March 01, 2019 By Samuel Woolley | ADL Center for Technology and Society Belfer Fellow On October 27, 2018 Robert Bowers shot and killed eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Bowers was at least partially radicalized online. He made regular use of the extremist-friendly social media platform Gab. After months of anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant posts on the site he even wrote that he was “going in” shortly before the massacre. The day before the…

February 21, 2019 One would think that teaching the lessons of the Holocaust in schools would be a given in the United States. After all, it is an essential component in learning about world history, the rise of fascism, World War II, and genocide, all of which are already part of any respectable high school history curriculum. But recent incidents of students appropriating and abusing Holocaust imagery have served as a reminder and a wake-up call for the need to teach the universal…

February 18, 2019 Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam teamed up with a Holocaust denier and anti-Semitic ideologue to attack the Jewish religion and blame numerous ills of modern society on Jews, during the keynote event at the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours' Day conference in Chicago. Speaking before a crowd of several thousand at the United Center and an unknown number on a livestream, Farrakhan was preceded by Michael A. Hoffman II, who suggested that ancient…

January 15, 2019 White supremacist online forum Fascist Forge advertises itself as a “Home for the 21st Century Fascist,” and attracts some of the movement’s most extreme adherents.  Launched in May 2018, the forum is modeled after (and serves as homage to) the defunct fascist social networking platform “Iron March,” founded by Russian nationalist Alisher Mukhitdinov, aka Alexander Slavros.  Fascist Forge’s founder and moderator goes by the…

December 21, 2018 Can you remember being a fourth grader? It’s a vulnerable age, where you’re just starting to gain more confidence and independence, yet you’re still squarely in the “kid” zone. Now imagine being a child this age and hearing the slur “dirty Jew” ringing in your ear, uttered by multiple classmates. Melanie Roloff doesn’t have to imagine this nightmare—she lived it. In her fourth-grade class, instead of being able to…

December 21, 2018 With approximately 3 percent of the world’s Jewish population residing in Latin America, ADL works in partnership with the organized Jewish communal institutions to lend our voices when needed. Going into 2019, as challenges to Jewish community grow worldwide, ADL’s focus on strengthening relations with local Jewish communities across Latin America will continue to be paramount, particularly in areas of common interest.   Political shifts  …

December 21, 2018 64% of American households have a member that plays video games for three or more hours per week. And these gamers are not just kids. In 2017, the average age of a gamer was 31, and there were more gamers over 36 than between 18 – 35 or under 18. At ADL’s Center for Technology and Society (CTS) we know that video games can be a meaningful force for good in society. We think games can be incredible tools in helping to challenge bias and create respectful and…

December 20, 2018 Imagine the terrified, demoralizing feeling of going to your place of worship, and seeing hateful graffiti spread across its walls—graffiti that directly targets and assaults not only your faith, but who you are as a person. That’s exactly what happened in Mandeville, Louisiana on September 5, 2018, at Northshore Jewish Congregation (NJC). Imagine being Rebecca Slifkin, who worked at NJC, whose concerned neighbors came by to tell her about being shocked and…

December 17, 2018 FBI agents and Snohomish County deputies arrested a Washington state white supremacist last week for allegedly making threats to carry out mass killings of Jews and other minorities.  Dakota Reed, 20, of Monroe, Washington, was charged with malicious harassment—Washington’s hate crime statute—and making bomb threats.  Authorities also seized a cache of firearms, ammunition and white supremacist propaganda from Reed’s residence. The…

December 06, 2018 A capacity crowd of over 1,200 people came together on Monday, Dec. 3 at Never Is Now 2018, ADL’s Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate. We were thrilled to see so many business, community, academic and religious leaders mix with students to tackle the pressing and perplexing issues around anti-Semitism and hate. Check out a few highlights from the event! ADL's CEO and National Director, Jonathan Greenblatt, kicked off the summit by addressing the current state of anti…

November 27, 2018 UPDATE: In response to comments from President Trump regarding dual-loyalty concerns for American Jews, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt spoke at length about the issue on CNN on 8/21/19. Please view the clip here. The charge of disloyalty has been used to harass, marginalize, and persecute the Jewish people for centuries. Sometimes referred to as the “dual loyalty” charge, it alleges that Jews should be suspected of being disloyal neighbors or citizens because…

November 19, 2018 In an email to supporters three weeks after the October 2018 death of Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, English traditionalist Catholic bishop Richard Williamson reconfirmed his belief that the Holocaust is a hoax perpetrated by Jews.   Williamson, who considers himself a leader of the “resistance” against efforts to modernize the Catholic Church, is a former member of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a Catholic group that rejected the reforms issued by…