as a credible civil rights organization, revealing it to be a reactionary political force that cynically manipulates fear of antisemitism, while normalizing the white supremacist, settler colonial, and imperialist imperatives of the US-Israeli project. This timely and courageous text will prove invaluable to all who struggle to make sense of our times" -- Orisanmi Burton, author of Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt
"A stunning, urgent, and utterly convincing volume. The effect of the impressive scholarship collected here is to radically challenge the public role the ADL has assumed during times in which the critique of the state of Israel and the expression of support for Palestinian lives and freedoms is increasingly criminalized, and genocide is tactically normalized. We should all be grateful to this book for finally making the case we all needed to hear and know" -- Judith Butler
"Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the ADL's role in bolstering fascism and attacking left organizing today, most recently illustrated in the way it has stoked support for Israel's genocide in Palestine and fueled the repression of those who oppose it in the US. This book will convince any serious social justice group to #DropTheADL once and for all" -- Dima Khalidi, Director, Palestine Legal
About the Editors:
Emmaia Gelman is the Founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. She is a longtime activist in New York City on Palestine, policing, antiracism, and queer issues.
C. Heike Schotten is Professor of Political Science and affiliated faculty in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a member of the #DroptheADL working group, the founding collective of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, and the editorial collective of the Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism. She is the author of Nietzsche's Revolution: Décadence, Politics, and Sexuality and Queer Terror: Life, Death, and Desire in the Settler Colony.