ADL Articles

Some activities across the U.S. marking the 17th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), which is a series of worldwide anti-Israel events spearheaded by the BDS Movement and rooted in antizionism and antisemitism, featured instances of overt antisemitism and expressions of support for violence against Israel. As is typically the case, anti-Zionist campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) was the primary organizer of IAW, spearheading most of the approximately 16 apartheid walls and…

It is an unfortunate fact that seven decades after Israel’s founding, some criticism of the country continues to promote age-old antisemitic tropes. Even before Israel was founded, conversations about the Zionist movement and the creation of the State of Israel at times included explicit anti-Jewish animus or espoused ideas historically wielded against Jewish communities (e.g., the claim that a “cabal” is manipulating political affairs). Today, many anti-Zionist activists…

Substack, a subscription-based online newsletter platform for independent writers, continues to attract extremists and conspiracy theorists who routinely use the site to profit from spreading antisemitism, misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Platforms with more lenient content moderation policies, like Substack, provide fertile ground for the spread of hateful rhetoric and false information – a known catalyst for offline harm and violence. For example, seemingly fringe…

Shareholders of publicly traded companies in the United States have long proposed resolutions to encourage more responsible corporate behavior. These can include demands to divest from certain funds or entities, uphold codes of conduct or make tangible commitments to improving business practices. This type of activism dates to the 1970s and is used by a range of organizations to garner support for their causes. Anti-Israel activists and investors with anti-weapons investment screens or anti…

As quickly as hotel security removed white supremacist Nick Fuentes from CPAC 2023, the Groyper found another receptive audience for his antisemitism and racism. The "Fuentes Rally" took place on March 4, 2023, at Marriott’s Residence Inn at the National Harbor in Maryland. Reporters were not allowed inside the event. Although Fuentes and other Groypers bragged online that the event was at “venue capacity,” the hotel website indicates the capacity of their largest event…

In the aftermath of the February 3, 2023, freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a range of misinformation and unfounded claims has emerged as extremists and conspiracy theorists leverage the event for their own political and ideological gain. This includes the white supremacist and virulently antisemitic National Justice Party (NJP), which has capitalized on the outrage and suspicions around the Norfolk incident to organize protests in  Ohio and Georgia, promoting their…

Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL) is a New York-based, radical anti-Israel organization founded in 2015 that routinely expresses support for violence against Israel and calls for the abolition of Zionism.    Since Hamas’ brutal terror massacre across southern Israel on October 7, 2023, WOL and its co-founder and leader Nerdeen Kiswani have continued to share extreme anti-Zionist and antisemitic positions on social media and at anti-Israel protests as well as in…

The Nation of Islam (NOI) held its annual Saviours’ Day conference in Chicago the weekend of February 24–26, serving once again as a platform for vitriolic antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Saviours’ Day 2023 marked the annual event’s return to a large-scale arena setting for the first time in three years; the NOI held smaller, semi-virtual conferences during the intervening pandemic-era years. NOI speakers injected familiar antisemitic and conspiratorial…

Several incidents in 2022, including a 12-hour hostage crisis at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, with an Islamist extremist perpetrator, demonstrate the ongoing threat of Islamist extremism and are a reminder that the U.S. faces a diverse set of extremist threats. While the number of individuals arrested in connection to crimes motivated by Islamist extremism has declined significantly in recent years after peaking in 2015, three violent Islamist attacks in 2022 illustrate this ideology…

Incidents of antisemitism remain at historic levels in the United States. In fact, antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish institutions jumped 61 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to  ADL’s 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. Based on preliminary data, the 2022 numbers will tell a similar story.   Fears about antisemitism have been on the rise since a mass shooter claimed 11 lives at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018, the deadliest antisemitic…

On December 3, 2022, the ADL Center on Extremism (COE) tracked several extremist events targeting the LGBTQ+ community. This wave of bigoted action from the Proud Boys, the virulently antisemitic Goyim Defense League and two white supremacist groups, comes just weeks after five people were murdered and at least 19 injured in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Earlier this week, a Texas man was arrested for making death threats against a Boston physician who provides…

In the short time since Elon Musk took over Twitter in late October 2022, the platform has taken several steps that have empowered extremists. Chief among them: the decision to sell the “verified” blue check mark and grant “amnesty” to suspended Twitter accounts. In the past few weeks, the ADL noted both an increase in antisemitic content on the platform and a decrease in the moderation of antisemitic posts, a troubling situation that will likely get worse, given…

On Tuesday, November 22, 2022, former President Donald Trump hosted white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump’s willingness to associate with figures who have repeatedly spread antisemitic and white supremacist tropes is deeply concerning and has not gone unnoticed by extremists. Fuentes, a white supremacist and rabid misogynist who attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in…

The 2022 U.S. midterm elections stirred up false narratives about secret and powerful entities committing widespread election fraud. These included old and new theories – and sometimes a combination of the two. Ten days after election day, their impact continues to be felt. On Saturday, November 12, protesters gathered at the elections office in Maricopa County, Arizona for what they called the “Patriots Rise Up” rally. Protesters, angry about ongoing ballot counting in…

Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) advocates and anti-Israel activists are increasingly using the social components of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts as tools to protest against Israeli policies. By targeting Israel and companies doing business with Israel, these activists are politicizing these important investment and corporate engagement tools. While there are valid and varied views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…

Since early October 2022, Ye – the highly influential artist, record producer, and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West – has drawn media attention for inflammatory antisemitic and conspiratorial remarks.

Unverified claims and conspiracy theories about election fraud continue to spread both online and offline ahead of the 2022 midterms. As election day approaches, recognizing what these claims mean and why they are untrue can help the public combat the harmful narratives that motivate anti-democratic tactics and erode faith in the election process.     Conspiracy theorists who sow doubt in the democratic process will often reveal new “evidence of fraud” from…

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has publicly espoused numerous antisemitic and racist tropes in recent weeks. Extremists across the ideological spectrum have embraced his recent comments.

Two years after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the false claim that the 2020 election was “rigged” or “stolen” continues to inform America’s political landscape. As the 2022 midterms draw near, individuals animated by these false claims—including election deniers, QAnon adherents, conspiracy theorists and extremists—are attempting to insert themselves and their beliefs into the electoral process. Their goal: to prevent the…