The ADL certainly isn’t the final authority on this or any other matter, but they have a perspective that I think should be taken seriously. Here it is: enforce norms against antisemitism. That involves having some tolerance for those who disavow or condemn antisemitism even if they do something unfortunate in a moment of exuberance. In fact, the ADL has criticized the Grok AI chatbot as well as antisemitic comments by Musk; Musk has called ADL an anti-Christian hate group, so it’s not like they get along.
Here’s an analogy. In Japan you can clip years off your sentence if you break down in tears at trial and beg for mercy. So Yakuza members do that and are expected to do that.
Of course it’s fake. But it also removes a lot of the mystique from criminal behavior. Yakuza likes to tell itself that it’s the last redoubt of Samurai culture but the general consensus is that it is made up of losers.
If I denounce Nazi tattoos it doesn’t mean much. But if a prominent person with a tattoo removes it or covers it up with another tattoo, that takes a lot of the air out of the Nazi sails. So I’m sympathetic with this perspective by the Anti-Defamation League. In fact I’ll go out on a limb and maintain that they know a thing or two about opposing antisemitism.