Combat Antisemitism Movement

CAM describes itself as a nonpartisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations united across religions and faiths to end antisemitism.[9] Its founding pledge drew explicitly on the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and the definition's examples of behavior used to discriminate against Jews and the Jewish state of Israel.[10] Among the issues CAM identifies as central to its mission is opposition to efforts that deny the Jewish people's right to self-determination in Israel.[9]

The organization's advisory board has been chaired since 2021 by Natan Sharansky, who previously served as chair of the Jewish Agency's Executive from 2009 to 2018.[5] CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa has represented CAM publicly on issues including social-media policy and campus antisemitism.[11][12] Brig. Gen. (Res.) Sima Vaknin Gill is among the advisory board's other members.[1]

CAM describes its approach as combining policy work, high-level government engagement, civic efforts, grassroots activism, and direct contact with policymakers at every level, from town councils and state legislatures to national governments and the United Nations.[8] Named institutional efforts include the Global Coalition of Cities Fighting Antisemitism and collaborations with U.S. governors and state legislators. CAM also describes partnerships with Jewish and non-Jewish groups and interfaith engagement with Black communities, Christians, and Muslims.[8] Its About page reports a network of more than 850 interfaith organizations, more than five million activists, and 250 social-media influencers whose combined audience totals 260 million followers.[8] The organization says its innovation lab has nurtured more than 50 projects.[8]

CAM launched in February 2019 and was founded by Adam Beren, a Jewish philanthropist from Kansas who was described in 2024 as the organization's principal funder.[3] By December 2020, CAM reported that more than 300,000 individuals and more than 295 organizations had joined its coalition.[10] By June 2021, it reported 340,000 individuals and 330 organizations, and by January 2023 its reported coalition had grown to more than 600 partner organizations and nearly two million people.[2][4]

From its early years, CAM focused on promoting the IHRA working definition of antisemitism as a policy and educational standard. Its CEO stated that the movement was based on IHRA and pointed to CAM's role in supporting Albania's adoption of the definition.[6] In 2020, CAM helped initiate the Balkan Forum for Combating Antisemitism in partnership with the Albanian Parliament and the Jewish Agency. The forum aimed to encourage other Balkan countries to commit to combating antisemitism and adopt the IHRA definition, and included CAM leadership figures Natan Sharansky and Robert Singer.[13]

Also in 2020, CAM called on social-media companies to enforce their rules against content promoting or condoning violence or inciting hatred.[11] Executive director Sacha Roytman Dratwa urged platforms to adopt the IHRA definition and its 11 examples as objective, consistent standards for evaluating content across the political spectrum, citing online antisemitism, Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories, and demonization of Israel as motivating concerns.[11]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CAM issued reports on the use of Holocaust imagery in anti-lockdown rhetoric and later published findings on an alleged rise in antisemitism on Twitter following Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform.[6]

CAM's internal Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) identifies emerging antisemitism trends and produces weekly, monthly, and annual reports. CAM's About page says ARC research has monitored more than 10,000 incidents and analyzed antisemitism across social networks.[8] A separate article about its Report It app says ARC monitored more than 12,000 incidents over the preceding five years, while the organization's homepage displays 12,500 as the number of incidents reported.[14][15]

CAM-commissioned studies have also been cited in congressional testimony, although the cited testimony did not provide the studies' methodology. In September 2025, witness L. Rachel Lerman cited a national study commissioned by CAM as finding that 3.5 million American Jews, described as nearly two-thirds of the Jewish population, had experienced antisemitism since October 7, 2023, and that 6% reported feeling less safe as a result.[16] The same testimony cited a CAM annual data study reporting 6,326 antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2024, representing a 107.7% increase over the previous year.[16] Separately, CAM's ARC reported 742 anti-Jewish incidents in the United States in 2024, a 120.8% increase from 2023.[12]

CAM's ARC has conducted repeated investigations into antisemitic content on social-media platforms. During a 96-hour Instagram monitoring period, CAM researchers reported documenting 100 antisemitic posts that collectively received more than 5.3 million likes and 3.8 million shares, with an estimated potential reach of up to 280 million users.[17] In another CAM study of 1,960 short clips posted between June 14 and July 14 on five Instagram accounts reposting livestream content, 4.7% of the full sample was classified as antisemitic, compared with 32% of the 75 most-viewed clips, approximately 6.8 times the share in the full sample.[18]

In a study conducted between May 8 and 14, 2026, ARC researchers tested two new Instagram accounts, one oriented toward wellness and biohacking and the other toward fitness and discipline, and conducted three days of 45-minute browsing sessions without engaging with recommended material classified as antisemitic.[19] CAM classified 32.2% of 59 classifiable videos shown to the wellness account and 24% of 71 videos shown to the fitness account as coded or explicit antisemitism.[19] CAM identified 14 narrative clusters across the two feeds, including Rothschild conspiracy themes, blood-libel themes, Holocaust rehabilitation, and a broader "puppet master" worldview, and described a pathway from mainstream wellness or fitness content toward antisemitic scapegoating.[19] A Berman Archive summary of the CAM study reported that Instagram's recommendation engine escalated the accounts to explicit antisemitic content within three days, with such material reaching as much as 31% of a single session.[20]

CAM commissioned social-media analytics company Cyabra to examine online responses to the June 1, 2025, Boulder firebomb attack, analyzing discourse on X, Facebook, and TikTok from June 2–4. The resulting report described rapid, coordinated circulation of antisemitic rhetoric, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, with known extremists and networks of inauthentic accounts amplifying such narratives.[21] A separate CAM-commissioned Cyabra report released on December 4, 2024, examined activity from September 17 to November 17, 2024, around Al Jazeera Plus accounts on X. It reported that nearly one-third of profiles engaging with three AJ+ accounts were identified as fake and consistently disseminated anti-Israel propaganda.[22]

Promotion of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism has been a cornerstone of CAM's policy agenda since its founding. Its annual mayors' conference has served as one venue for this advocacy, and its CEO has described the movement as based on the definition.[6] By the beginning of 2023, CAM reported that 1,116 global entities had adopted the definition, including 30 U.S. states; CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa stated that support crossed political and ideological lines.[23] CAM's website had previously claimed that "1,100 entities worldwide" had adopted or endorsed the definition, a figure attributed to the organization rather than independently verified in the cited account.[6]

CAM co-authored a March 2022 worldwide adoption and endorsement report with Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and published an August 2022 adoption report. Both were listed among the sources used by the Jewish Virtual Library in its coverage of IHRA definition adoption.[24] CAM also maintained an Information Hub database of U.S. state adoptions cited by the Jewish Virtual Library; that page states that 38 states had advanced a proclamation or executive order recognizing the definition.[25]

In November 2023, CAM was among the organizations signing a letter to technology-company leaders calling for platforms to prohibit antisemitic content, including content understood through the IHRA Working Definition, and to enforce policies consistently across languages. The letter distinguished such enforcement from robust debate, including criticism of Israel and nonviolent support for Palestinian statehood.[26]

CAM has invested heavily in building relationships with mayors and other municipal leaders worldwide, operating what it calls the Global Coalition of Cities Fighting Antisemitism.[8] Its mayors' summits have grown in scale. In December 2022, CAM held a Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in Athens attended by more than 50 municipal leaders, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams.[23] Approximately 50 U.S. mayors attended the following year's summit, held shortly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. In 2024, roughly 230 city representatives from North America, including Canada, attended what was described as the largest mayors' summit against antisemitism held to that point; CAM officials said approximately 90% of the participating mayors were not Jewish.[3]

The 2024 Beverly Hills summit cost approximately $750,000, with Beverly Hills volunteering to host and participating in financing the event.[3] CAM officials described a deliberate focus on cities with small or no Jewish populations and on building relationships with mayors early in their careers.[3] Practical tools discussed at the summits included the Municipal Antisemitism Action Index, a framework CAM introduced to assess cities' levels of antisemitism and the quality of their responses.[3]

In October 2025, CAM announced the formation of a Mayors Advisory Board chaired by Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. The board was created to guide CAM's municipal strategy, advise on best practices, advance the Municipal Antisemitism Action Index, and mentor mayors in developing community responses to antisemitism.[27]

Engaging social-media companies and building tools for users to report antisemitic content have been persistent themes in CAM's work. In November 2022, CAM and Fighting Online Antisemitism launched "Report It," an online portal providing step-by-step instructions for reporting hateful content on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, with a secure database to store reported content for future reference.[28] CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa described the aim as enabling people to act collectively rather than feeling powerless as individuals.[28]

CAM expanded this effort in August 2025 with the launch of the Report It app, allowing users to report antisemitic incidents in real time with an option for anonymous submission. Verified reports are assessed and, when appropriate, forwarded to local leaders, law enforcement, media outlets, and community organizations.[14] Roytman attributed underreporting of antisemitic incidents in part to mistrust of authorities, lack of awareness of reporting systems, bureaucratic hurdles, and excessive red tape.[14]

At its March 2025 "Rise & Respond: Global Student Summit Against Antisemitism" in New York, an event drawing more than 300 attendees, CAM introduced its HEAT Map & Advocacy Platform, which it described as a tool to track and publicly identify professors and administrators it considered to promote antisemitism or anti-Israel rhetoric.[12] The summit also saw CAM present the FACE Antisemitism Initiative, a 10-step plan urging universities to adopt the IHRA definition, establish clear incident-reporting processes, provide antisemitism education, require transparency about foreign-government and NGO funding, and take a stance against BDS.[12]

In a September 2026 interview, CEO Sacha Roytman described CAM as working in more than 100 countries, monitoring online antisemitic posts and their reach, and working with internet companies to reduce the exposure of posts identified as inciting violence or supporting Hamas.[7] He described a case in which CAM researched an Instagram account whose operator promoted anti-Zionist content and displayed a Hamas flag; according to Roytman, Meta removed the account and later blocked a replacement account.[7]

CAM's significance within contemporary antisemitism advocacy is reflected in its access to senior government officials and its ability to convene large influencer networks.[29][30] Its municipal summits have also brought together hundreds of local representatives to discuss practical responses to antisemitism.[3]

On December 14, 2023, then-U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah E. Lipstadt addressed CAM's Symposium.[29] In November 2024, U.S. Deputy Special Envoy Aaron Keyak spoke at the CAM Latin America-Israel Forum. In connection with the event, he met with ministers and Costa Rica's vice president, government and civil-society leaders in Costa Rica and Panama, and Guatemalan officials who had endorsed the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism.[29]

CAM has also engaged international institutions. Its advocacy spans town councils, state and national governments, and the United Nations.[8] After banners inciting violence against Jews and flags of EU-designated terrorist groups appeared at an anti-Israel demonstration in Gothenburg, CAM alerted Swedish and European officials and launched an international petition campaign calling for an investigation and preventive action.[31]

CAM was among 40 legal and civil-society organizations participating in the Gaza GenoLIE campaign, an international educational and social-media effort launched to dispute allegations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza and to document what the campaign describes as the weaponization of that charge following October 7, 2023.[32] In July 2024, CAM hosted what The Jerusalem Post described as the largest-ever global influencer summit against antisemitism, bringing together more than 300 influencers, celebrities, and thought leaders in New York City, including Mayor Eric Adams, television personality Andy Cohen, and Representative Ritchie Torres, to address antisemitism and misinformation about Israel.[30]

CAM's work has generated disputes within the Jewish communal world as well as from outside critics. In 2023, CAM published a video titled "What is Woke Antisemitism?" arguing that progressive ideas about race and class, characterized as "wokeism," fueled antisemitism by promoting an oppressor-versus-oppressed framework that blamed successful groups, including Jews.[6][33] The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) ended their partnerships with CAM over the video. JFNA described the approach as divisive, while JCPA objected to the implication that advancing civil rights and social justice is inherently antisemitic.[33]

The episode unfolded rapidly. JFNA learned of the video after being tagged in a tweet on June 16, raised concerns with CAM, and was initially told the video would not be removed; CAM reversed course and removed it on June 18.[6] JCPA stated that it first learned about the video shortly before Shabbat on June 16, after Jewish Community Relations Councils expressed concern that the JCPA logo implied the organization endorsed the video's content.[6] Days after the video's removal, JFNA and JCPA told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency they had no immediate plans to rejoin CAM's coalition.[6] CAM's CEO said the video would not return in its existing form and that CAM would continue addressing antisemitism from the far left, far right, radical Islam, and other sources.[33]

CAM's funding and organizational structure have also attracted scrutiny. A 2021 report by Forward journalist Arno Rosenfeld characterized CAM as a possible "dark money" front group for Adam Beren, a conservative Kansas oil billionaire. SAPIR Journal presented this as an implication of the Forward report rather than an independently established finding and offered a contrasting assessment of CAM's work.[6]

The IHRA working definition that forms the backbone of CAM's policy advocacy is itself contested. Critics argue that some of the definition's examples conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, while supporters treat it as a practical tool for identifying antisemitism.[33] CAM's campus FACE initiative also calls on universities to oppose BDS and investigate named groups, placing it within broader political disputes over campus advocacy.[12] CAM's self-reported network and incident figures vary across its website: the homepage lists 700 engaged organizations, five million people engaged, and 12,500 incidents reported, while nearby text refers to more than 700 partner organizations and three million people; the About page reports more than 850 organizations, more than five million activists, and more than 10,000 incidents monitored.[8][15]