Senior ADL antisemitism researcher leaves to lead effort at rival watchdog Nexus |
JTA — Aryeh Tuchman, a veteran antisemitism researcher who spent nearly two decades at the Anti-Defamation League, is joining the Nexus Project, a rival watchdog, to lead a new center devoted to researching antisemitism.
The move brings a senior figure from the most prominent antisemitism watchdog in the United States to an organization that has repeatedly challenged the ADL’s approach to defining and responding to antisemitism, particularly in debates over Israel, campus activism and political polarization.
The most recent example came last November, when Nexus publicly criticized the ADL for launching an initiative to “monitor” the administration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for antisemitic bias following his election. Nexus called the move “divisive, hyperbolic and aggressive,” warning that it risked deepening Jewish communal divisions and playing into far-right hands.
Nexus announced this week that Tuchman will serve as the inaugural director of its new Nexus Center for Antisemitism Research, which the organization says will focus on improving the quality, rigor and nuance of research used by policymakers, Jewish institutions and the public.
Tuchman has most recently worked as a senior leader in the ADL’s Center on Extremism, where he helped oversee research on antisemitic incidents, extremist movements and conspiracy theories. He frequently served as a key methodological authority for the ADL’s annual audit of antisemitic incidents, an influential report widely cited in the media.
For Tuchman, the move represents both continuity and change.
“I’ve spent my career trying to understand antisemitism in all its forms,” he said in an interview. “This is a chance to take everything I’ve learned and apply it in a new setting, with the hope of contributing something constructive to a very difficult moment.”
Nexus is known for challenging the ADL over how antisemitism should be defined. The group promotes the “Nexus Document,” a framework that seeks to distinguish antisemitism from most criticism of Israel while acknowledging........