Anti-Defamation League Will Use Donald Trump's Donations To Fund Anti-Bullying Programs

"Our history, our faith and our values teach us that we cannot sit idly by when others are singled out for derision and when intolerance is fed."
The Anti-Defamation League plans to redirect donations made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The Anti-Defamation League plans to redirect donations made by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images

WASHINGTON -- Troubled by the hostility and intolerance brought about by Donald Trump this campaign season, the Anti-Defamation League has decided to use the Republican front-runner's past donations to fund new anti-bias and anti-bullying education programs.

"In the past decade or so, Mr. Trump and his foundation have contributed a total of $56,000 to our organization. These undoubtedly were sincere gifts," said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Jewish organization dedicated to fighting extremism.

"But in light of the recent campaign, we have decided to redirect the total amount of funds that he contributed to ADL over the years specifically into anti-bias education programs that address exactly the kind of stereotyping and scapegoating that have been injected into this political season," Greenblatt said.

Writing in Time, Greenblatt cited Trump's comments against Muslims and immigrants, as well as his tendency to promote violence at his rallies, as parts of the problem. He also called on other Jewish groups and philanthropies to redirect any money they received from the presidential candidate.

"[O]ur history, our faith and our values teach us that we cannot sit idly by when others are singled out for derision and when intolerance is fed," Greenblatt wrote.

Trump is in Washington, D.C., on Monday to deliver an address at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He is also meeting with top Republicans on Capitol Hill and holding a press conference at the site of his new hotel downtown. A group of rabbis plan to boycott Trump's speech to AIPAC, and protests are expected at each of his stops.

Late last year, Trump canceled a planned trip to Israel after the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, condemned his plan to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

Trump has said he's pro-Israel but "neutral" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a stance that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attacked in her speech to AIPAC on Monday morning.

"We need steady hands," Clinton said, "not a president who says he's neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday, and who knows what on Wednesday, because everything’s negotiable."

Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

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