JTA — For the third straight year, Robert Kraft’s anti-antisemitism foundation is airing an ad during the Super Bowl, trying to bring the message of tolerance to the masses.

Several things have changed since the first ad in 2024: This year, Kraft’s New England Patriots are competing, too.

His foundation has changed its name, from the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism to the Blue Square Alliance.

And in the most recent development, a sharp backlash has emerged against the brand of advocacy that Kraft has undertaken, with voices on the right lately decrying efforts to combat antisemitism as ineffective and misguided.

“What we call the fight against antisemitism, which consumes tens of millions of dollars every year in Jewish philanthropy and has become an organizing principle across Jewish organizations, is a well-meaning, but mostly wasted effort,” the center-right commentator Bret Stephens said in a major “State of World Jewry” address on Sunday in New York.

It is into this context that the ad “Sticky Note” — a $15 million spend — is landing. In the ad, a teenager walks through the halls of his high school as his classmates snicker and whisper. Arriving at his locker, he sees that someone has stuck a note to his backpack. “DIRTY JEW,” it reads.

The boy startles and freezes. Just then, a hand places a blue square over the offending note. A much taller Black boy has stepped in, and he has a message: “Do not listen to them.”

The Jewish boy expresses his gratitude, and the classmate continues: “I know how it feels.” He puts a blue sticky note on his own shirt. Then, as the Jewish boy balls his fists and considers taking on the bullies, the classmate urges him to turn around and head the other direction, saying, “They’re not worth it, bro.” The pair walk away arm in arm, introducing themselves. The Jew is David, and his new friend is Bilal.

Words on the screen convey a startling statistic,........

© The Times of Israel