In a stunning speech on Thursday at a first-of-its-kind summit on anti-Semitism, Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, pushed back against the rising tide of hatred in this country with an extraordinary promise:
And we must stand with our fellow Americans who may be singled out for how they look, who they love, where they’re from or how they pray.
And let me say this. There recently have been reports that the new Administration plans to force Muslim-Americans to register for some sort of master government list.
Look, Islamic extremism is a threat to us all. But as Jews, we know what it means to be registered and tagged, held out as different from our fellow citizens.
As Jews, we know the righteous and just response. All of us have heard the story of the Danish king who said if his country’s Jews had to wear a gold star … all of Denmark would too.
So I pledge to you right here and now, because I care about the fight against anti-Semitism, that if one day in these United States, if one day Muslim-Americans will be forced to register their identities, then that is the day that this proud Jew will register as a Muslim.
Because fighting prejudice against the marginalized is not just the fight of those minorities. It’s our fight. Just as the fight against anti-Semitism is not only the fight of us Jews. It’s everyone’s fight.
As a proud Jew myself—and the son of a Holocaust survivor who taught me all too well about the consequences of hatred—I can only stand in awe of what Greenblatt has just done … and co-sign.