For Educators | For Law Enforcement | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers
The Anti-Defamation League has a longstanding commitment to protecting civil rights, and has been a key partner in advancing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights. At the federal, state, and local levels, ADL has advocated in support of anti-discrimination statutes, for strong and inclusive hate crime and bullying prevention laws, and for marriage equality. In addition, as one of the nation’s…
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The “blood libel” refers to a centuries-old false allegation that Jews murder Christians – especially Christian children – to use their blood for ritual purposes, such as an ingredient in the baking of Passover matzah (unleavened bread). It is also sometimes called the “ritual murder charge.” The blood libel dates back to the Middle Ages and has persisted despite Jewish denials and official repudiations by the Catholic Church and many secular authorities…
Introduction
The right to freedom of religion is so central to American democracy that it was enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment in response to two centuries of state-sponsored religious conflict and oppression in America, and with a keen understanding of the religious persecution in European nations resulting from official state religions and religious wars.
Recognizing the unique and intimate nature…
From Bloody Sunday to the Voting Rights Act: How One Day Changed the Course of Civil Rights History
March 7, 1965 — a day that would become known as Bloody Sunday — forever changed the course of American history. That day the nation’s attention turned to Selma, Alabama, where state troopers and a sheriff’s posse brutally attacked 575 demonstrators attempting to march peacefully to Montgomery. The marchers had gathered for two purposes: to advocate for voting…
The Traditionalist Youth Network (TYN), founded in May 2013 by Matthew Heimbach and Matt Parrott, is a small group that promotes white supremacy and a racist interpretation of Christianity. The group is against modernism, individualism, globalism and Marxism. It models itself after the European Identitaire movement, which focuses on preserving white European culture and identity in Western countries.
TYN members often speak out against multiculturalism and are anti-Semitic. TYN claims to…
What was Kristallnacht (kris'·tahl·nockt)?
Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," was a wave of violent pogroms against Jews throughout Germany and Austria that took place on November 9-10, 1938. On the night of November 9th, the Gestapo (Nazi State Police) informed local police by telegram about the actions against Jews and their synagogues that would be taking place throughout Germany, instructing them not to interfere with what was happening. During these two nights,…
For Law Enforcement The National Alliance (NA) is a neo-Nazi organization with headquarters on privately-owned land in Mill Point, West Virginia. From the mid-1970s until the 2002 death of the group’s founder, William Pierce, the NA was the most formidable white supremacist presence in the United States. It was also the largest neo-Nazi group in the country.
Under the leadership of Erich Gliebe, who took over the organization after Pierce’s death, the NA has gone into a steep…
Introduction
The two principal leaders of Sabiqun, an anti-Semitic Muslim group that advocates for the creation of a global Islamic state, have become popular speakers on college and university campuses over the past several years.
Sabiqun founder, Imam Abdul Alim Musa, who heads a mosque in Washington, DC, and Imam Abdul Malik Ali, leader of a mosque in Oakland, California, ahve used their appearances on campus to promote hostility toward Israel and AMerican Jews.
For example,…
Since a bipartisan group of senators, known as the "Gang of Eight," introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (also called the immigration reform bill S 744) on April 16, the anti-immigrant movement has worked to derail progress on the bill. Anti-immigrant groups have decried the bill in number of ways, claiming it will hurt American workers, weaken national security and lead to increases in "legal" immigration and an influx of cheap…
For Educators The Nazi Party rose to power with an anti-Semitic racial ideology. However, the anti-Jewish campaign was not conducted according to a blueprint, rather it evolved. Before the outbreak of the war, political and economic factors, as well as public opinion both inside and outside Germany influenced the evolution of Nazi anti-Jewish laws and measures.
The main purpose of the anti-Jewish policy between 1933 and 1939 according to the racial theory was to isolate German Jewry from…
ADL's Role in Fighting Anti-Muslim Bigotry
ADL plays a leading role in exposing and combating anti-Muslim bigotry. As levels of anti-Muslim bigotry continue to surface in a variety of public forms and fora, ADL has produced reports and resources on several groups and individuals whose public campaigns have both sheltered and fueled such bigotry.
The threat of the infiltration of Sharia, or Islamic law, into the American court system is one of the more pernicious conspiracy…
Introduction The Hoax Spreads Contemporary Re-Emergence Widespread Condemnation Conclusion IntroductionThe Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a classic in paranoid, racist literature. Taken by the gullible as the confidential minutes of a Jewish conclave convened in the last years of the nineteenth century, it has been heralded by anti-Semites as proof that Jews are plotting to take over the world. Since its contrivance around the turn of the century by the Russian Okhrana,…
For Educators
For Law Enforcement The Militia Movement (historical backgrounder 2001)
This document is an archived copy of an older ADL report and may not reflect the most current facts or developments related to its subject matter. For current information on the militia movement, please see our updated backgrounder. The militia movement is a relatively new right-wing extremist movement consisting of armed paramilitary groups, both formal and informal, with an anti-government, conspiracy…
Freedom of religion is one of our nation's most cherished liberties. It is at the very foundation of America. Our nation's Constitution protects religious freedom for all, prohibits religious tests for public office, and mandates separation of church and state. These are essential American ideals and values, which candidates for public office should respect.
Candidates for public office are, of course, free to worship as they choose. And they should feel comfortable explaining their…
On July 18, 1994, a suicide terrorist drove a car filled with hundreds of kilograms of explosives into the Jewish community’s AMIA/DAIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds were injured.
The now infamous AMIA/DAIA bombings represent the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina, home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America.
Due to the complexity of the case and the dynamics of the investigation, the AMIA/DAIA bombing…
When Jews began arriving in Palestine en masse in the late 19th century, the land had an Arab presence. The number of Arabs in Palestine at the time and questions surrounding when many of the Arabs came to the land remain the subject of dispute among historians. The early Zionist pioneers saw the Arab population as small, apolitical and without a nationalist element and they therefore believed that there would not be friction between the two communities. They also thought that development of…
The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted. The two groups are apparently trying to make inroads in the U.S. military.
From October 24-25, 2009, the Oath Keepers held their first national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. About one hundred people reportedly attended…
Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate, participated in a variety of anti-Israel campaigns and events in 2009.
McKinney has a history of using anti-Israel rhetoric, including accusing the pro-Israel lobby of sabotaging her political career and alleging that Israel of committing genocide, apartheid and war crimes. She has repeatedly condemned U.S. support for Israel.
She has also taken part in multiple…
The central narrative of Christian theology is the passion, i.e. the trials and crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. There are four different accounts of the passion in the gospels of Christian Scriptures, in which Jews play different roles. All these accounts culminate in the death and resurrection of Jesus as revealing God's saving power available to humanity. Good Friday and Easter celebrate respectively the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the high points of Christian creed and…