Anti-Defamation League Sued for $25M by Patriot Group in Landmark Filing

Disabled Navy veteran John Sabal, founder and President of The Patriot Voice, has filed a $25M lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) alleging defamation and injurious falsehood.

The ADL listed Sabal in its “Glossary of Extremists” which includes known terrorists Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Dylann Roof, and Brenton Terrant, the Christchurch Shooter

While the organization claims ADL’s goal is to “fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact,” it has increasingly been accused of partisanship smears against targets on the political right.

The Patriot Voice hosts events county that brings together dynamic speakers and grassroots activists who love God and this country with a stated goal to “ensure that all who attend will leave the events with new hope for this country and its future, and with a new vigor and passion to go home and get involved in their respective communities.”

Prior featured speakers have included James O’Keefe, General Michael Flynn, Senator Wendy Rogers, Jim Caviezel and more.

The lawsuit alleges Defendant ADL maliciously targeted Mr. Sabal because of his politics and his success as an organizer of conservative Christian festivals and falsely accused him of being an extremist threat and of espousing anti-semitism.

The lawsuit reads in part:

That the ADL has devolved into a rabidly partisan pressure group, abusing its platform and reputation as an “anti-hate” group to bully and deplatform those that do not share its Leftist ideology. It has now turned its partisan ire on John Sabal, a self-employed organizer of patriotic festivals. Despite Mr. Sabal’s support for the people of Israel and his membership in a church that teaches the Hebrew origins of the Bible, as well as philanthropy through his church that directly benefits the Jewish people, Defendant ADL has falsely and maliciously accused him of espousing antisemitic beliefs, and—disgustingly—includes Mr. Sabal in its “Glossary of Extremism” alongside Islamic terrorists, murderers, and white supremacists. (The) defendant has refused to retract or take responsibility for its baseless and intolerable smears and has indeed doubled down on them. These lies have devastated Mr. Sabal and his ability to make a living, and he seeks to hold Defendant accountable for these damages.

 Mr. Sabal supports the people of Israel, and he is a proud and active member of a pro-Israel Christian church that teaches the Hebrew roots and origins of the Bible and engages in philanthropy to help Jewish communities.

 By including Mr. Sabal in its Glossary of Extremism, Defendant intended to and did create the impression with reasonable readers that Mr. Sabal is a dangerous, extremist threat, and did so knowing this to be false or with reckless disregard for its falsity.

On October 3, 2022, Defendant similarly implied that Mr. Sabal is a dangerous, extremist threat by singling him out in Congressional testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security, titled, “Countering Violent Extremism, Terrorism, and Antisemitic Threats in New Jersey.”[1] ADL regional director Scott Richman opened his testimony with the statement, “Without a doubt, right-wing extremist violence is currently the greatest domestic terrorism threat to everyone in this country.” He goes on to specifically name Mr. Sabal, implying that he, through his patriotic festivals, was peddling the extremist belief that “a global cabal of pedophiles (including Democrats) who are kidnapping children for their blood, will be executed when Donald Trump is reinstated as president.” This is yet another knowing lie and smear. Mr. Sabal has never uttered or held such a belief, nor does he promote such a belief at the festivals he organizes. A reasonable listener or reader of this testimony—about extremism, terrorism, and antisemitic threats—would believe that Mr. Sabal had promoted such beliefs and that he constituted a dangerous and extremist threat.

On April 1, 2023, Mr. Sabal sent a letter to ADL demanding a retraction and apology for its defamatory statements. ADL did not just ignore that letter, it doubled down on its smearing of Mr. Sabal.

 In September 2023, ADL, under the moniker of ADL’s “Center on Extremism,” published a 23-page “Report” entitled, “Hate in the Lone Star State: Extremism & Antisemitism in Texas” (the “Report”). This Report includes information and statistics on “antisemitic incidents” in Texas, “extremist plots and murders” in Texas, “white supremacist propaganda” in Texas, and “hate crimes” in Texas. In that Report, Defendant singles out Mr. Sabal by name, with a hyperlink to ADL’s “Glossary of Extremism” entry for John Sabal. This Report was widely distributed and disseminated in Texas.

The complaint was filed on October 3 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

A full copy of the complaint can be found below.

The Gateway Pundit reported on the ADL’s prior collaboration with the United States Mayor Conference’s “Mayors’ Compact to Combat Hate, Extremism and Bigotry” (linked HERE.) Over three hundred and twenty-five mayors signed the pledge.

The Compact has ten components of psychological policing to suppress free speech and label users exercising their First Amendment rights as haters and dissidents.

The duplicitous Mayors’ pledge “principles of liberty and justice for all” will destroy the First Amendment. They plan on developing brainwashing programs with the ADL, including with public schools. Mayors will encourage residents to report hate crimes using hotlines and online tools. Hate crime data is to be collected and reported to the FBI. The ultimate goal is investigating and prosecuting thought crimes, including social media posts.

ADL also partnered with PayPal in 2021 to determine who can use their services. The companies claimed that they are going to “investigate how extremist and hate movements in the United States take advantage of financial platforms to fund their criminal activities,” according to a report from Reuters.

“The initiative will be led through ADL’s Center on Extremism, and will focus on uncovering and disrupting the financial flows supporting white supremacist and anti-government organizations,” the report continued. “It will also look at networks spreading and profiting from antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, anti-immigrant, anti-Black, anti-Hispanic and anti-Asian bigotry.”

PayPal said at the time that the user data collected through the initiatives will be shared with other firms in the financial industry, law enforcement and politicians.

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