- Good morning again. It's so nice to see a
packed house on day two. Welcome back. I'm Juju Chang. (audience applauds) - And I'm Abby Pogrebin. - And, you know, it's almost noon, but it's still morning, and it's already been an
incredibly impactful morning here at Day 2 of Never Is Now. As you know, it is the
world's largest convening, the world's largest summit
on antisemitism and hate. At the heart of this event is recognizing that no
one can fight hate alone. Everyone here, whether
in the roo
m or online, is committed to sharing strength, exchanging ideas, and
learning from each other. So hello to our global
virtual audience out there. Hello. It's great to have you back with us. And for those of you here at Javits today, I hope you all found your
morning breakout sessions purposeful and fascinating. There have been so many
compelling conversations up here on stage as well about keeping our community safe and about building those
crucial partnerships in fighting hate. We've never even
taken a
peek behind the curtain at how ADL's experts are
disrupting antisemitism every day. And this is all so vital in reminding us that none of us are alone in fighting hate for good. - For those of us in the room, look around you for a minute. You will see a few new people, nearly a thousand students
who are joining us today. (audience applauds) Let's hear it, as you've shown, for the power and the potential of our future leaders in this room. We are so grateful for
the high-school students,
the college students, and the
educators who are here today. (audience applauds) They are truly on the frontline dealing with the explosions of
antisemitism and anti-Zionism that are making so many schools feel like a less safe
space for Jewish students. These students are joining us here for the breakouts and main stage, and they will have special, student-centered
discussions this afternoon as we equip them to go back
to the classroom and the quad with tips, tactics, and a clear message that t
hey are not alone
in confronting hate and that we are all here to help them. (audience applauds) I know this is a little bit
putting you on the spot, but Juju and I would love for every student in this room to stand. (audience applauds) (audience applauds) We wanna thank you all, all of you young people, who have more energy than we do for your dedication, for speaking out, for making the world better. Thank you for being a
part of Never Is Now. - We can clap. It's always worth celebrating. (aud
ience applauds) So before we get to today's
insightful and passionate and, even in a few cases,
laugh-out-loud funny speakers, I wanna do a quick bit of housekeeping, and that is that this closing
session of Never Is Now, when it ends, it won't be fully over, so please don't leave. Go out into the main hall and grab one of those
ADL-provided kosher lunches, and you'll have some final opportunities to network and share ideas
with your fellow attendees and with the ADL team, as well as the high-sc
hool
and college students that you just saw stand up. And it's really important. I hope you've had a chance to connect and reconnect with your
friends and your allies during this time here. So up next I'd like to
welcome to the stage the Chairman and the CEO of
Pfizer, Dr. Albert Bourla. He is... (audience applauds) Obviously, you're familiar
with his reputation. He was here last year as the winner of ADL's
Courage Against Hate Award for his company's response
to the COVID-19 pandemic and for th
e courage that he displayed by speaking out against
disinformation and hate. Dr. Bourla will introduce
this year's amazing honoree, and we welcome to Never
Is Now, Dr. Bourla. (audience applauds) - Thank you, Juju, and it's an honor and a great pleasure to be back on the stage a year later at an event which means so much to me and which is very
important than ever today, given the current circumstances that we all know that we're living. I want to start by saying how much I appreciate the
extrao
rdinary leadership of Jonathan, Jonathan Greenblatt. (audience applauds) He's a man of integrity,
strength, and courage, and I'm very privileged
to call him my friend. But today I'm here, and we are here to honor other leader, also a very good friend
of mine, Julie Sweet. (audience applauds) From the moment I met Julie, I knew she was someone special. Intelligent, obviously, but much more than that, articulate, visionary, inspiring,
energetic, compassionate, and most, importantly, courageous, as
the award that she will receive says. Julie is not intimidated
by the forces of evil and is unafraid to speak
out for truth and justice. She does not look for an easy way out or the path of least resistance. She's willing to confront
what is uncomfortable and disrupt the status quo if she thinks that this
status quo is wrong. She refuses to stay silent, which is another problem of today's world, in the face of hate because she knows silence
is the biggest enabler. She talks the talk, but, more
importantly, she walks the walk. Literally. Everybody knows that she prefers to leave the safe confines of her office to be with teams all over the
globe as often as she can. She's not about the theoretical. She's a hands-on leader who is all about doing real things that make a difference, things that can be measured. With, Julie, it is never about her. She's all about the greater good. She gives credit and takes responsibility. Julie understands that
people who lead companies have not only a un
ique opportunity but an obligation to use
their position of prominence to speak out against hatred. (audience applauds) In fact, she has built a playbook that other leaders should follow. She uses her platform to speak out, she uses the size and
convening power of her company to bring people together, she uses the increasingly
alarming data and anecdotes to describe the scope of the problem, and she talks personally about
how hate has affected her. Her tireless campaign against hatred is inspiri
ng, impactful, and influential. She's deeply a valued ally
of the Jewish community at a time where allies
were never more important. We all know the stakes are
high and the danger is real. Sadly, there can be no doubt
that antisemitism is growing, along with other forms of bigotry. From the nation's capital to the campuses of the
most prestigious colleges, to the corridors of the United Nations, to the pages of social media, seemingly respectable people are fueling the fires of antisemitism, oft
en with encouragement from people in positions of
leadership and elsewhere. Julie Sweet, she's on the front lines fighting hard to extinguish those fires and all forms of hatred and bigotry. Now and forever. And perhaps the best description of Julie is that she's a force
for good in the world. So, ladies and gentlemen. (audience applauds) For me, it's a true privilege, personally and professionally, to have been asked to help
present this award to Julie. There is no one more deserving of the Cou
rage Against
Hate Award than she. Please join Jonathan and
me in congratulating Julie on receiving this year's
Courage Against Hate Award. (audience applauds) (uplifting music) (uplifting music) (uplifting music) (uplifting music) (uplifting music) - Thank you, Albert. Thank you, Albert, for your
courage, your leadership, for what you do every day
fighting against hate. Thank you to Pfizer for all you do, your people standing up against hate. It's very special to me
to be here after Albert, to h
ave him here and to take this award, because he and Pfizer have been amazing. Please join me in recognizing them again. (audience applauds) It's particularly special
for me to have Albert here because my daughters are
here, Chloe and Abby, and I've spoken about Albert. And for them to be able to
hear him and learn from him the way I have learned from
him is very meaningful. I am honored today to accept this award on behalf of the over 700,000
courageous people of Accenture who strive every day t
o live our values of respect, equity, inclusion for all people, and zero tolerance for hate
and bigotry of any kind, including antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and hate based on race and ethnicity
and sexual orientation. (audience applauds) I'm humbled to accept
the award from the ADL because the ADL has fought and stood up for marginalized
communities around the world for over 100 years, fighting antisemitism, extremism, hatred, and bigotry and injustice, and we owe a debt of
gratitude t
o their fight. We are proud that we signed in September the ADL Workplace Against Antisemitism, and we're deeply appreciative that the ADL is focusing on the workplace. Thank you, Ben, and the entire board of
directors and Jonathan and the incredible team at the ADL for what you do every day to keep the enduring
mission of the ADL going. We need you now more than ever. Thank you. (audience applauds) It is really inspiring to be in this room, to look around, to see so many people, to know how man
y people are watching, and especially to know that there are nearly a
thousand students here. I hope that, as we leave here, that we all choose to be
allies of another community, that we know that we have
allies standing with us. Everyone here has chosen
to learn more, to do more. When we leave here, we can look around when we're at events, when we're at school to see is anyone being left out, and take an action to include them. And when they need us to
speak, that we will speak. (audience appla
uds) If you take anything away
from my speech today, I hope it is this, that in order to eradicate hate, we must both speak up and take action against
hate whenever we see it and, every day, we must
intentionally build bridges across our communities. We must build the foundation of trust and understanding and shared humanity that will be the opposite of hate. Today, I'd like to share two stories about my and Accenture's journey and then some insights that I hope will help other companies. The fi
rst story is about a major
turning point at Accenture. Let me take you back to July 6th, 2016. In the two weeks prior, two African American men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, have been shot to death
by police officers. And then Dallas officers were ambushed, killing five and injuring nine others. Devastated by this violence, I sent out a first of its
kind at Accenture invitation to our then 50,000 people, an invitation to a webcast and to local community meetings, an invitation to talk ab
out race. Not diversity, to talk, and I quote, about race, racial injustice, and violence and how it is affecting
our people at Accenture. It was the first of its kind because the accepted wisdom at that time was that issues like race
or hatred or religion were not accepted in the workplace. These were social issues, they were not appropriate
to talk about at work. And yet it had become very clear that we could never meet our aspiration to be a company where
everyone felt they belonged if we wer
e asking whole
parts of our community to park their realities at the door. Our African American
colleagues at the time said they were coming to work at a time of immense
pain to their community, and the silence was deafening. The night before the
webcast, I was nervous. You see, I had many people
who were encouraging, who thought we were doing the right thing, including our amazing Chief Leadership and Human
Resources Officer, Ellyn Shook, who has made immeasurable contributions at Accenture to
diversity and has been a role model
in standing up for hate. But there were others who were understandably very uncomfortable at deviating from that accepted wisdom, and they did not want me to proceed. We went forward, and it was a massive change and turning point for Accenture. After the webcast and
those community meetings, the feedback was overwhelming. Our diverse communities said that we had changed the culture, that they felt heard and understood. Our non-diverse communities thanked me be
cause they had not understood, and there was universal pride that we had been willing to have these difficult
conversations in the office. That webcast became a vehicle
we call Building Bridges, which we have turned
to over and over again. And since 2016, we have intentionally been
working to build bridges, to take actions, and to speak up internally and externally against hate, against racism,
against discrimination. We have a lot more to go, but we have made enormous progress. Which brings me
to my second story. This past October, after the horrific terrorist
attack by the Hamas in Israel, and as we witnessed the
tragic loss of life in Israel and for the Palestinian people in Gaza, I gathered a small group of leaders in a conference room in Chicago, leaders on my leadership team who were Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. Our focus on diversity and
innovation over the years had meant that I naturally
had a leadership team that was diverse, including religion, and so we were getting
toget
her not newly formed, but as colleagues and friends. Emotions were raw. Our first order of priority had been to make sure that our
people in Israel were safe. We did not have an office in Gaza. But now we felt the pressure to speak, to find the words to acknowledge the pain felt by our people across
communities and the world, to make sure our people felt safe at work, and to articulate what it means to respect each other
when we have differences, what it means to have
zero tolerance for hate. Wi
th the courageous help of our faith-based
employee resource groups and leveraging our
diversity, our common values, and our bonds as colleagues, we found those words. We sent a memo to our 700,000 people called Living Our Values. We acknowledged the pain, the
grief, the trauma, the fear that was across communities and faiths. We talked about our sadness
at the ongoing loss, and we articulated clearly that we have zero tolerance for antisemitism,
Islamophobia, xenophobia, and hate speech of any k
ind, including the defense of terrorism or the equating of terrorism
with people or religions. We talked about our absolute obligation to live our values at Accenture every day, our values of equity,
inclusion, belonging for all, and psychological and physical safety. And every member of my
global management committee individually signed the memo. This was 45 leaders from across the world. We wanted to demonstrate that
we were united against hate and united by our shared humanity. I was so proud
of my
colleagues and our people and of the progress we
have made since 2016. We have more to do, and we will keep fighting because we believe that companies have a very important role
to play in fighting hate. We must speak up and take
action when we see it, and we must strive every day to build the foundation in our companies and our communities that will help us eradicate hate. I wanted to share just
a few of our insights in how to build that foundation. First, we believe that companies must
adopt and clearly
articulate publicly and regularly that their company values include zero tolerance against
hate and bigotry of any kind and that your company values include an unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equality. Because it is the right thing to do, and because it has been
proven over and over again that it is good for business. And those values must explicitly include diversity of religion and zero tolerance for hate
against religions, any religion. (audience applauds)
Our values as companies must also include caring about people
professionally and personally. We will never eradicate hate until we care about each other and recognize in each
other that shared humanity. The second thing that we have learned is that it is absolutely essential that companies form
and financially support strong employee resource groups. These groups provide
networks for our employees so they can feel like they belong. They're essential advisors to leadership. And if your company h
as
employees who are interested, those employee resource groups must include faith-based employee groups. We formed our first faith-based
employee group in 2005, and today we have groups
for Bahai, Buddhism, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, and Christian faiths, and an interfaith group. (audience applauds) Our third lesson has been
the importance of allies and forming formal ally networks. Today, we have an ally network
of over 140,000 people, and our people say it makes a difference. It's a powerfu
l group of people who said they will take action
to make us more inclusive. It makes our people feel like they belong to know that others have said, "I will stand with you." And, finally, and very importantly, companies must ensure that
there is a fair process to be able to speak up when
there is hate or alleged hate or racism or discrimination, and give people confidence
that they can do so. And the teams that
investigate must be diverse. They must reflect the employee population so that both t
he person speaking up and the person who is alleged
to have done something wrong can feel that the process is safe. Now, companies are led by people, and there are a couple
of lessons I've learned as a leader of an amazing company. The first is you will
never always get it right. Never. You need to have the best advisors, you need to listen, and then make the best decision you can, and you will still sometimes get it wrong. And when you get it wrong, you have to have the humility
to listen and m
ake changes. And, second, you will also
never make everyone happy. Having the courage to speak up and take action against
hate is not taking sides. It's also not about being popular. It is about living, as an individual and a
company, your values, it is about doing what you believe in. Thank you again, Jonathan
and the ADL, for this honor. Thank you to my family and friends. (audience applauds) Thank you for all being here together. Thank you all for being here. Together, we will be stronger
tha
n the forces of hate. Thank you. (audience applauds) - [Moderator] Please welcome to the stage National Council of Jewish
Women CEO, Sheila Katz. (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music) Congratulations, Julie Sweet and Accenture for the Courage Against Hate Award. Truly a well deserved honor. (audience applauds) I'm Sheila Katz, CEO of National
Council of Jewish Women, a 130-year-old Jewish feminist
civil rights organization that has worked in
partnership with the ADL since its founding. It is
truly an honor to join you today and introduce a remarkable individual, a dear friend, and a true mensch, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. (audience applauds) Attorney General Garland has always been a steadfast partner in our shared mission in
the fight against hate. He works tirelessly to uphold justice, combat hate crimes, and protect marginalized communities. Attorney General Garland is fully committed to taking action to make all of our communities safer in this time of rising antise
mitism. His genuine care for the Jewish community stems from his official role, his identity as a Jew, and his family's history
confronting religious persecution. This is personal for him. Attorney General Garland looks hate in the face every single day. When a Michigan man
associated with The Base, a white-supremacist group, conspired to deface a
synagogue in Michigan, the Attorney General prosecuted them. What a California man targeted
and shot two Jewish men leaving their synagogue
services i
n Los Angeles, the Attorney General convicted him. When neo-Nazis attempted to
dox journalists and advocates who expose antisemitism, the Attorney General
secured a lengthy sentence. And when Jewish women
leaders, including me, were targeted with threats
of rape after October 7th, the Attorney General
made sure we were safe. (audience applauds) The list goes on. Attorney General Garland
doesn't back down. He works in the true spirit of tikkun olam to repair our broken world. And in doing so, he
makes our country safer for all of us. Please join me in welcoming U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. (audience applauds) (light upbeat music) (light upbeat music) - Good morning. Thank you, Sheila, for that
overly generous introduction. I'm grateful to ADL for the invitation to join this gathering aimed at combating antisemitism and hate at a time when that work
is of the utmost urgency. (audience applauds) It is especially meaningful to be here at the end of a trip I began
last weekend in
Selma, Alabama to join civil rights advocates in commemorating the
anniversary of Bloody Sunday. 59 years ago today, on March 7th, 1965, some 600 people set out to
march from Selma to Montgomery to insist that this country make good on the promise it
made nearly a century earlier, that no American citizen would be denied the right
to vote on account of race. (audience applauds) In response, they were
met with horrific violence at the hands of their own government. But the movement was undeterred
. Civil rights leaders
organized two more marches, a second symbolic march to the Edmund Pettus
Bridge two days later, and then two weeks later, a third and final march
from Selma to Montgomery. At the third march, thousands of Americans
from across the country came to stand alongside them. Leaders of the Justice
Department stood alongside them and leaders of ADL stood alongside them. (audience applauds) For over a century, this organization has stood firmly in defense of the civil rights
and sa
fety of American Jews. At the same time, ADL has stood firmly in defense of the civil rights and
safety of all Americans. (audience applauds) As ADL's founding charter, written over 110 years ago, declared, "The immediate object of the league "is to stop the defamation
of the Jewish people. "Its ultimate purpose "is to secure justice and fair treatment "to all citizens alike." (audience applauds) That dual mission has only become more
urgent in recent years, and its importance has become even cl
earer since October 7th, the deadliest massacre of
Jews since the Holocaust. On that day, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered over 1,100 people, including 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of hostages. That attack devastated families in Israel, the United
States, and around the world, and it renewed a familiar sense of fear and isolation for Jews everywhere. As you are well aware, since October 7, there has been a stunning increase in the volume and the frequency of threats against Jews and Je
wish institutions across the United States. The FBI reports that
between October 7th, 2023 and January 30th of this year, the Bureau opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crime investigations than in the previous four months, on top of an already existing
year-over-year increase. These statistics do not
begin to capture the fear in which I know Jewish
communities have been living. They do not capture the
fear of Jewish Americans that any sign of our identity could make us the target of a
n attack. They do not capture the hours that congregations have
spent planning for the worst. Many of you gathered here today have experienced fear in your communities, and in keeping with ADL's
long and vital tradition of combating hate against all communities, you have also stood up for members of the Muslim, Arab,
and Palestinian communities who are facing a similarly frightening spike in threats right now. (audience applauds) No person and no community in this country should have to live in
fear
of hate-fueled violence. That is why, in the wake
of the October 7th attacks, I directed all of our
U.S. Attorney's offices and all of our FBI field offices to meet with local law
enforcement and community leaders to strengthen our response to threats of hate-fueled violence. We are aggressively investigating and prosecuting all such threats, and we will continue to do so. (audience applauds) The Justice Department
has no higher priority than protecting the
safety and civil rights of everyo
ne in our country. (audience applauds) That has long been the
Justice Department's charge. The Justice Department was
first established in 1870 in the wake of the Civil War and in the midst of Reconstruction, with the first principal purpose of enforcing the protections guaranteed by the 13th,
14th, and 15th Amendments. The department sent hundreds
of attorneys and agents to investigate and prosecute members of the first
incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan, who were terrorizing Black Americans seeki
ng to exercise their right to vote. The Justice Department understood then and we understand now that while white-supremacist violence and hate-fueled threats
and violence of all kinds threaten the safety of individuals
and entire communities, it threatens the very
foundation of our democracy. Hate-fueled violence seeks
to fracture our society, to isolate us from one another, to pit community against community. It works to make us question
our sense of belonging and to lose faith in our institut
ions. But our democracy promises that all people will be protected in the exercise of their civil rights, in their freedom to worship
and think as they please, and in the peaceful expression of their opinions, beliefs, and ideas. It promises that all people will be protected from
persecution, violence, and harm. Working to fulfill that promise is the Justice Department's
sacred responsibility. (audience applauds) The responsibility to fulfill that promise is why I took this job. My family fled t
he
pogroms of Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century. My grandmother, who was
one of five children born in what is now Belarus, made it to the United States, as did two of her siblings. The other two did not. They were killed in the Holocaust. If not for America, there is little doubt that the same would've
happened to my grandmother. But this country took her in. And under the protection of our laws, she was able to live. (audience applauds) (audience applauds) She was able to live
wit
hout fear of persecution. I'm also married to a woman whose mother escaped from Austria in 1938, shortly after Hitler's
army entered Vienna. Under the protection of our laws, she too was able to live
without fear of persecution. That protection is what
distinguishes America from so many other countries. (audience applauds) The protection of law, the equal protection of the law, is the foundation of our
system of government. I am here today because this country took
my family in and protect when
they had nowhere else to go. I also know that the protections
afforded to my family have not always been afforded to families that don't look like mine. Ensuring the protection of law for all of our country's citizens has been the responsibility of every generation in
our country's history. (audience applauds) Today, it is our responsibility. (audience applauds) It is the responsibility of
the Department of Justice, it is my responsibility
as Attorney General, it is the responsibility
of every A
merican. We must protect each other. Thank you. (audience applauds) (audience applauds) (audience applauds) - So moving, thank you. That was such a moving and
deeply personal address. Thank you so much, Merrick
Garland, for joining us today, sharing your wisdom, your perspective, and also your heart with us. You know, often when we face the most difficult tasks in the world, when we face evil, darkness, the antidote to a lot of the
heaviness is often laughter. And so we're about to shift gears h
ere and talk about the impact of a
very different kind of voice. I'm about to host a discussion called, "But Is It Funny? Where to
Draw the Line in Comedy." And I'm just thrilled to be joined for this discussion, using comedy to talk about identity, by two incredible performers, Alex Edelman and Zarna Garg. (audience applauds) Alex is truly a superb
and thought-provoking comedian, actor, and writer. How many of you have seen his
Broadway show, "Just For Us"? (audience applauds) It's often referr
ed to
as a work of genius. I found myself belly-aching laughing in
the seats the entire time, and it's now continuing a boffo tour. We also welcome Zarna Garg, who describes herself as one in a billion, an immigrant from India,
a mom, a standup comedian who believes that every
brown woman everywhere has the right to laugh at
anything and anyone they want, including all the sacred cows. So this discussion has an important point,
though, to make at its core about identity, bias, censorship, self-c
ensorship, and so much more. So we are thrilled, I'm personally excited to hear from these very talented people. Let's welcome Alex and Zarna. (upbeat music) Oh my God, I wouldn't have missed it. Come on in, come on in. (audience applauds) Zarna and I clearly got the memo on the colorful green dress. - I got it, I just decided
to deviate a little bit. - Yeah, okay, fine. - We should thank our
opening act, Merrick Garland. We really should. - He warmed up the crowd,
got them laughing out loud. So
, Alex, you've been described
as a nebbishy hipster. - By who? - By, I don't remember. - Wait, wait, wait. Is this a Trump thing where you're like, "Some people are saying
you're a nebbishy hipster?" - Everyone's been saying it. I actually think of you more as... - Wait, no, no, no. I'm not like moving on from that. (Juju laughs) Who's saying I'm a nebbishy hipster? - [Juju] I will find
you the citation later! - Jonathan Greenblatt? - [Juju] I will hold my
sources close to the chest. - He's a vi
sionary leader,
but he is bald, Jonathan, so we should really... We should keep it under wraps. - [Juju] I like to think of
you as a menschy provocateur. How about that? - Okay, fine, whatever. (Juju laughs) Do whatever you want, go ahead. - But, to me, let's give
the overview of your show. For those few of us who haven't had the absolute
delight to see the show. The tagline is, basically, a nice Jewish boy walks into a neo-Nazi meeting in Queens, and comedy ensues. - Sure. - Please give us, for
those in the room, how it came to be and what at its core are the themes that you're trying to explore. - I guess the top line of the show is that I was on Twitter and there were... - [Juju] Zarna's already laughing. - Zarna's already like, "Huh,
there he goes on Twitter." And if you don't know it, it's a dying social media platform. (audience laughs) And I wound up going down this
rabbit hole of antisemites. And if you can believe it, you actually used to have
to go down a rabbit hole to find
the antisemites. But now, for some reason, they're everywhere right in front of you. And someone tweeted, "Hey, if you have questions
about your whiteness, "come to this address in
Queens tomorrow night at 9:15." And I was like, "I have questions about my whiteness, "and I'm free tomorrow night at 9:15. "Should I go to this?" And so I went and I sat there for a while. But the thing I think
that's resonated with people is sort of like we... You know, I've had really
great collaborators. My direct
or on the show, Adam Brace, Mike Birbiglia, the producer of the show in New York for the first time. He's a really great comedian. I grew up being very
suspicious of easy comforts, and I thought of how
easy the show would be to go and just make fun of them. But I thought a more
interesting, thoughtful aspect, sort of actually like reckoning with the things that they're reckoning with, seeing where I have things
in common with them, seeing if there are hard questions that I have to ask myself. An
d also like when you're
raised in a Jewish community, very small community, basically a shtetl, like everyone has
different opinions, right? Some people might have opinions you find very objectionable, right? Like, you might think someone's... Like you might think Jared Kushner is like a really pretentious, smug weenie, and someone else might
wanna give him an award. I'm not saying anything. (audience applauds) It may not be me who thinks
he's extremely destructive, but I'm just saying that, loo
k... - There are clearly no
sacred cows safe here. So as a journalist, I'd like to just point out some
breaking news that we have, which is that HBO is
about to air your special. So let's take a quick look at the clip, the official promo from
HBO released today. - My name is Alex Edelman. I'm a comedian, and I'm gonna tell you a story. (dramatic music) It's a Tuesday night, and I see this tweet, and I sent it to my best
friend in the world. And I wrote, "David, do
you wanna come with me "to this
meeting of Nazis in Queens?" (upbeat music) People are just pulling up chairs. You know, it's like a semicircle or like an antisemi circle. (audience laughs) Now I see the nebbishy
hipster thing, I do. (Juju laughs) - Well done, congratulations. But while we're congratulating, let's congratulate Zarna as well because you have a
special on Amazon, right? (audience applauds) - So you are unapologetically
classic Indian immigrant mom and like so many immigrants like me can relate to the humor that
you do. Let's, before we dive in, take a look at a clip of you at work. - I live in New York City with
my husband and three kids. Two boys, woo-hoo! (audience cheers) One girl, whatever about her. (audience laughs) No, it's okay, it's fine. She has a therapist. (audience laughs) That's right, I pay 350 an hour so the two of them can
talk smack about me. (audience laughs) And my daughter, she
is dating a white boy. Yeah, no, it's okay. It's a phase, everybody goes through it. (audience laughs) A
nd I've been most supportive. I told her, "You do you,
whatever makes you happy." Because if I don't say that, that's six more sessions at 350 an hour. (audience laughs) But I did say to her, I said, "Listen to me, it's fine
you're dating this boy, "but please don't post a photo
with him on the Instagram." And she goes, "Why not?" I said, "Because if your
grandma, dadi, sees it, "she will drop dead." (audience laughs) Then I thought about it, I said, "Okay, post the photo." (audience laughs) (au
dience applauds) (audience applauds) - As I said, no sacred cows are safe. You don't just like take on stereotypes, you drill right into them
and double down on them. Everything from the
mother-in-law to entitled teens. Tell me how you go about that. - Well, before I get into that, can I just share a little
backstory about this clip? Because there is a bit that
they didn't allow on TV. And that is, the joke really is, my daughter's dating a white boy, and that's okay, that's a phase,
everybody g
oes through it. And he's Jewish, and I've been most supportive. I told her, "You do you,
whatever makes you happy." Also, because I know his
mother's gonna put an end to it. (audience laughs) See, we all understood each other. (audience laughs) Unfortunately, that piece
didn't make it to TV. - That is hilarious. That is the most honest
laugh I've heard all day. You got a lot of dishonest laughter. I'm just kidding. Kidding, kidding. - "Some people are saying
he's a nebbishy hipster." (audience l
aughs) - But give us a sense of like how you break down those stereotypes. And you really just are unafraid. - Oh, I don't break them
down, I embrace them. I mean, I'm all about the STEM. I want all my kids to be doctors. My daughter is actually a gifted writer. She has a Best of New York Times essay, but I killed that because we need doctors. (audience laughs) - [Alex] We don't. - No, we do. Alex. - It's a terrible job. My dad's a doctor, my mom's a lawyer. (audience laughs) Shut up, shut up! J
ust shut up! You know what? I hate to be serious for a second, but like, I really don't like stereotypes. I'm very annoyed at like, you know... I think Jewish comedy needs
to sort of kill its past in order to have a better future. Like, I think the shtick of
our parents and grandparents and a lot of you in the audience that I'm looking at right now, I think the sort of like
Catskills comedy that we liked is bad and passe. And I think it'd be nice to see people talk about what it means to be Jewi
sh instead of like, "Ashkenazis are like this,
Sephardis are like this," even though that's
hilarious and that's Modi. Who's like the funniest
comic on the planet and my role model and like a huge, huge influence on me. But I wanna see more introspective comedy. 'Cause like, I don't know anyone
who wants their kids to be, I'm gonna say this and you
guys will be like, "Mmh?" But I don't know anyone who wants their kids to be
like a doctor or a lawyer. - [Juju] I think you're
sitting next to one.
- Please, Ganesh, I didn't say that. This is him. Your dad's a doctor, your mom's a lawyer. That's why you could be a comic. (audience laughs) - Yeah! Absolutely. Fantastic. - Shout out to every doctor, lawyer, every computer person who did the job that was so hard to do so the kids today are like growing up. Even my daughter, she's like... - You think our kids are
gonna be less creative? I would never allow it. If my kid was like, "Dad,
I wanna be a doctor," I'd be like, "No son of
mine is gonn
a be a doctor! "You're gonna be a ballerina like me "or a traveler like your mom!" - Who knew that the comedy segment would turn into "Crossfire"? What's happening? But honestly, Zarna, let's talk a little bit about, you said, you know, the
clip didn't make it for TV. Where are the boundaries? Is there any place you don't go? What is it that's funny or not funny, inappropriate or not appropriate? - The thing is that no one knows. So you have to just use your best judgment and do what you believe
is right. Because no one knows. I mean, I have a 65-minute special on Amazon Prime right now, and I have jokes about
everything in there. My mother-in-law, which (grunts) We're not gonna go there. But you guys can watch it for free if you have a Prime account. - I think Korean Americans
and Jewish Americans know a thing or two about mother-in-laws. - Right, you know what I... So I have jokes about everything. I have jokes about. - Everyone knows the thing about mothers, it's not like... - [Juju
] But that's the point, isn't it? It's universal. Like you make fun of your thing, but everybody has that thing. - But here's the unexpected part. I have jokes about everything. I have jokes about abortion, gun control. I thought I would get in
trouble for those jokes. I was pushing the boundaries. No one cared. No one cared about any of those jokes. It was a joke about my son's height that got me in trouble, that got me all kinds of hate. - He goes from the river to the sea. Sorry, Zarna. (audi
ence laughs) - See, there's a way to connect it all. - I'm asking myself,
"Should I be laughing?" - No, so the joke is that the
best news I got in my family, which is actually true, is that my 17-year-old son is now five foot eight
and a quarter inches tall. Like isn't that amazing? To, us this is great
news to Indian people. Like my husband and I
are both short people. We used to pray to God that
our son should be tall. You know, but it turns out that there is no Hindu god of height. (audience
laughs) 19,000 gods and not one for the thing every Indian person needs. I mean, what good is it
having all these extra arms if you can't reach anything anyway? (audience applauds) - Very good, very good. Alex, you're gonna ask
me for the citation, but I also read somewhere that you see your show as a living, evolving sort of storyline. So in a moment of seriousness, you talk in your show about antisemitism, about what it means to be a Jew. How has that evolved over time and obviously specifical
ly
after October 7th and the rise of so much antisemitism? - Well... Wait, what happened? No, I'm just kidding. I honestly think that the... Look, I think to Zarna's point, you can talk about
anything, and you should. Comedians should be
talking about the things that are on people's minds. They should be addressing, they should be giving comedy that is conversant with
the moment that it's in, but also an escape from it. Like right after October 7th, we had shows in San Francisco, and someone sen
t me a
message or a comment saying, "I'm gonna come to San
Francisco on October 28th "and behead you in front
of your Zionist buddies." And I was like, well, the
shows end on the 27th. Like, I'm not gonna stay. (audience laughs) But I called my producer
Jenny, Jenny Gerson, and I was like, "Jenny,
should we cancel these shows?" And I spoke to Modi, I spoke to Elon Gold, other comics I love and respect. We decided to do the shows. And it felt different. Look, you mount plays. There's a play I saw
last night at the Public called "The Ally," which is conversant with the
moment that we're in right now. And it was written years ago. And so like... I think that. - [Juju] But apparently
the ending's changed. - I didn't know that. But I think art in general, and in comedy, if you want to call it art, I know you probably
consider it a distraction, but like I think it should, I think it should be conversant with the moment that it's in. And I added a couple lines to the show. I open the show now
with, I say, when I was in high school, I saw John Updike, famous
novelist, give a talk. And John Updike said, "If you're lucky, at
one point in your life, "the work that you write will
find itself in conversation "with the times in which you live." And then I go, "Well, call me Mr. Lucky!" (Juju laughs) - It's fascinating to see how you are tackling
a lot of these issues. You poke fun at the orthodox community, at the secular community, at every community out there. So I think that's really im
portant. Zarna, you're out there opening for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. You have a podcast. You've got all sorts going on. (audience applauds) I've listened to episodes on matchmaking, and there may be a yenta
or two in the audience, but I've now learned that yenta is not actually
the word for matchmaker. It's shadchan, just so we know. - Don't you dare. It's shadchan, right? - Shadchan? Okay, so now we know. But, anyway, tell me about
sort of how you go about and pick these family
themes for you
r podcast. You've gotten them involved? You wanna poll the audience? - What? I'm trying to remember
if it's shadchan or... - [Audience] Shadchan! - Shadchan, that's right. - Shadchan, thank you. Thank you so much. This is our audience
participation part of the panel. But how do you pick the family themes and the issues that you delve into? - So, first of all, it was very easy to get them all involved because I realized, I was like, "Why am I
the only one working?" (audience laughs) The kids shou
ld be working. It's comedy, it's making videos, and, you know, stuff that kids do anyway. And no bar is low enough in our family. If something is gonna track,
we're gonna talk about it. But it came from a space
of talking about things that brown families don't talk about. And I thought our family was the only family that
had kids, teens and above, who had never talked about sex. So our first episode is
called "The Sex Talk," where my husband and I asked the kids what they know about sex. - [Alex
] Oh my god. - Right? And I thought we were the only family that had never talked about it. It turns out no one's talking about sex. So it was like a revelation. And in an episode where I have my 20-year-old and my 17-year-old and my 11-year-old, I thought it would be the older two who would have something to say. It was actually my 11-year-old who was like, "I've kissed a girl." (audience laughs) - But, you know, it came from that space of opening up conversations that don't really happen
in br
own families, and now, we are discovering,
in any families. - I went to a yeshiva, and they didn't tell us
we were gonna have sex ed. They just one day went, "You're getting new schedules." And where there used to be history, it just said Sex with the Rabbi. (audience laughs) I was like, "Every Tuesday?" (audience laughs) And I had ADHD, so I get time and a half on everything. (audience laughs) - Alex, you talked... I literally keep asking myself, "Can I laugh at this?" You talked about sort of
rebranding Jewish humor, and yet you have been referred to as like a generational
talent by some of the greats. I mean, like, I don't know
if you guys know this, but like Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal come to his show, go
backstage, give him notes, which he then has co-opted into his show. Norman Lear, Mel Brooks, they've all sort of lauded praise on you. (audience applauds) But, you know, think about it, there's a tradition of
"The Producers," right? Max Bialystok making fun of
like "Springtime
for Hitler." I'd be curious how you think Jewish humor, the history of it, I'm sure you've given thought to this, and where does it go to? - I think that, first of all, when you consider some of those... By the way, when those
guys came to the show, I kept thinking like, "How did anyone ever shoot Abe Lincoln?" Because everyone was
watching them watch the show. Like no one was watching the show. They were watching them. Wasn't every scene in that play, someone was like, "What
does Lincoln think
of that?" But, yeah, all these guys. (audience laughs) I didn't realize that it was like... Okay, we won't... Sorry, focus, I have to
answer your question, yes. It was like the most famous
actor's brother shot Lincoln. It's like if Emilio Estevez
shot the prez, it's crazy. All right, fine. What was the question? (audience laughs) About the famous comedians. Yeah, famous comics coming to the show. - And the evolution and the tradition. It's in there. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, it's amazing. I thi
nk, not to generalize
about Jewish culture, but I grew up in a very
teacher-focused environment. And so my heroes and idols and people like Norman and Mel Brooks, and those guys mean a lot to me. And you learn really
valuable lessons from them. But if you think about how
daring that comedy was, like "Springtime," I'm sorry, "The Producers" came out in like 1966. Holocaust survivors were in their 20s, in their 30s, in their 40s. They were hearing jokes
about the Holocaust that were like front and
center. There were like Heil Hitlers on their screens, on their stages. And I think that level of daring is something that is
really, really important. It was daring, but it was kind. And like, people often mistake, they go, "Oh, comedy has to be funny." I think that's kind of true, but like, my favorite jokes, I think my favorite joke isn't very funny. Like my favorite jokes, yeah, probably my three
or four favorite jokes aren't very funny. - [Juju] What's your favorite joke? - All right, so t
his guy dies. I'll tell you the short... This guy dies, he goes to heaven, and he's waiting in
line for frozen yogurt. And he looks to his right and God's there, and he's like, "Oh, God." God's like, "Hi, Mark." And he's like, "Oh, thanks so much. "Life, really cool, "the deer and the fjords. "Thank you so much, big fan." And God's like, "Yeah,
yeah, yeah, no problem." And so they're waiting in line, and it's like a hold up at the front. And the guy says, "God," and God's like, "Yeah, man." And
he said, "Do you want to hear a joke?" And God's like, "Oh sure, I love jokes." And the guy tells God a Holocaust joke. And God says, "Well, I have to tell you, "I don't find that joke funny at all." And the guy goes, "Well, guess you had to be there, huh?" (audience gasps) And, see, that gets that reaction. No, no, no that gets that
reaction in every room. But there isn't a single
person who wouldn't be like, "That's a great joke." Like, that joke makes a beautiful
point in a beautiful way, and
occasionally one out
of every thousand people laughs at that. And if I ever meet the right person, I'll marry that person. But like, yeah. (audience laughs) I think Jewish comedy has always made really important points. Going back to like Isaac Bashevis Singer, going back to... Like there are great Jewish novelists, great Jewish writers. Norman, Mel. Man, I miss Norman. - Yeah. - Oh God. He would always say... I'm sorry I interrupted you. - No, no, no. I do wonder though about this evolution of
Jewish comedy that
you're talking about. How does it evolve from the... - Shticky hacks?
- From the shticky hacks? - I think it's focused on like what it meant to be
Jewish in the '60's and '70s, as this conference is kind of... A lot of the conversations in
this conference has been about is a different existence
than Jews have now. We live different lives. Jews in America occupy a
different place than we did, a more complicated place, a really difficult place to understand. Like we have differ
ent
types of antisemitism. We have the we wanna wipe them
all out perm-antisemitism, but we also have the, "It's okay to be Jewish "as long as you're not in any way "actually considering
Judaism an animating force," the sort of Hanukkah antisemitism. Like our lives are different lives. And I think addressing the complexity and nuance of that experience. People say like, "Oh, you
can't say anything now." You can say pretty much anything on stage. You can get away with
pretty much anything, provid
ed you show your work, provided people understand
the point that you're making. And we need more nuanced,
complicated comedy to talk about the more
nuanced, complicated times that we are living in. (audience applauds) Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. I really do appreciate. - The clock is our enemy, but I wanna give you
the final word, Zarna. You know, we talk from this stage a lot about uncomfortable conversations. Sometimes your comedy
makes people uncomfortable. How do you think about tha
t? - Some people are saying sometimes your comedy
makes people uncomfortable. (audience laughs) - Well, I just wanted to actually answer the question you asked, Alex, about how Jewish comedy is evolving. And I will tell you that
my entire comedy career would not exist without
Jewish women in comedy. (audience applauds) Teaching me that it's okay to trash my mother-in-law on stage is one evolution that, you know, you may not have seen coming. And now I'm doing it on a global scale. (audience laug
hs) - Well, thank you both
for joining us today, for sharing your laughter and comedy. Yes? I don't wanna bury any thoughts from you. - No, no, no. Look. You're not gonna say who said
the nebbishy hipster thing. It's totally fine. - He's not fixated at all. - You're just saying Woody
Allen before all the stuff. Like that's the type of thing. - Thank you both for joining us. Thank you for being here. Enjoy. You're hilarious, you're great. (audience applauds) - I think we should follow her. - Than
k you to Alex Edelman and Zarna Garg for joining Juju for their
dive into comedy and identity. Their insights showed the
serious impact of humor. Coming up next is a fascinating panel about the inescapable
impact of social media and the role of content creators
in fighting hate in 2024. We have an unbelievable group
of experts here on stage, each with a social media audience, literally, no exaggeration, of millions. And I am so eager to hear
what they have to say about how influencers can and sh
ould leverage their platforms
to fight antisemitism and reach audiences who
may not be listening to traditional, mainstream voices on topics like extremism
and the Middle East. Please welcome the host of this discussion we are calling, "To Post or Not Post?" Eitan Bernath, an award-winning chef, author, and TV personality, as well as social media
activist Montana Tucker and Hen Mazzig, an author and the founder of the Tel Aviv Institute. Each of these experts is
already making such a difference
in fighting hate for good as they influence their
millions of followers. Please welcome to the stage
Eitan, Montana, and Hen. (audience applauds) (upbeat music) - A fun time to be Jewish on the internet, and we do this professionally. It's a hard act to follow, but I feel like we have a
well-lubricated audience. We are here today to talk about
being Jews on the internet. It's never been a greater time and a more challenging time to be a Jew on the internet. And so we have two incredible
friends,
incredible Jews, incredible activists in front of us with, you know, combined
over 25 million followers, reach billions of people around the world. Let's do a little round of introductions, in case any of you live under a rock. Montana, do you wanna kick us off? - No, my gosh. Hi, everyone, this is
incredible to see you all here. Wow, this is amazing. Thank you, ADL, for putting
this on and for having us. My name is Montana Tucker. I am a singer, dancer, actress,
and social media activist, and
I have never been
more proud to be a Jew. (audience applauds) - Thank you so much, Eitan. My name is Hen Mazzig. I'm an author. (audience applauds) Thank you. I'm not as talented as these two. I don't know how to cook or to dance, but I do know how to create
content about Jews and Israel. - Amazing. (audience applauds) My name is Eitan Bernath. I'll be moderating this panel. I am a chef, author, and activist. You may have seen some of my
cooking videos on the internet. I also work on CBS on
"The
Drew Barrymore Show" as Principal Culinary Contributor, and am a very proud
Jew, big fan of the ADL. And let's just kick this off. So I want us to back up a little bit. You know, I feel like October 7th is a date that feels, reminds me also of like COVID. There was like life before and life after. Let's back up to October 6th, the days before life is as we know it. You know, how did you
each use social media? Was being Jewish a big part
of your social media presence? Let's start with that. - Ye
ah, so before October 7th, a year ago, I actually created a docuseries, a Holocaust educational docuseries called "How to Never Forget." Both of my grandparents
are Holocaust survivors. And before that, I
actually grew my platforms from dancing, from singing, from acting. And my name is Montana Tucker, I know it's not the most
Jewish-sounding name. So a lot of my followers may have not known that I was Jewish. I would post every so often. And when I did my Holocaust
educational series, it defini
tely was a
shock to a lot of people that didn't know. They also didn't follow me
for that type of content. So that was a year ago
when I released that. And then since October 7th, of course, I've pretty much taken
over my social media. It's really hard to do anything else. I feel like all of us in this room could probably relate to that, whether it's on social
media or in real life. But I have used what I love to do to inspire others, hopefully. I've been to Israel, I went in December. I actuall
y did a flash mob of over a hundred dancers in Israel, all Israeli dancers. And, you know, everyone's been going
through so much over there. So to be able to bring some joy through dance during this time. It's hard to imagine
life before October 7th. It really is. I feel like we're all forever changed, and anything before. Just like it's hard to
imagine life before COVID, it really is hard to imagine
life before October 7th, and I think we're all changed forever. - Yeah, absolutely. (audience ap
plauds) I think that October
7th was really a moment that a lot of us felt that
we need to change the way we're doing social media. But even before then, my organization, the Tel Aviv Institute, has been working with Jewish
social media influencers that are not as open about their
Jewish identity as Montana, which I get because it's scary. But to help empower them speak up about their identity, in a way that fits their audience. What Montana is doing brilliantly is, you know, she's going to
doin
g a flash mob in Israel. This is what her audience is
coming for her platform for, and they're actually connecting with you, and you're meeting
people where they're at. And that's why I think it's so powerful. And the same for you, Eitan. I think this sort of work
that you take your strength and you're playing to your strength and to the audience and what
they want to get from you and bringing in Israel, bring in your Jewish identity,
speaking up about it, is the most powerful thing we can do. A
nd that's what we've
done before October 7th. And I mean, I think a
lot of it has changed, but the commitment of the Jewish people is what hasn't changed. I think people that have
spoken up before speak up now, and a lot more people
speaking up more loudly. But I think that's the one thing that I'm so proud of
seeing Jews speaking up. - Yeah, no, it's truly
been incredible, I think. Since October 7th, there
has been, of course, a lot of grief and hardship and pain amongst the Jewish community. B
ut I think the most
beautiful thing since then and something that keeps me going, and I'm sure it keeps many
of you in the audience, you know, waking up every day is the unity among the Jewish people. You know, people who maybe didn't have as much Jewish life in their life are now embracing going to Shabbat meals, going to synagogue,
speaking about being Jewish. And that's been truly incredible. You know, I talked about it initially when we walked out here, it's quite a time to be
a Jew on the i
nternet. We do it professionally all day long. And I wanna hear from each
of you, your experience, how you've been navigating
being a Jew online speaking, A, about antisemitism, speaking about October 7th, speaking as a proud Zionist and supporter of the state
of Israel and its existence. You know, it's never been uncommon to receive threats and hate for being Jewish on the internet, but since October 7th, there's been a tsunami of it. I know speaking for myself, I've received more death threats
than I've ever seen in my life. I've had to hire security, there were periods of time when I was getting so many
specific death threats of, you know, "I will find you "in New York City and kill you. "I know where you live." Et cetera, et cetera. How have you been navigating that, and have you had to change anything about your life, your platform since then? - Absolutely. I think that when I released my series, I definitely received
hate of people saying, "The Holocaust never existed," or, "Your
grandparents should have died, "and we're not gonna stop until you die." That was, you know, a year ago. And then since October 7th, I mean, in the first two weeks after, I lost like 60,000, 50 or 60,000 followers on Instagram. I'm like, "Thank you." If you're gonna unfollow
me because of this, I don't want you at all. That's for sure. (audience applauds) But the messages, I mean, thankfully nothing has happened in person. It's really all been online. But the messages that
these people are send
ing that people have so much
hate inside of them. This has been there, this is not new. A lot of it might be new from people just following along with the trend of hating Jews right now. - I don't know that it's new, but I think it's now people aren't afraid
to voice those things. It's become acceptable. - It's popular. It's literally popular to be against Jews and against Israel. That's what's popular, that's what's trending on the platforms. As we know, the popular hashtags on TikTok were, "Hi
tler Was Right," were, "Osama Bin Laden," were, you know,
anti-Israel, anti-Zionists, whatever these hashtags, they're literally trending and popular. And so kids that don't even know better, don't even know anything
about the conflict or anything going on, or about the Holocaust even, just see a video that
has 10 million views, see that it's trending and popular, and they wanna be popular too. So they're just following
along with the trend. But the messages I've received, people have called me
Hitler. Myself, me, the individual person, with the work I'm doing, apparently I am Hitler myself. What really gets to me is when they talk about my grandparents. They can talk about me all
day long, I don't care. But when they directly
talk about my grandparents, it affects me. But also the DMs, the positive messages that
I'm sure all of us in here, I can only imagine what both
of you guys get as well. I think that's what keeps
us all going, right? We can get hate messages all day long, but fro
m the Jews around the world, because of social media, we can reach people all around the world. It's not just in the
U.S., not just in Israel. We're reaching people
all around the world. So to have people message us and thank us for the work that we're doing from my one-minute video or your graphics that you're posting or whatever you're posting, like that, I think, is what
fuels us and keeps us going, knowing that we are making an impact. And, you know, you never
know who you're gonna reach wit
h that piece of content. - Yeah, very, very true. And now, Hen, you do an incredible job at providing information that's
digestible for the masses. You know, many public
figures share your posts. I would love to hear how
in this period of time when it feels like factual information is far and few between on the internet, how do you navigate providing fact-based
information to people, to the masses in a digestible way that can, you know, be
absorbed by the reader when they're just scrolling on In
stagram? - Yeah, I'm trying to
always lead with kindness, to always see the humanity. Even if I speak about horrific stories, to find a way to make it
digestible for people to share. And, you know, we were talking about what
happened after October 7th. I've seen all of it. I've been doing this work speaking about Israel and
antisemitism and Jewish identity for over a decade now. And I've heard all those lies. I've heard the term genocide
being thrown years ago. I even heard this, you heard durin
g December where they said that
Jesus was a Palestinian. You've heard that. I never thought I'm going
to have to fight for Jesus. (audience laughs) I had to do what I had to do. And, I mean, just to think of how clever this sort of rhetoric is, because instead of
saying Jews killed Jesus, which we all know it's taboo and something that you can't
say 'cause it's antisemitic, instead, we can say that
Jesus was a Palestinian, and we all know who's
killing Palestinians today. So the Jewish state is
actually killing Jesus. So to create such sophisticated
antisemitic propaganda has been a process that
has gone on for years. And the way that we have to combat it is not by playing in this level. And one of my commanders in the army, when I served as a
humanitarian officer in Gaza working on providing
humanitarian aid to Palestinians, I remember him telling
me how important it is that, when we fight a war in Gaza, that we're not fighting the
way that Hamas is fighting because we are not like th
em. And when you fight a monster, you have to make sure that
you're not turning into one. (audience applauds) - Yeah, and, you know, on
these platforms right now, there seems to just be a complete failure of the systems in place that are meant to protect people online, specifically right now
the Jewish community. Whether that's the threats we're receiving or just the misinformation
that's allowed on the platforms. Whether it's videos claiming just absolutely absurd, absurd
pieces of false inform
ation. We were part of a letter that was published a few months back, a Dear TikTok letter calling out TikTok for the
just complete lack of support for the Jewish community and the allowance of such hate and vitriol and awful things written about Jews and misinformation out there. How, Montana, have you seen the platforms fail Jewish creators? I think it's important to know 'cause if if this can happen to us, it can happen to any
other group of people. And that's why it's so important. If these
platforms can fail us, it can happen to truly anyone. - Absolutely. I think TikTok specifically, it's such a shame that this is happening. I mean, when I started TikTok, TikTok is my biggest platform, I have over 9 million followers on there, and I'm so grateful, and it's been a huge part of my career. And TikTok used to be this place where anything goes, anyone is accepted, no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from. If you're a little kid
in your bedroom dancing, you can wake
up the next morning, and you can have 20 million views. Like it was such a beautiful platform. And on your For You page, you'd always come across different races, different ethnicities, like anything was accepted
and actually promoted. The more different and unique you were, the more you were
promoted on the platform. And to see what has
happened after October 7th is so upsetting. And we've been on all these calls with TikTok and with these platforms, and everyone just kind of acts like they don
't know what's going on. Like, "We're not doing anything." But it's been really, really upsetting. It's also with their comment filters and all the things that
they're trying to put in place. Even if you block words, if someone just spells the
word a little bit differently, it gets on there. It's not being shown to
people on the For You page or to the proper people. All these different algorithms and things. And it's upsetting
because this is something that we've all built such
like careers that
we love and we're proud of on these platforms, and we wanna be able to
get to people on there, and we want people to be able
to see this type of content. And nothing that any of us are posting is going against anyone. It's really to show what's
going on, to show facts. For me specifically, it's to share personal stories of what is going on right now, whether it was my
grandparents' Holocaust story or survivors of October 7th, or going to Israel. And it's really to humanize
all these individual
stories, yet we're being attacked, and our content's either not being shown or it's being shown to
all the wrong people. So it's really upsetting, but we're all still fighting and trying and doing the best we can, and we're not gonna stop posting. - Yes, clap to that. (audience applauds) I think right around when we published the Dear TikTok letter, there were some that were like, "Just stop posting on TikTok." But if there's no Jewish loud voices on TikTok, on these platforms, if we don't fight
for ourselves,
who will fight for us? And so that is, thank you. (audience applauds) That is so important, and for us to keep putting
pressure on these platforms. Under U.S. law, they're not
responsible, these platforms, for what is put on them, the content distributed on
them, what people write. And so there's very little incentive to do anything beyond just
what will get Congress to not try to pass new laws, just enough to keep it out of the press. That's all they really need to do. - Just to
add to it, I feel like in the Jewish community, we often go between either
burn down whoever is failing us to trying to fix it, which you are fixers. And I think we need to focus
on that as a community. We can't give up on academic institutions because they've failed us. We can't give up on
international institutions. We have to be there. You have to be at the table if you want to make a difference. It's something that every
Jew knows for so long. (audience applauds) So it's really important no
t to give up and keep on pushing ourself forward because no one is gonna do it for us. Those companies, they don't really care. I'm sorry, they care about money. At the end of the day, if their stock is going to cost more, that's going to make them happy. But I think it's up to us, and if you're afraid
that we are outnumbered, let me tell you about
Jewish history, okay? (audience applauds) - Now in our last few minutes, I want to speak about the positive things that have come out of the last few
months. The Jewish unity, of course, and also being able to use our platforms for Jewish advocacy in ways we've never seen before. Now, Montana, you have an incredible story I want you to share about
happened to you at the Grammys. Montana, I don't know
if you saw this photo, Montana wore an incredible
dress to the Grammys and truly turned that opportunity that you got from your work unrelated to being a Jewish advocate and used that opportunity, that platform, to advocate for the Jewish people
. So can you tell this brief story? It's incredible. - Yes. As an artist, being invited to the Grammys is like, there's nothing bigger, right, to go to the Grammys. And so when I got invited, I freaked out, obviously, 'cause I couldn't believe I was invited. And then of course immediately I was like, "Okay, what can I do? "I gotta do something." And I know going around
with all the award shows was the yellow pin, which I know a lot of
us in here are wearing, which is amazing. And I knew maybe so
me
people would wear it, maybe not for the other shows. I didn't see that many wearing it. Like maybe like two for the other shows. So of course I was like, "No, I gotta have a massive yellow ribbon "so that no one can miss it "and it's in everyone's face." (audience applauds) Thank you. But I never get nervous. Like I can speak in front of
300,000 people and be great. I never get nervous. But going there was like, right as I walked up to the carpet, I was like, "Okay, this is happening. "Like I
'm doing this and I'm
by myself and I'm gonna do it." And I did it. And then afterwards I actually had someone from the Recording Academy
come up to me saying, "Okay, did you get all your content?" Like kind of trying to
rush me off the carpet. And basically she said
that comms came to her and had a problem with my dress and said it was too political and they were really upset about my dress. And I was like, "That's so interesting. "It's actually not political at all. "Are you aware of what the
yellow ribbon stands for?" And then her face got all nervous and she's like, "Okay,
well, can you take it off? "Like, is it possible
to remove the ribbon?" And I'm like, "It's sewn onto my dress. "Like we're on the red carpet. "Like, no. "And also I would never take it off." And she's like, "Okay,
you can go out there, "but we're not gonna be able
to share any of your content." So the Recording Academy
wouldn't share any of my content. So I was kind of freaking out. I went back out, and
then two
minutes later, Harvey Mason, Jr. who I think
is absolutely incredible, I hope he is continuing to
get the praise he deserves, gave his amazing speech. But before that, I know
he was giving the speech, and he came up to me and he goes, "Wow, I love your dress. "It's amazing, thank you for wearing that. "Can we take a picture?" And I was like, "Oh my gosh." Harvey Mason, Jr., you guys, he's the head of the Recording Academy, in case anyone doesn't know. But, anyway, and I honestly
didn't post any
thing yet. And then I sat in my seat, and all of a sudden
everything kind of blew up. And the most amazing messages to me were from the hostage families that reached out to me who
I've kept in contact with 'cause I've met so many of them. And they were just so thankful. (audience applauds) - Truly, truly such an incredible
way to use your platform. - I tried to make it short. - No, it's an incredible story. Deserves its time. Hen, would love to hear from you. What motivates you to not stop talki
ng about fighting antisemitism? You know, it can be hard
to wake up every day, you know, combating
antisemitism and Jew hatred. It's not always the most sexy topic. What gets you motivated, no matter what you have in
your DMs, to keep going? - I'm doing everything
I do for my ancestors, for my grandparents. They came to Israel from Iraq and Tunisia. They came with nothing but
the clothes on their backs. And when they came to
Israel, they had hope, and they wanted a better
future for their kids.
They were chased by
antisemites in those countries, and I'll be damned if I let antisemites make anyone feel like my grandparents did. And that's why I keep talking, and that's why I keep sharing. (audience applauds) - I like to say, I don't know who came up this quote, but I like to say that I love being Jewish more than anyone hates me for it. And that's what keeps me motivated. - Absolutely.
- It's a great quote. - And I think to add on that too, it's like with our
ancestors, my grandparents,
they had to hide being Jewish
or they had to run away. We now, everyone in this
room is a powerful Jew, and we don't have to stay silent. We don't have to hide, and we have the opportunity to speak out, to make a difference, and that's why we have to keep doing it. Whether it's on social media, whether it's in the school systems, whether it's to Congress, whatever it is. 'Cause I know there are so many different types of people in here and different ages. We all have the opportunity
to continue
making an impact. And, like you said, I feel like the Jewish
community has come together in a way I've personally never seen before in my entire life. And I think it's really motivating to all of us to keep going. - Yeah, it's incredibly inspiring. - Also just one more point on that because I think it's important. Being Jewish is the coolest thing ever. It's the most punk thing you can do. I just want to make sure because I feel like people
are almost ashamed of it or feeling like we need to be
... I mean, to be a populist is
being an antisemite today. So if you're not an antisemite, if you're Jewish, if
you stand up for Jews, you're the coolest person, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And just, you know, speak up because, I think, we're
looking at our history, we're looking at our ancestors, we're looking at the people in Masada, we're looking at the Jews in
the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, we're looking at those Jewish heroes that did not let
antisemites win against us. And I'm lo
oking at all of you today, and you are all the heroes that one day people will look back at us and will see you standing up, and that will empower them the way our ancestors empower us. (audience applauds) - Incredible. I think that kind of touches on the last point I want to discuss. For the three of us, we are able to reach millions
of people about our work, about combating antisemitism,
about Jewish advocacy, but I truly believe that the work we do is
extremely important. But the most importa
nt work are the one-on-one conversations, the work that, whether
you in this audience have 10 followers on Instagram, just have a few friends at
the office who aren't Jewish or who don't know about
what's going on in Israel, that is the important work. And at times like now, we could feel very powerless. I remember after October 7th, I was saying, I was like, "I just feel so powerless right now." And I think the most incredible part of, you know, social media has
a lot of good, a lot of bad, but
I think the most
incredible thing right now is that each and every person
can really use their platform. Whether that's to tons of people online, to their neighbors, their friends, the people they see at their coffee shop. What, very briefly
before we head off stage, what can each person in this audience do to make a difference in
their own little way? - Well, I think based off of that, it doesn't matter if you have one follower or 1 million followers. Before I did my docuseries, I honestly tho
ught it was
probably not gonna do well. But I said, "You know what, "if one person is impacted by it, "you never know the ripple
effect that that has, right?" What can happen from that
one person seeing your video or that one conversation? That person's whole entire
life could potentially change. I know that sounds crazy, but their whole entire life and all the people they
impact in their life will be changed from that conversation, from that piece of content. So the followers are amazing becaus
e we are reaching a bunch of different types of people, but your individual conversations, your individual postings, whether it's to your 10 followers, it's so important to keep going. Because truly the ripple effect, I think, is what is most important in this because it's our generation, it's our future generations, and we're all doing this like,
I feel like, a lot of us, for our ancestors, for our family that wasn't able to speak up back then. That's such a good point is that, it doesn't matte
r
how many followers you have, like you don't know the ripple effect and what can happen from it. (audience applauds) - Just to add on this, I think speaking up and being proud is what every other marginalized community have been doing for a long time. And we have to do it. We have to lead with kindness. We have to humanize and resist dehumanization of Palestinians, just like we resist
dehumanization of Israelis. This is not going to contribute
to anyone or to peace. So we cannot allow that. (au
dience applauds) But speak up, be proud. Don't let anyone tell you
to be ashamed of yourself, and remember that being
Jewish and alive today is magic, it's a miracle,
it's nothing short of it. (audience applauds) - Incredible. Well, thank you two so much for this incredible conversation. This is so important to be discussed, and I think that it's truly
everyone's job as a Jew to do their part in fighting
for the Jewish people and, you know, doing it, whether it's for our ancestors or for our gra
ndkids one day so they can say, "Oh, hey, my grandparents
fought their fight." That's truly important. Thank you all so, so much. Thank you to the ADL for having us at this incredible conference in this ginormous room among all of you. Thank you, Jonathan
Greenblatt, for your leadership and for trusting us to share our stories. - Thank you all so much. Am Yisrael Chai! Woo! Thank you! (audience applauds) - Wow, the future's safe. Thank you, Eitan, Montana, and Hen. I know we're all getting hungr
y. I've seen the box lunches,
they look delicious. Now we're gonna pivot
with some breaking news. As a result of ADL's advocacy efforts, we have an exciting announcement from two bipartisan leaders on how Congress will work
with ADL to fight hate crimes. - Hello, I'm Congressman Don Beyer, and I represent Northern Virginia's 8th
Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. - And I'm Don Bacon, representing Nebraska's 2nd District. We're honored to have the opportunity to speak to
you at your
Never Is Now summit and stand firmly with you in
fight against antisemitism. - Look, the data is clear. We've seen an alarming increase in antisemitic rhetoric and threats in the U.S. and around the world. According to the FBI, more than half of all
religious bias crimes in 2022 were motivated by antisemitism. - And that hate is still rising. Tragically, experts expect to see record numbers of antisemitic
incidents in the 2023 data that the FBI will release later this year. - As a n
ation and a Congress, we must unequivocally reject
hatred in all its forms, including through legislation that can make a real difference in ensuring safety and
security of Jewish Americans. - Congress must be clear that
there is no place for violence or other hatred directed
towards the Jewish people and communities anywhere in our country. That's why we're introducing
bipartisan legislation to better tackle antisemitic incidents by improving reporting of bias incidents by law enforcement agenc
ies. - We need credible reporting in order to better prevent these attacks. Good data drives good policy, and we need a more comprehensive picture of the hate-driven incidents
facing our communities to ensure our policies are accurately addressing
this increasing threat. - Thank you again for the
opportunity to speak with you. We will continue to be your partner in the fight against antisemitism. (audience applauds) - This effort builds on
our decades-long leadership in confronting hate in all f
orms. And you can now text COMBAT, I'm the one who always
tells you what to text, COMBAT, C-O-M-B-A-T, to 72572, to contact your member of Congress to support this exciting new effort. Or visit the advocacy station, once the plenary
concludes, to take action. And now we are pleased
to present some remarks from none other than Secretary
Hillary Rodham Clinton. (audience applauds) - Hello, everyone. I wish I could join you in person at this year's Never Is Now Summit, but I couldn't, so I apprecia
te very much the invitation to send this message of appreciation to the Anti-Defamation League for all you are doing to
combat hate around the world and to say to everyone
attending in New York and online that the work of combating antisemitism is more urgent and important than ever. Like all of you, I was outraged by the horrific massacre of Israelis by Hamas on October 7th, the worst mass murder of
Jews since the Holocaust. And I am appalled by the
surge in antisemitism and attacks on Jewish
p
eople around the world that have followed, though I think it is important to say that antisemitism has been
on the rise for years now, predating October 7th. But just since October 7th, the ADL has reported a 360% increase in antisemitic incidents
in the United States. On college and university campuses, they have recorded a total
of 744 antisemitic incidents. To put that in perspective, there were 85 during the
same period last year. This rising current of antisemitism has manifested itself in
every part of society, academia, civic life, the halls of power, and especially across
social media platforms. The roots of this ancient hatred run deep, but it must end, and all of us have a role to play. Just a week ago, I was in Munich with
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the Special Envoy to Monitor
and Combat Antisemitism. We held a dialogue about
the rise of antisemitism and what a danger it
poses across our world because it coincides
with an increase in hate. The ambassador and I spoke at so
me length about what each of us has seen and what we must do to
stand up against it, speak out at every turn. That's why I'm grateful to all of you in the audience and online for joining this summit and uniting against antisemitism, and to the ADL for working so hard to create a world free from
all bigotry and violence. Combating hate is the
fight of our lifetimes, and I am honored to stand alongside you. Thank you very much. - [Moderator] Please welcome Chair of the ADL Board
of Directors, Ben
Sax. (upbeat music) - Thank you, Senator Clinton, for those powerful and inspiring words. Do you think she heard me? I don't think so. I just wanted to take a moment to look around this
room and say thank you. It's actually incredible the
group that we have here today. And you should continue to scroll. Thank you for taking the
time out of your busy lives to be here this week. Sorry. And thank you for asking questions and listening to the
answers with an open mind. Thank you for prioritizing
fig
hting antisemitism and hate and actively working to bring change. No matter who you are
or how you're involved, thank you so much for being here. When I stand up here
and I look at the room, it's just incredible. And so really give yourself some applause. It's amazing. (audience applauds) So each time we gather at
our Never Is Now conference, we learn, we connect, and
we commit to doing the work. It's the work that is meaningful, it's the work that is difficult, it's the work that makes a differ
ence. And what exactly is the work? To take what we've
learned at this conference into our work lives, our school lives, our personal lives, and help people come together. Under Jonathan's leadership and with the efforts of
ADL's incredible staff, and with our volunteer support, I have seen the organization thrive while facing levels of antisemitism that we have not seen for generations. We cannot ignore that we are
living in a moment of history where our nation is divided. We are dangerously po
larized, fueled by the unrelenting echo chambers of cable news and social media. And as some of us have learned
in the session focused on AI and perhaps the session
that just came before me, it's likely to get worse. And each one of us has a role to play in helping to heal and,
frankly, to find hope. My hope for the ADL is
that we can be a big tent where everyone is welcome. But we know big tents can
still house big disagreements. We are in an organization that acknowledges and supports the expe
riences of different identities, backgrounds, orientations, and faiths because we recognize
that all of us must do as much as we possibly can to combat hate and find hope in our communities. The test for being a
part of this organization is not about which side of
the political aisle you're on, whether you're Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, atheist, or something else. It's simply, are you willing
to fight hate and find hope? (audience applauds) That's it. If the answer is yes, then you have a home at
the ADL. The ADL big tent can and does have room for more people than you would expect. One current example has emerged since the October
7th massacre in Israel. Many who demonstrate
against Israel's war in Gaza make the mistake of equating
Israeli government policy with all Jews living in diaspora. As we have experienced, antisemitism against Jews in this country has spiked dramatically because of this. In this narrative, it seems as if somehow all Jews everywhere are responsible for innocent
l
ives being lost in Gaza. If you are a part of this community, the work is to help others understand that there is a difference, thereby deescalating the
tensions that have emerged in places like campuses
across our country. And if you can do that, you have a place in ADL's big tent. (audience applauds) Antisemitism spreads in so many ways. It's in a casual conversation, it's in our politics, it's all over social media. I remember when I was back in college, one of my fraternity brothers asked me
, "Oh, you're Jewish? "Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?" As Ambassador Deborah
Lipstadt said yesterday, "Anywhere antisemitism
is permitted to exist, "bad things follow." As we face antisemitism
from both the far left and the extreme right of
our political spectrum, we have the responsibility
to find the center, to bring everyone in. Not to push people out, to find hope. And we can do that through
our advocacy and action. For me, the best part of this week was seeing so many students
who traveled
to be here to learn and connect. And if you're in the room now, thank you for coming here. (audience applauds) I hope the lessons that
you all walk away with is that we do not need
to agree on everything, but we do need to listen, to solve problems by
confronting them head on directly but sensitively. It's not easy. But if we ask the tough questions and we find compromise, we do what Nuseir, or you
know him as Nas Daily, was talking about yesterday, we don't let conflict define our lives. We can
't be afraid to use what we believe and share it within our networks and discuss it with our friends. It's up to us. We can't wait for others to jump in. It needs to be the people in this room, and it needs to be now. (audience applauds) I think my mother is clapping
in the third row over there. (audience laughs) I am grateful to every one of you who took action against hate this week, and I thank you in advance for all of the good I know
that you're going to do when you return home. We are in t
his together, and that gives me great hope. Thank you very much. (audience applauds) - Thank you so much, Ben, for those thoughtful remarks in this challenging time, we all know. I know all of us who consider ourselves part of the ADL community are so appreciative of Ben's
leadership at this time. I don't know about you guys, but I laughed, I cried,
it was better than "Cats." I really enjoyed my time here, thank you. As we come to a close, we're gonna schmooze over lunch. I wanna direct most of
you out the doors. You'll be told where lunch is. ADL provided kosher lunch. For the high school and college students, you're being asked to stay in this room and continue to schmooze as well. And for those of us joining us online, there is no question about it, the world is definitely changing around us and is a very challenging time. Antisemitism, anti-Zionism,
hate on campus, hate online, extremism is seeping from the fringes
towards the mainstream, and divisions are increasing as we move tow
ards the crescendo
of this election cycle. It's daunting. But please remember, you're not alone. That's why you're here at Never Is Now. You've shown up, and showing up is half the battle. You've rejected the
misinformation, the disinformation, and the hostility and the extremism that's gaining traction in every corner. (audience applauds) - I can hear you all rustling. It's like after the sermon when everyone's trying
to get to the doors. So we need you to take these ideas, to take the connecti
ons
and the inspirations that you have gotten at Never Is Now, and bring them back to your communities. We need you to be leaders, to be the first voice to speak
up when others are silent. This is both the challenge
and the opportunity for all of us. The good news is that
ADL is in your corner, and they will stay vigilant in helping you to fight hate for good. When you need resources, you can go to adl.org
for their latest work. When you need help in dealing
with an antisemitic incident, you can
reach out to ADL and their regional offices for support. When you need advice on how to respond in the classroom, in city
hall, in a chat room, ADL is here, and you are not alone. If you'd like to express your support for ADL's work financially, please do it. Please pay it forward. Make a donation to adl.org on adl.org. You just click the Donate
button, it's very literal. Use the link in the app, or by scanning the QR code
in your printed program. On behalf of Juju Chang
and myself, Abby Pogreb
in, and from Jonathan Greenblatt who is our leader in all things, Ben Sax, and the entire incredible ADL professional and volunteer team and all the technical team behind, you cannot believe what
these folks have done. And to security, thank you to security. (audience applauds) Whether you're here,
whether you're online, we are with you. Go have lunch, and thank you.
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