In response to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) call for alleged “white supremacist” Tucker Carlson to be fired, a second Jewish group representing 1,500 traditional orthodox rabbis has expressed their support for the Fox host and their displeasure with the ADL's current direction.
In a letter addressed directly to ADL President Jonathan Greenblatt, the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) called out the ADL for their recent shift toward partisan goals and their blatant hypocrisy concerning what instances of anti-Semitism they decide to condemn.
CJV President Rabbis Pesach Lerner expressed in the letter that the CJV does not agree with the ADL’s “recent attack on Tucker Carlson of Fox News,” referring to their claims as “grossly misplaced charges of antisemitism.”
It’s absurd, the letter explains, to call it “’white supremacist’ to question whether particular policy choices enable illegal immigrants to nullify the votes of American citizens.”
The ADL was founded in 1913 and quickly acquired a global reputation for battling the evil of anti-Semitism across the globe.
According to the CJV letter, the ADL “was rightly regarded as the Jewish community’s leading bulwark against the persisting hatred precisely because it was beholden to no particular persuasion, movement, or cause.”
However, this has significantly changed under the reign of President Greenblatt says Rabbis Lerner, professing in the letter, “Alas, the ADL has become markedly partisan under your leadership.”
Going on to detail the ADL’s “naming the Hate” guide, "which features obscure neo-Nazis of the 'alt-right,' yet says nothing regarding far more dangerous, leftist adherents of radical Islam."
“Similarly,” says Rabbis Lerner, “the ADL denounced Brett Kavanaugh, but not Linda Sarsour.”
This particular controversy between the ADL and Fox News commenced last week after Fox host Tucker Carlson argued that democrats are pushing for more left-leaning immigrants to be accepted into the U.S. in an attempt to shift the whole electorate left, in effect lessening the value of every American citizen’s vote by enlarging the population.
During his discussion, Tucker repeatedly used the word “replacement” to describe the process of American votes being devalued by the votes of foreign individuals.
Seemingly aware he was entering contentious territory, Tucker said, “I know that the left and all the little gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest that the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate… But they become hysterical because that’s what’s happening actually.”
To this, the ADL took offensive, claiming Tucker’s argument was no more than a thinly-veiled defense of the often trafficked and anti-Semantic “great white replacement theory” which claims that powerful Jews are attempting to physically replace white Americans with darker-skinned immigrants.
In a letter sent to Fox News CEO Suzanna Scott, the ADL claimed “Tucker Carlson disgustingly gave an impassioned defense of the white supremacist ‘great replacement theory,’ the hateful notion that the white race is in danger of being ‘replaced’ by a rising tide of non-whites.”
The ADL argued that this was but the latest in a long line of incidents of Tucker espousing “White Supremacist” talking points and ultimately called for the opinion host to be fired.
“Given his long record of race-baiting,” the ADL letter concluded, “we believe it is time for Carlson to go.”
In response to the ADL’s calls, Fox Corporation’s top executive, Lachlan Murdoch, offered a letter of his own explaining Fox News’ own commitment to fighting anti-Semitism and why he did not conclude Tucker’s remarks to fall under the anti-Semitic umbrella.
“Fox Corporation shares your values and abhors anti-Semitism, white supremacy and racism of any kind,” said Murdoch.
Going on to express, "A full review of the guest interview indicates that Mr. Carlson decried and rejected replacement theory. As Mr. Carlson himself stated during the guest interview: 'White replacement theory? No, no, this is a voting rights question.'"
Ultimately, the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) agreed with Murdoch’s assessment and on Tuesday sent their letter of disappointment to the ADL.
The CJV letter concluded, "We are eager for the ADL to discard its partisan preoccupations and undertake an urgently needed course correction."