The Sconi

In the wake of George Floyd's death in 2020, Wisconsin-based insurance giant American Family Insurance joined corporate America in speaking out on social justice issues, instituting mandatory employee racial sensitivity training, and donating tens of millions of dollars to the cause. But in the wake of Hamas' terrorist attacks in Israel, which left more than 1,400 dead in Israel and increased threats to the Jewish communities in America, the insurance giant is silent.

Along with many large corporations, American Family's silence is notable and troubling to groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which slammed corporate America's lack of response as “disappointing at best, disastrous at worst,” according to CNN.

“Do Israeli lives matter?” asked Restoration of America Founder and President Doug Truax. “Not apparently to many corporations who loudly virtue-signaled about BLM a few years ago, but were deathly silent when the same BLM supported the slaughter of innocent citizens in Israel.”

Right after the George Floyd incident, Jack Salzwedel, as CEO of AmFam, signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge, committing so-called diversity, equity and inclusion workplace programming, and tweeted on the platform X, "I’m privileged. I have a voice. I want to use it for good. What’s happened (again!) in places like MPS, NYC, GA is simply wrong. I hear the concern, anger, disillusionment from leaders of all colors. Q: Shouldn’t we all be angry?"

According to its website, AmFam additionally committed $105 million toward closing "equity gaps" and addressing societal issues in the areas of education and health equity, climate resilience and criminal justice reform, among others. 

American Family Insurance is a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter and has made numerous statements supporting the organization and the cause, according to an article on its website.

A Black Lives Matter chapter sparked outrage after posting a graphic of a paraglider with the statement "I stand with Palestine," according to a Fox News report. Hamas terrorists used paragliders to attack a music festival in Israel, where they proceeded to murder hundreds of attendees and took others captive. Fox reported that videos of "horrifying rapes, murders, attacks and kidnappings" have circulated on social media following the brutal attack. 

Madison, where American Family is headquartered, is home to a reported 5,000 Jewish students at the University of Wisconsin and 5,000 other Jews living in the city. According to a report from News 3 Now, in recent years, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes. 

Less than 1% of Wisconsin’s population is Jewish, but the Milwaukee Jewish Federation reported a 459% increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in Wisconsin between 2015-2021, according to a PBS Wisconsin article.

The head of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, said companies that “leapt at the opportunity to speak out” following the death of George Floyd and an uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes are silent on Hamas. “In a world in which they are butchering babies, and they are raping women and talking about destroying the Zionist entity, for some reason most CEOs are ‘sitting it out.’ Most CEOs think it’s too political,” Greenblatt told CNN.

Standing in contrast with American Family Insurance, some companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan have come out with strong statements condemning Hamas, according to CNN. A review of American Family Insurance found no public statements by the insurance giant to date. 

Data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System show Salzwedel is a large donor to progressive causes and Democratic candidates in Wisconsin, including Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and both Salzwedel, currently serving as AmFam's board chairman, and Bill Westrate, AmFams current CEO, have made contributions to the company's PAC. 

American Family Insurance's PAC is a large donor to Democratic candidates across the nation, including Baldwin and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), according to FEC.