The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a comprehensive report on Thursday documenting widespread exclusion and marginalization of Jewish and Israeli artists across multiple sectors of American cultural life. The initiative, titled “State of the Arts: Advancing Jewish Inclusion in Arts, Entertainment and Culture,” examines practices within art museums, the publishing industry, live performance venues, and activist networks.
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt described the findings as revealing a pervasive pattern of antisemitism and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli voices in the cultural sphere. “Jewish artists are being canceled, blacklisted and pushed out of American cultural life,” Greenblatt said, emphasizing the lack of prior documentation of the issue’s extent.
The report on museums, “Behind the Frame: A Quiet, Systemic Erasure in America’s Museums,” assessed 40 leading U.S. institutions on their policies, artist representation, and programming. Of those invited to review their findings, 20 participated. Only the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive attained a “gold standard” rating, while 12, including the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Broad, were rated “critically deficient.” Furthermore, just one museum recognized Jewish American Heritage Month in May 2026, despite 60% observing other heritage months concurrently.
In the publishing sector, the “Missing Chapter: Suppression of Jewish Voices in Publishing” report identified seven key anti-Jewish trends emerging since October 7, 2023. These include editorial pressure to remove Hebrew words, Israeli settings, and Jewish character names, as well as the designation of Jewish or Israeli-themed manuscripts as commercially risky. The research also found increased blacklisting and boycott campaigns targeting Jewish and Zionist authors on social media platforms such as BookTok and X. A viral spreadsheet circulated in May 2024 sorted authors by political affiliation, encouraging readers to boycott those labeled as Zionists. Additionally, a 2024 letter signed by over 1,000 writers called for a broad boycott of Israeli publishers, agencies, and literary festivals.
The publishing report also highlighted coordinated review-bombing campaigns on platforms like Goodreads, where negative ratings precede a book’s publication, damaging authors’ commercial viability based on identity or perceived politics rather than content. Authors reported difficulty securing or retaining literary agents who view Jewish or Zionist identity as too risky for the market.
The entertainment sector report, “Dark Stage: Jewish and Israeli Performers Are Being Canceled, Harassed and Silenced,” details 65 incidents across 41 U.S. locations where Jewish and Israeli artists faced harassment, event cancellations, and professional marginalization. Political protests have increasingly sought to exclude Jewish and Israeli performers through petitions, boycotts, and organized disruptions. Venues often cite safety concerns as grounds for canceling shows, even when no credible threat exists, contributing to informal cultural boycotts and lost bookings. Performers including comedian Judy Gold and singer-songwriter Regina Spektor faced onstage heckling and interruptions during shows in early 2026. The report also noted inconsistent responses from venues and organizers, which often leave artists bearing the consequences of controversy.
Accompanying the sector reports, the ADL Center on Extremism released findings on activist networks that pressure cultural institutions to isolate Jewish and Zionist creators through protests and blacklists. An online survey conducted in July 2026 of 951 U.S. adults found strong audience support for Jewish and Israeli artists: 88% expressed willingness to visit galleries showing Jewish art, 87% would attend performances by Jewish artists, and 84% would buy books featuring Jewish themes. Support for Israeli artists was similarly robust.
Despite this, a significant minority of respondents—32% regarding Jewish artists and 46% for Israeli artists—found it understandable that some people avoid cultural events featuring these groups. Eighty-five percent agreed that excluding Jewish individuals from cultural spaces contributes to anti-Jewish hate, with 72% expressing similar views about excluding Israelis.
ADL Vice President Shira Goodman noted a persistent disconnect between perceived market risks communicated to Jewish and Israeli authors and actual audience demand. She emphasized the importance of industry stakeholders explicitly acknowledging antisemitism and strengthening inclusion efforts.
The ADL urged museums, publishers, literary agents, and venue operators to incorporate explicit anti-antisemitism language into diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, recognize Jewish American Heritage Month alongside other commemorations, and resist campaigns seeking to exclude artists based on identity. The organization stressed that public data demonstrate substantial American support for Jewish and Israeli participation across artistic and cultural fields.