Our Worst Ally A documented record of a close ally's conduct against American interests.

Category 05 of 05

Suppressing Criticism

Documented efforts to suppress criticism of Israel in the U.S. — and the professional, legal, and institutional consequences faced by those who voiced it.

  1. Media-Monitoring Groups 1982–2026 Pro-Israel media-monitoring groups openly work to shape coverage by pressuring journalists and editors. Most of this is ordinary, lawful advocacy — but a 2008 leaked-email operation to covertly take over Wikipedia's editing process crossed into documented deception, and Wikipedia sanctioned those involved. →
  2. The ADL Domestic Surveillance Scandal 1993 In 1993, San Francisco police raided the Anti-Defamation League's offices and documented a decades-long private intelligence operation: an ADL operative, fed confidential data by a corrupt police inspector, had built secret files on roughly 12,000 individuals and 950 organizations — including Arab-American, civil-rights, and anti-apartheid groups. The ADL paid a civil settlement. →
  3. The IHRA Definition 2004–2026 The IHRA working definition of antisemitism, whose examples include certain criticism of Israel, has been codified into U.S. law and policy as a standard for investigating discrimination. Its own lead drafter, a self-described Zionist, says it was never meant to be a campus speech code and is being weaponized to suppress protected speech. →
  4. Anti-BDS Legislation 2014–2026 More than thirty states require government contractors to certify they will not boycott Israel — the only laws in the U.S. conditioning public contracts on a pledge about a foreign country. Four federal courts struck them down; one appeals court upheld them; the Supreme Court declined to resolve the split. →
  5. The Salaita Case 2014–2026 A tenured professor's job offer was revoked over tweets criticizing Israel's 2014 Gaza assault. A federal court found he had a binding contract and protected speech; the university paid $875,000, was censured by the AAUP, and its chancellor resigned over hidden emails revealing donor pressure. →
  6. Employment and Platform Suppression 2014–2026 After October 2023, workers across media, tech, law, and other fields lost jobs and offers over Palestinian-solidarity speech. Two cases reached litigation — a Google mass firing now before the NLRB and a Meta engineer's discrimination suit — and human-rights audits documented systematic suppression of Palestinian content on major platforms. →