Incident to Action: How Regional Offices Respond to Antisemitism and Hate

Maoz joined the ADL Operations team in 2023, as Director, Operations & Incident Response. Carrying responsibility for ADL’s incident response services during a long and unprecedented surge in reported incidents, Maoz focuses his work on enabling staff to provide timely and effective support to constituents, optimizing internal processes to increase ADL’s capacity to counter hate and antisemitism, and introducing new technologies and best practices to enhance the impact of the regional offices.

Born and raised in Israel, Maoz immigrated to the US in 2017 and lives New York with his wife and son. Before joining ADL, Maoz helped the Hartman Institute scale up North American operations as their Program Operations Manager. Prior to that, he worked for the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel as a national security analyst and a technology procurement specialist. During his IDF service, Maoz served as a Search and Rescue specialist and a Combat Medic for the Homefront Command.

Maoz is a graduate of the Hebrew University with a BA in International Relations, as well as a graduate of NYU’s dual-degree program, where he earned an MPA focusing on nonprofit management and an MA in Judaic Studies. During his time at NYU, Maoz completed an internship with the JCC Association, where he developed an incident response manual and resources as part of the JResponse program.

Eytan Davidson is the Regional Director for ADL Southeast. In this role he is responsible for carrying out ADL’s mission to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. The Southeast Region is comprised of the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Eytan is a seasoned nonprofit executive with a deep background in communications, government affairs, and community relations with experience at senior levels of transformational projects and organizations in cities across the country.

He previously served as Vice President of Communications for Purpose Built Communities where he was a member of the senior leadership team for the organization leading all aspects of communications, marketing, government affairs, and served as a senior consultant for the 28 member organizations of Purpose Built Communities’ national network. Prior to that, he served as Director of Communications and Media Relations for Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. where he led and executed the communications and marketing efforts of the Atlanta BeltLine. He has also served as Vice President of Communications and Director of the David Rockefeller Fellows program for the Partnership for New York City, an international business organization. Prior to that, he served in various communications and administrative roles in the Mayoral Administration of Michael R. Bloomberg for four and a half years in the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Small Business Services. He also worked on the Bloomberg for Mayor Campaign in 2001.

As a volunteer, Eytan served as the first vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta and was a Frank Fellow at the Jewish Council of Public Affairs in 2019-2020. He previously served on the boards of Jewish Kids Groups, the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival, and Limmud Southeast + Atlanta.

Eytan is also a husband, father of two children, and a professional musician and music producer.

Mr. Davidson is a graduate of Columbia University in New York with a B.A. in History and earned a Certificate of Business Excellence for Senior Nonprofit Managers from Columbia Business School.

Yael Hershfield is the Director for Incident Response and Law Enforcement Initiatives for the ADL Southern Division which encompasses 15 states covered by 5 regional offices- Florida, South East, South Central, Cleveland and Washington DC.

As Director of Incident Response, Yael manages all bias-motivated incidents that are reported to ADL in this division and in particular antisemitic incidents against Jewish institutions or individuals.

ADL’s expertise on hate crimes and extremism brings added value to the work of law enforcement. Yael ensures that training and briefings on these areas of expertise are available to law enforcement officials.

Yael has been working to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people and protecting the rights of all citizens alike with ADL since 2006.

Aaron Ahlquist serves as ADL’s Director of Policy for the Southern Division, and previously served as the regional director of ADL’s South Central Region. In his role as Divisional Policy Director, Aaron helps guide strategy and advocacy while leading the Divisional Engagement Team in supporting the work of ADL in the Southern Division. Prior to his joining ADL, after obtaining his JD from the University of Richmond School of Law, Aaron began practicing law in New Orleans in 2004 where he focused his efforts on national level mass torts and class actions, including among other cases, helping lead efforts against the BP and Transocean Defendants following the Gulf Oil Spill, and as part of leadership on other pharmaceutical and products liability mass torts across the country. Following his graduation from the University of Wisconsin, and prior to his attending law school, Aaron spent three years on the Legislative Staff of Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) in Washington, DC. Aaron lives in New Orleans with his wife and children, where he is an active member of the community, having served on a number of boards and campaigns, and where he loves to enjoy the music and culture of his adopted home.