What is the source of our free speech rights? Free speech rights emanate from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[1] and from state constitutions. The U.S. Constitution limits the government’s ability to regulate speech based on content and it applies to all public colleges and universities. It serves as a floor, not a ceiling. State constitutions may grant more robust free speech rights than the U.S. Constitution, but never fewer. Is there a distinction between private and…
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July 26, 2017 The Arab-language media routinely features anti-Semitic cartoons suggesting that Israel is attempting to take over control of Muslim holy sites. In these depictions Israel is frequently portrayed as an octopus or snake which is taking over holy sites in Jerusalem such as the Temple Mount in bodily form. These cartoons stoke anti-Semitic sentiment in the Arab world.
This was no different after the recent attack by three Israeli Arab terrorists on the Temple Mount, which…
by: Jonathan A. Greenblatt July 26, 2017 Two years ago, full of optimism and energy as I joined ADL as its new CEO, I asked the question: Can a 100-Year-Old Change the Future? But it was a rhetorical question because I believed that I knew the answer. If we remained true to our principles, invested in our people and modernized our systems, the organization would be able to shape the future in a positive way as it had done so many times in the past. But as I looked back to the past to…
July 24, 2017 “Imagine getting your debts paid off, including student loans, back child support debt and get your home free and clear with the Little Promissory Note,” the website promises, “LPN Money that you don’t have to pay back once it is processed.” A YouTube video advertising this “Little Promissory Note” promises that it “is the same as a dollar bill that can pay off all types of debts.”
The Little Promissory note sounds…
July 19, 2017 In recent months Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest and most influential Jewish pro-BDS group in the United States, has taken increasingly radical positions and has employed questionable tactics in pursuit of its mission to diminish support for Israel. The following are some of ADL’s main concerns with the group’s ideology and tactics.
Harassing LGBT Groups:
One of JVP’s longtime tactics has been to allege that Israel’s proud record of support for…
July 18, 2017 Introduction:
Following the July 14th attack on al-Aqsa mosque, during which three Israeli-Arab gunmen shot and killed two Israeli police officers, tensions mounted as police canceled Friday prayers at the mosque for the first time in nearly two decades. Many international terror groups issued statements praising the attack, denouncing the closure, and inciting further violence against Jewish people and institutions.
Further analysis showed an extraordinary amount of…
July 17, 2017 William Scott Planer has joined the ever-expanding list of white supremacists vandalizing and attacking Jewish institutions nationwide.
Planer, who lives in Denver, was arrested on July 14, 2017 for affixing a “Fight Terror, Nuke Israel” sticker to the door of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is being held at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado on a $500,000 bond as a fugitive from justice for felony…
June 30, 2017 UPDATE: In early March 2018, federal prosecutors revealed that members of Aryan Strikeforce talked about committing a suicide bombing attack on counter-protestors at a November 2016 white supremacist rally in Harrisburg, PA. The attack would have been perpetrated by a terminally ill member of the group, who planned to hide the bomb in his portable oxygen tank. There is no indication that the plan, which displayed a type of delusional thinking that’s typical…
June 28, 2017 In early June, several Arab countries - notably Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain - announced that they were abruptly severing ties with Qatar over what they described as the latter’s support for terrorism. And even though what’s involved is mainly an internal Arab affair, some Qatari news sites published conspiratorial cartoons suggesting Israel was behind the diplomatic crisis. Some depicted Israel as a wolf in sheep’s clothing or as a…
June 27, 2017 On June 25, two different far-right activist groups held competing rallies in Washington, D.C., and bickered over the rallies’ respective goals and attendance.
The “rally for free speech,” held near the Lincoln Memorial, featured a number of white supremacist speakers, including Richard Spencer and Nathan Damigo, while the “rally against political violence,” held near the White House, focused on vilifying the left. Some of the speakers involved…
June 22, 2017 Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan is not the only NOI member fomenting anti-Semitism these days. In recent weeks, his spokesperson, Ava Muhammad, has been loudly sharing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
An NOI Mother’s Day panel in New Orleans on May 11, “Testimonies of Extraordinary Women,” consisted of a nearly three-hour-long panel of four women, including Ava Muhammad, praising Farrakhan. When asked by an audience member why it’s…
June 20, 2017 As in 2015 and 2016, ISIS is using the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to encourage and carry out a rash of deadly attacks.
During Ramadan in 2016, ISIS killed an estimated 421 people and injured 729 more. Unfortunately, 2017 appears to be following the same deadly pattern. In the last three weeks, ISIS has carried out more than 15 deadly terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, the UK, Australia, among others, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, most of them…
June 14, 2017 By Oren Segal
Director of ADL's Center on Extremism
On Wednesday, June 14, a congressional baseball team was attacked by a lone gunman in the midst of a morning practice. The U.S. House Majority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise (LA), was seriously injured, and several others were also shot. The gunman was killed at the scene. This shooting was, as far as we know, a premeditated, ideological act, and should be considered a domestic terror incident.
In the wake of the 2016…
June 09, 2017 White supremacists have embraced a new slogan: “You will not replace us,” which has become a rallying cry at events and a catchphrase on fliers posted at universities. The slogan speaks to a number of issues that white supremacists are preoccupied with--the preservation of the white race and white cultural history, and their fear that whites will become a powerless minority in the face of changing demographics.
The slogan is the latest attempt to rally people to…
by: Kenneth Jacobson June 08, 2017 This blog originally appeared in The Times of Israel
As we remember the Six-Day War fifty years ago this week, there has already been much conversation about how to view that war decades later.
Yossi Klein-Halevi made a significant contribution to that discussion when he identified what he called the “May” Israelis and the “June” Israelis. The “May” Israelis are those whose memories focus on the days leading up to…
by: Jonathan A. Greenblatt June 07, 2017 Today, ISIS executed simultaneous terrorist attacks against the Iranian parliament and the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini – the spiritual and political leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. As of this writing, 12 people were killed and dozens more injured in the first major ISIS attack in Iran. This horrible attack targeting Iran is a worrying development, first because it puts another country under the threat of the terror group, but also because it…
For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the High Holidays, are celebrated by Jewish people all over the world. The High Holidays fall on different days each year. For the specific dates each year, check our Calendar of Observances. These and other Jewish holidays fall on different days in our calendar because they follow the Jewish calendar, which has a different number of days than our calendar. The Jewish calendar is a Soli-lunar calendar. …
May 26, 2017 The horrific attack at the Manchester Arena on Monday, May 22, which claimed the lives of 22 people, is a stark reminder of the ongoing global terrorist threat. As evidenced by attacks in Paris, Brussels and Manchester, anti-terror efforts in Europe face considerable challenges.
While American terrorism analysts will undoubtedly learn valuable lessons from the ongoing Manchester investigation, it is important to note that the threat landscapes in Europe and the United States…
May 18, 2017 News reports this week indicate that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, Jr., may be named an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Homeland Security.
Clarke, known for highly critical and controversial comments on subjects ranging from Barack Obama to Black Lives Matter (he has, for example, referred to Black Lives Matter as “black slime”), was a vocal supporter of Trump during the presidential election.
The appointment of Clarke to a senior…
May 17, 2017
An anti-government extremist and his son are two suspects in the fatal shooting of a western Montana sheriff’s deputy on May 16. In an eerie parallel, 17 years earlier, the same extremist and another of his sons were involved in a similar—though not deadly—incident along the California-Nevada border.
For reasons that are yet unclear, Broadwater County Sheriff’s Deputy Mason Moore was pursuing or had stopped a vehicle with two occupants when…