2026-05-31 11:55:PM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #LeftwingJewry #people #KeyPeople ![[image-287.png|509]] # Abraham Foxman (1940-2026) - Abraham Foxman, (born Avraham Chanoch Hanach Fuksman) was a highly influential American Jewish communal leader, most well known for his tenure as national director of the [[ADL]] from 1987-2015.[^1] - Foxman, whose public ADL biography describes him as "world-renowned as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination," is among the most public and well known Jewish organizational leaders of all time.[^5] #### Background - Foxman was famously saved from the holocaust by his Catholic nanny.[^5] - Much of Foxman's extended family reportedly perished in the holocaust. Foxman's parents survived and shortly after the war they immigrated to the United States. - Prior to WWII, Foxman says his parents were "involved in Zionist circles" in Warsaw, Poland.[^12] - According to Foxman, his father, a dedicated early Zionist, wished to relocate to Israel after WWII but his mother preferred the United States. - After his father's death, Foxman says his mother's first reaction was "let's take him to Israel for burial." - After immigrating to the United States in 1950, Foxman undertook significant schooling including:[^5] - Yeshiva of Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY; - City College of New York - Bachelors in political science; - NYU School of Law - Juris Doctor; - [[Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)]] - Advanced Judaic studies; - The New School for Social Research - International economics #### Foxman as ADL Frontman - In 1965, Foxman was hired as a legal assistant by the [[ADL]]'s top lawyer, [[Arnold Forster]].[^1][^3] - Foxman began work in the ADL's international affairs division. - Foxman became national director of the [[ADL]] in 1987. - His tenure saw the ADL expand from a largely single issue anti-antisemitism and antisemitic extremism organization into an international left wing advocacy group focused on antisemitism, holocaust denial and reembrace, extremism, religious freedom, human rights, white supremacy, and general discrimination.[^11] - In 1987, the same year he became national director of the [[ADL]], President Ronald Reagan appointed Foxman to the council of the [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)]].[^1] - Foxman was subsequently reappointed by presidents [[George W. Bush]], [[Bill Clinton]], and Joe Biden. - Foxman was eulogized by the USHMM upon his death as a "special friend."[^2] - Foxman explained why he chooses to fight what he perceives as antisemitic speech: "The gas chambers in Auschwitz did not begin with bricks; they began with words, with ugly words. Because there was no one who stood up and said, ‘Don’t say that!’ I will not be silent."[^6] *American Jewry, acting through groups like the ADL, operate with this core belief: if not for our collective action there would be another holocaust. This drives their incessant fervor around antisemitism both as a true belief and as a pressure point for political power.* - Foxman was a close ally and advocate for [[Natan Sharansky]].[^12] - Sharansky is a Russian-born refusenik (Soviet Jews wishing to leave Russia) who eventually immigrated to Israel and became an influential politician. - Foxman met with Sharansky while he was in Russia prior to his 1973 arrest. - Shortly after his 1986 release from prison, Foxman met with Sharansky in Israel. - Foxman, as director of the ADL, knew and coordinated with many Israeli politicians personally including: - [[Yitzhak Rabin]] - Around 2010, Foxman became a personal associate of [[Fox News]] founder and head of the [[News Corp]] media empire, [[Rupert Murdoch]].[^8][^10] - Foxman reportedly met Murdoch at Golden Door, a highly exclusive California spa which Foxman frequented on ADL donor money for ~$9000 a week. - The ADL under Foxman presented Murdoch with its "International Leadership Award" in 2010 for his "stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism."[^9] - In 2021, Foxman reaffirmed his support for awarding Murdoch telling the *[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]]* "I’m proud that I gave it to him then and I would give it to him again today."[^9] - In 2015, Foxman stepped down as national director of the ADL. He was replaced by [[Jonathan Greenblatt]]. - Upon his death in May 2026, Foxman was eulogized by many Jewish organizations including: - [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)]][^2] - [[Steven Spielberg]]'s [[USC Shoah Foundation]][^11] - #### Books Authored by Foxman - Foxman's 2003 *Never Again? The Threat of [[New-antisemitism|New Antisemitism]]*, serves as his first of four major titles.[^4] - The forward to *Never Again?* was written by well known holocaust-activist [[Elie Wiesel]]. #### Politics and Other Activity - In 2013, Foxman was awarded the Begin Prize from Israel's [[Menachem Begin]] Heritage Foundation.[^5] - After not engaging in partisan political endorsements for his entire career, Foxman endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020 with an article in *The Times of Israel* titled "Trump is bad for America and bad for the Jews."[^7] - Foxman writes in his endorsement of Biden, "When our democracy is weakened, and when nativism is stoked, the rights of Jews and other minorities will be diminished too. It may not happen overnight, but it _will_ happen, and Jews know this well from bitter experience." #RedPill *Jews, as the ultimate outcasts and outsiders, have a deeply ingrained aversion to nativism and nationalism. Foxman plainly states that Jews as a people oppose nativism and support an empowered patchwork of minorities from collective Jewish experience.* - Foxman continues his rebuke of Trump, "He [Trump] and his administration dehumanize immigrants, demonize the most vulnerable, and undermine the civility and enlightened political culture that have allowed Jews to achieve what no Diaspora community outside Israel can claim in two millennia...Defending immigrants and refugees is an inseparable part of our collective story." *Notice again how Foxman invokes the importance of immigration to Jewish political and social success.* #### References [^1]: “Abraham Foxman,” _Wikipedia_, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Foxman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Foxman). [^2]: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Abraham Foxman (1940–2026),” _In Memoriam_, [https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/in-memoriam/abraham-foxman-1940-2026](https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/in-memoriam/abraham-foxman-1940-2026). [^3]: Margalit Fox, “Arnold Forster, Who Fought Anti-Semitism With B’nai B’rith, Is Dead at 97,” _New York Times_, March 26, 2010, *Internet Archive*, [https://web.archive.org/web/20240823095123/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/us/27forster.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20240823095123/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/us/27forster.html). [^4]: Abraham H. Foxman, _Never Again?: The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism_ (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003), _Internet Archive_, [https://archive.org/details/neveragainthreat0000foxm](https://archive.org/details/neveragainthreat0000foxm). [^5]: Anti-Defamation League, “Abraham H. Foxman,” [https://www.adl.org/resources/news/abraham-h-foxman](https://www.adl.org/resources/news/abraham-h-foxman). [^6]: Uriel Heilman, “Abe Foxman Looks Back at Changing — and Declining — Face of Anti-Semitism,” _The Forward_, February 19, 2014, [https://forward.com/news/193011/abe-foxman-looks-back-at-changing-and-declining/](https://forward.com/news/193011/abe-foxman-looks-back-at-changing-and-declining/). [^7]: Abraham H. Foxman, “Trump Is Bad for America and Bad for the Jews,” _The Times of Israel Blogs_, September 11, 2020, [https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/american-jewrys-fateful-choice/](https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/american-jewrys-fateful-choice/). [^8]: Larry Cohler-Esses, “How Abe (Foxman) Bonded With Rupert (Murdoch) — at a $8,850-a-Week California Spa,” _The Forward_, December 6, 2016, [https://forward.com/news/356191/how-abe-foxman-bonded-with-rupert-murdoch-at-a-8-850-a-week-california-spa/](https://forward.com/news/356191/how-abe-foxman-bonded-with-rupert-murdoch-at-a-8-850-a-week-california-spa/) [^9]: Ben Sales, “Former ADL Chief Abe Foxman Says He’d Honor Fox’s Rupert Murdoch ‘Again Today,’” _The Times of Israel_, April 14, 2021, [https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-adl-chief-abe-foxman-says-hed-honor-foxs-rupert-murdoch-again-today/](https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-adl-chief-abe-foxman-says-hed-honor-foxs-rupert-murdoch-again-today/). [^10]: Arno Rosenfeld, “Abe Foxman Built the Jewish Establishment. He Died Troubled by What It Had Become,” _The Forward_, May 11, 2026, [https://forward.com/news/antisemitism-decoded/824344/abe-foxman-anti-defamation-league-fox-news-trump/](https://forward.com/news/antisemitism-decoded/824344/abe-foxman-anti-defamation-league-fox-news-trump/\). [^11]: USC Shoah Foundation, “Abraham H. Foxman, Holocaust Survivor and Defining Voice Against Antisemitism,” May 12, 2026, [https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2026/05/37866-abraham-h-foxman-holocaust-survivor-and-defining-voice-against-antisemitism](https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2026/05/37866-abraham-h-foxman-holocaust-survivor-and-defining-voice-against-antisemitism). [^12]: Abraham H. Foxman, testimony interview no. 41475, March 27, 1998, _USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive_, [https://vha.usc.edu/testimony/41475](https://vha.usc.edu/testimony/41475). *The part where Foxman speaks on his parents and burying his father in Israel begins around the 8 minute mark. Around 23:00 he speaks about his relations with Yitzhak Rabin. Around 23:20 he talks about his relations with Natan Sharansky.*