ADL Articles

April 24, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3A series of anti-quarantine rallies took place across the country this week, several of which were sponsored in whole or part by identified extremists and featured antisemitic content. A new ADL survey released on Holocaust Remembrance Day found that more than half of America’s Jews have either experienced or witnessed an antisemitic incident over the past five years. And Israel’s year-long political stalemate has come to an end, with the…

April 23, 2020 “Where’s the fighting spirit?” an angry Chuck Baldwin asked his assembled “Liberty Fellowship” congregation in Kalispell, Montana, in late March 2020. “Where’s the spirit of resistance…able to discern whenever the forces of tyranny would usurp our constitutional liberties?”  People needed to understand, he said, “the importance that we have as a church to resist the forces of evil.” The purported evil…

April 20, 2020 Americans’ response to the coronavirus pandemic now includes a spate of nationwide rallies decrying stay-at-home orders and calling for “reopening” the economy. While many of the protests calling for the reopening of the economy and the lifting of state-issued quarantine mandates have been organized by more mainstream conservative organizations, a number have been sponsored in whole or part by identified extremists and a range of rally participants have carried…

April 03, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Internet trolls, including some white supremacists, are increasingly taking part in “Zoombombing” – hijacking meetings on the popular video communication app and posting inappropriate content, as well as white supremacist and antisemitic messages. An office for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in Florida was vandalized over the weekend with swastikas. Antisemitic pastor and broadcaster Rick Wiles said that the COVID-19…

March 26, 2020 As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, white supremacists have increased their efforts to promulgate conspiracy theories blaming the coronavirus on Jews, Asians, and immigrants, and expressing their hope that the virus will target minority groups. The vast majority of this coronavirus-related on-the-ground activity has consisted of posting offensive propaganda fliers and holding demonstrations. In one case, however, a white supremacist was shot and killed by the FBI…

March 19, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 A new report from ADL finds that as the coronavirus continues to surge globally, antisemitic, xenophobic, and hateful messages and conspiracy theories surrounding the pandemic are proliferating rapidly online. Lawmakers were condemned for repeatedly referring to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus”, a term deemed by many as bigoted and scientifically inaccurate. And the thought-leader behind the violent neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division…

March 17, 2020 As the coronavirus continues to surge globally, antisemitic, xenophobic, and hateful messages and conspiracy theories are proliferating rapidly online. These messages spread hate and misinformation, making it more difficult to access accurate information while elevating fear and anxiety. While some of these messages are new, many are simply old tropes repackaged for a modern pandemic. The coronavirus is a tool for Jews to expand their global influence Many antisemitic conspiracy…

March 16, 2020 Introduction Online platforms have enabled white supremacist groups to tap into a global community, amplifying their racist views and connecting them with like-minded individuals. While online activities help unify far-flung adherents, real-world connections outside these virtual platforms indicate a true commitment to their cause. Increasingly, this real-world action is taking place on an international stage. American white supremacists are traveling abroad to…

March 13, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 A guide to contemporary antisemitism was released this week by ADL and disseminated to political candidates running for national office. At a rally for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a white supremacist unfurled a Nazi flag and performed a Nazi salute before being escorted off the premises. And a host on Fox News conjured up an antisemitic trope in his description of Michael Bloomberg as a “puppet master” controlling fellow…

March 10, 2020 “Finally! Science has discovered a cure for the most insidious disease of our time…Jewishness.” Shortly after posting this to Telegram, referring to a news report that three Israelis had been quarantined as possible carriers of the coronavirus, the same poster wrote, “3 down, 5,999,997 to go!” As the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus surges globally, extremists continue to use the virus  to advance their bigotry and antisemitism…

March 06, 2020 White supremacist Robert Sterkeson interrupted Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Thursday, March 5, 2020, rally in Phoenix, Arizona, when he waved a Nazi flag behind Sanders. Fellow rally attendees quickly pulled the flag from Sterkeson’s hands, and security teams removed him from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Sterkeson, of Glendale, Arizona, is a self-described “stunt activist” who has harassed a range of Jewish and…

March 04, 2020 Two speeches delivered by Louis Farrakhan as part of the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day celebration included expressions of homophobia, transphobia, anti-white racism, and antisemitism. In his speeches, which took place in Detroit on February 23 and in Chicago on March 1, 2020, Farrakhan also claimed that the biblical descriptions of Jesus as the messiah were actually referring to Farrakhan himself. Farrakhan sees himself as a Christ-like figure and a prophet…

February 26, 2020 On February 26, 2020, authorities arrested five members of Atomwaffen Division, including former Texas state Atomwaffen leader John Cameron Denton. These are just the latest detentions targeting the neo-Nazi group, whose active membership has been decimated in the last two years by a steady stream of federal charges and arrests. Denton is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, and interstate threats to injure, stemming from his alleged role…

February 11, 2020 Click here to view a PDF version of this blog. ADL’s Center on Extremism tracked an ever-growing number of white supremacist propaganda efforts in 2019, including the distribution of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners and posters. The 2019 data shows an increase of incidents both on and off campus, with a total of 2,713 cases reported (averaging more than seven incidents per day), compared to 1,214 in 2018 – a doubling in activity…

February 11, 2020 On February 10, 2020, U.S. Army Specialist Jarrett William Smith pleaded guilty to unlawfully distributing instructions for making explosive devices over social media. According to the Department of Justice announcement, Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.  Smith was associated with the neo-Nazi organization Feuerkrieg Division at the time of his arrest. The ADL's…

January 23, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Three men linked to The Base – a violent white supremacist group – were arrested in Maryland and Delaware on federal felony charges after plotting to kill pro-gun control protesters at a Virginia rally in hopes of starting a race war. The anti-Semitic and conspiracy-promoting “news” outlet TruNews was once again granted White House press credentials, this time to cover the World Economic Forum in Davos. U.S. officials, 50 world…

January 16, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 With the assistance of ADL’s Center on Extremism, an alleged neo-Nazi was arrested on Friday for his apparent role in a nationwide swatting campaign. In testimony before a House subcommittee, ADL’s CEO urged Congress to take action to curb online hate speech, if the social media companies continue to fail to do so. In an effort to label Democrats as sympathetic toward Iran, President Trump retweeted an Islamophobic and doctored image of…

January 16, 2020 In recent years, deadly white supremacist violence at houses of worship in Pittsburgh, Christchurch, and Poway demonstrated the clear line from violent hate speech and radicalization online to in-person violence. With perpetrators of horrific violence taking inspiration from online forums, leveraging the anonymity and connectivity of the internet, and developing sophisticated strategies to spread their messages, the stakes couldn’t be higher in tackling online extremism…

January 13, 2020 UPDATE: On March 15, 2021, John William Kirby Kelley was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in numerous swatting attacks targeting journalists, a Virginia university, a historic predominantly Black church in Virginia, an Islamic Center in Arlington, Texas, and a former U.S. Cabinet member. On January 10, 2020, federal authorities arrested 19-year-old John William Kirby Kelley of Vienna, Virginia, for his alleged role in a multi…

January 08, 2020 The concept of “race war” is gaining popularity among white supremacists. In July, 2019, police officers responding to a racist graffiti incident in Baltimore County, Maryland, encountered swastikas, as well as a phrase new to them: “Race War Now.” In New York, the DMV canceled a Queens resident’s vanity license plate in November 2018; the plate read “GTKRWN,” an acronym for “Gas the Kikes, Race War Now.” In Washington…