Insiders at the organization said Technology Center director Yaël Eisenstat’s departure reflected internal disagreements with some of the decisions made by CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
By JNS
Yaël Eisenstat, who until this month worked as a vice president and director of the Technology Center for the Anti-Defamation League, announced her resignation and shift to a new position at another organization focusing on election integrity. Unnamed current and former ADL employee sources told Jewish Currents that dissatisfaction with the direction of the 110-year-old organization that battles antisemitism had influenced her choice.
“With the U.S. election fast approaching, and a multi-front assault on those who work to protect democracy and ensure the integrity of elections (both on- and offline), I’m leaving my current role and will be teaming up with Laura Edelson and Cybersecurity for Democracy to focus all my energy on safeguarding democracy in the digital age,” Eisenstat posted on LinkedIn on Jan. 3.
Having worked in her position for 15 months, Eisenstat said she was “proud of the team we grew, the amount of quality research the team put out, the policies we’ve helped companies change, and the work we’ve done with lawmakers in this space.”
Three members of Eisenstat’s department had previously resigned following the ADL’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. Jewish Currents spoke with five current and former ADL employees who claimed that certain decisions made by Jonathan Greenblatt, the organization’s CEO and national director, had prompted their decision.
Explanations for the four employees’ choices to leave ranged from Greenblatt’s support for technical entrepreneur/X owner Elon Musk; the organization’s recent increased focus on combating antisemitism aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish state; and “a pattern” of what one employee described as Greenblatt allegedly “going rogue—belittling in-house experts and ignoring talking points prepared for him.”