I was curious, so I read the articles. For something intended to critique the ADL, they spend a lot of time listing malign actions of the government of Israel. Which is annoying, because... I don't care. I oppose Israel having cooperated with South Africa in the 60s and 70s, but that has pretty much nothing to do with the ADL in 2019.

The spying seems like a more damning charge. But the word is doing a lot of work: most prominent political organizations maintain rolodexes of reporters and activists, along with their stances and perspectives. It's part of what makes them effective--you can rest assured that e.g. CAIR does the same. Characterizing it as spying is a bit overwrought.