Abe Foxman

Dear Andre Moshè Pereira,

Anti-Semitism has moved from the fringe to the mainstream.

This year, violent actions and vicious words added fuel to the explosion of anti-Semitism worldwide. The ugliness has even spread to home, where we’ve seen the horror of the shooting at a Holocaust museum, the murder of a Jewish college student and a thwarted plot to bomb synagogues. All of these acts shared the same goal to harm and kill the Jewish people.

Very few years have presented the challenges of 2009, across Europe, the Middle East and even in the United States. In fact, Abe Foxman calls 2009 arguably, the worst year for global anti-Semitism in his tenure with the ADL.

Yet, each day the Anti-Defamation League was there to protect the Jewish people. We fight those who question Israel’s legitimacy. We combat the rise of age-old stereotypes about Jews and money that have resurfaced in the wake of the financial crisis. And we recognize the power and the danger of the internet, by working with social networking sites to prevent anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers from recruiting impressionable young people.

2010 will present its own challenges. Whether it's the explosion of global anti-Semitism, the growing move to delegitimize Israel, the Iranian nuclear threat, or the emergence of cyberhate and cyberbullying,ADL must be prepared to battle on all fronts.

In short, our job is to defend the Jewish people against the wave of hate that threatens the security of all Jewish people.