On this edition of Parallax Views, Grant F. Smith of the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy returns to discuss his article “ADL files FBI ‘Civil Rights Threat’ conflating white nationalists with pro-Palestinian charities” as well the broader history of the ADL and its relationship with the FBI. Additionally, Grant gives his thoughts on the FBI probe into the death of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and briefly summarizes his October 2022 article “Virginia Rejects Israel’s Energix CdTe Solar Farm Panels”.
Some of the points we touch on include:
– The ADL’s infiltration of the Organization of Arab Students in the late 1960s
– THE FBI, the Jewish Defense League, and the assassination of Palestinian activist Alex Odeh in 1985
– The murder of Mary Phagan, the lynching of pencil factory superintendent Leo Frank, and the formation of the Anti-Defamation League by B’nai B’rith
– The ADL and Hollywood; Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and arms dealing
– The ADL’s relationship with the FBI in 1940s Hollywood; the FBI and the Red Scare over communist infiltration of Hollywood
– The ADL, Dr. John Lechner, and the internment of West Coast Japanese Americans in WWII
– Arms smuggling, pressure campaigns, and spying scandals
– Israel affinity groups in America; the ADL and state/national law enforcement
– The ADL’s attempt to conflate the pro-Palestinian Friends of Sabeel North America and the American Muslim Alliance with the neo-nazi group Vanguard America; the FBI’s dismissal of the conflation
– The FBI’s COINTELPRO program and J. Edgar Hoover
– Israeli intelligence operative Rafael Eitan
– The targeting of Jewish civil rights activist and University of Minnesota professor Matthew Stark
– Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents obtained by IRmep
– The Friends of Sabeel’s pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) stance and the anti-BDS movement
– And much, much more!
