Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt dropped out of upcoming antisemitism conference being hosted by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem later this month amid growing controversy over the inclusion of several far-right European politicians in the event, an ADL spokesperson confirmed to eJewishPhilanthropy.

“In light of some of the recently announced participants at the Israeli government’s antisemitism conference, Jonathan decided last week that he would no longer be attending the event, and he notified the Israeli government about the decision after the weekend,” the spokesperson said.

Greenblatt, who was slated to deliver a keynote address, had originally appeared in the conference’s speakers list. On Monday afternoon, his photograph was removed from the event’s website, and later his scheduled speech was also taken down as well.

Greenblatt joins a growing number of speakers and participants who have canceled their appearances at the gathering over the inclusion of the far-right lawmakers, some of whose parties have historical or current connections to neo-Nazi and fascist groups. This includes: British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, British antisemitism scholar David Hirsh, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, German antisemitism envoy Felix Klein and head of the Germany-Israel Friendship Association, German Volker Beck.

“Having been made aware of the attendance of a number of far-right populist politicians at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, the Chief Rabbi will no longer be attending,” Mirvis’ office told eJP on Monday.

Natan Sharansky, a former Israeli government minister and chair of the Jewish Agency, announced on Monday in a Facebook post that he would still be participating in the conference but criticized the Diaspora Affairs Ministry for inviting far-right European politicians without first consulting with their countries’ Jewish communities. Sharansky maintained his concerns about left-wing and right-wing antisemitism.

“Those who continue to hold onto their antisemitic views obviously have no place in conferences against antisemitism. However, those who claim to have changed their views towards Jews certainly deserve to be heard,” Sharansky wrote. 

Controversial figures scheduled to attend the conference include: Marion Marechal, a far-right French representative to the European Parliament and granddaughter of French politician and Holocaust denier Jean Marie Le Pen; Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right French National Rally party, a successor of Le Pen’s National Front; and Hermann Tertsch, a far-right Spanish member of the European Parliament. Bardella, whose party was publicly supported by Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli in France’s recent election, is due to deliver a keynote address on the second day of the conference. Greenblatt was initially scheduled to speak after a panel following Bardella’s address.

“In an increasingly hostile world, the State of Israel is hungry for allies, but it must be disciplined in keeping some distance from those who do not share its values. Israel could listen more attentively to the advice of local Jewish communities and it should not offer the populist right, which has fascistic antisemitism in its heritage and amongst its support, an official Jewish stamp of approval,” wrote Hirsh, academic director of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, in a letter announcing his decision to withdraw from the gathering.

For these far-right parties, official involvement in an Israeli conference on combating antisemitism provides them with a defense against claims of antisemitism in the future. 

But critics argue that their involvement will provide ammunition to those claiming that the fight against antisemitism has been politicized and whitewashes these parties’ often fascist roots. To supporters, this embrace of Europe’s far right by Israel and segments of the Jewish world reflect a reshuffling of the geopolitical map and a more accurate reflection of who better represent the Jewish people’s allies in the fight against contemporary antisemitism, which they see as principally coming from Muslim immigrants and the far left.

In any case, the controversy over the inclusion of these politicians has served as a distraction from the stated focus of the conference: combating antisemitism. Virtually all of the articles written about the conference so far have focused on who is and isn’t participating, rather than on the massive rise in the number of antisemitic incidents around the world post-Oct. 7, for instance.

Several of the Jewish speakers who are still listed as appearing at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism have in the past warned against European far-right parties, including Sharansky and William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

The guest list of the antisemitism conference reflects the Israeli government’s recent embrace of far-right European parties, with which it previously maintained official distance due to many of their founders’ connections to Nazi Germany and more contemporary ties to neo-Nazi groups and Holocaust revisionism. Exceptions to this are German and Austrian far-right parties, whom Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel would still keep at arm’s length.

The antisemitism conference, which is scheduled to take place on March 26-27, is meant to serve as the culmination of next week’s “Diaspora Week,” when the Israeli government highlights the Israel-Diaspora relationship through a dedicated cabinet meeting, educational initiatives in schools and other gatherings throughout the country.

Ed. note: This article was updated to include the Anti-Defamation League’s confirmation that Greenblatt had canceled his speech at the conference.