Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a speech Sunday that anti-Zionism should be equated with anti-Semitism and that opposing the Jewish State leads to violence in the same way that hating Jewish people does.

“That is why we are seeing this jump in antisemitic incidents — because groups from all sides of the ideological spectrum are using their words to make it OK to hate Jews,” Greenblatt said.

Greenblatt blasted both far-right and far-left movements that prompt hate crimes against Jews, saying they are both responsible for rising violence and antisemitic incidents.

“Unlike their right-wing analogs, these organizations might not have armed themselves or engaged in an insurrection designed to topple our government, but these radical actors indisputably and unapologetically regularly denigrate and dehumanize Jews,” he said.

“Again, I am not diminishing the singular threat of white nationalists; however, as we saw last May, vicious rhetoric is not just an abstract issue,” he said. “No, it is dangerous and destabilizing because it can manifest in the real world and impel individuals to act violently.”

Greenblatt specifically pointed to three left-wing groups, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Council on American Islamic Relations and Students for Justice in Palestine, whom he said promote anti-Semitic tropes and conspiracies, noting that some of has used the phrase “globalize the intifada” which encourages hate against Jews across the world.

“Against the backdrop of rising antisemitic incidents, we will thank the GOP leadership for their statements of support — and demand that they call out the bizarre antisemitic conspiracies of their candidates and elected officials,” Greenblatt said.

“Against this same backdrop, we will applaud Democratic leadership for their statements of support — and demand that they call out the statements of those in their party who knowingly traffic in anti-Zionist tropes and make malicious claims against the Jewish state.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)