ADL Articles

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Third-Graders Allegedly Made to Reenact the Holocaust; Trump Uses Antisemitic Tropes Again; Neo-Nazi Group Distributes Antisemitic COVID-19 Propaganda

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December 23, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 A staff member from a D.C. elementary school is reported to have told third-graders in library class to reenact scenes from the Holocaust, directing them to dig their classmates’ mass graves and simulate shooting the victim. Former president Donald Trump was condemned by the head of ADL after using antisemitic tropes about American Jews in a recent interview. A virulently antisemitic group with a reputation for mounting propaganda stunts…

December 23, 2021

Extremists Embark on Weekend of Hate

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December 20, 2021 Banners dropped in California December 18-19, 2021 In a nationwide display of bigotry and hate during the weekend of December 18-19, 2021, individuals associated with the antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL) distributed propaganda in multiple states, while people supporting the “White Lives Matter” movement distributed propaganda and held roadside flash demonstrations in several states. Some people participated in both efforts. The distribution of…

December 20, 2021

ADL's 2021 Year in Review

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December 17, 2021 Dear ADL friends, We’re coming to the end of 2021… I’ve been thinking a lot about the work that I’ve done this year alongside the ADL team, and alongside you and the rest of the ADL community. I recently wrote my first book; it's called It Could Happen Here: Why America is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable—And How We Can Stop It. It looks at the rise of intensifying antisemitism and violent hatred in other countries, and why such…

December 17, 2021

Waukesha: Tragedy Exploited by White Supremacists

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December 16, 2021 In the wake of a deadly SUV incident in Waukesha, Wis., white supremacists are leveraging the tragedy by sowing racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories on the ground and online. On November 21, 2021, Darrell E. Brooks Jr. allegedly drove his SUV into a crowded Christmas parade, killing six and injuring over 60 others. While a harrowing tragedy, Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson said Brooks was apparently fleeing a domestic disturbance and declared the incident …

December 16, 2021

Proud Boys, Oath Keepers Sued for Role in Jan. 6 Attack; Another Reported Antisemitic Incident at Historic Women’s College; Fox News Deletes Soros ‘Puppet Master’ Cartoon

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December 16, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced that his office, with ADL and others serving as co-counsel, is suing the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. A swastika and a racial slur targeting Jews were found in a bathroom at Mount Holyoke College last week, the third antisemitic incident reported at the Massachusetts women’s school this fall. After ADL called out Fox News, the cable giant deleted its…

December 16, 2021

Mohammed El-Kurd

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Mohammed El-Kurd is a prominent Palestinian activist who was hired in 2021 as the Palestine Correspondent by the left-wing magazine The Nation in 2021. He has published articles and been interviewed in a wide array of media. Unfortunately, even a cursory analysis of his social media and his book “Rifqa,” reveals an indisputably troubling pattern of rhetoric and slander that ranges far beyond reasoned criticism of Israel. It is unvarnished, vicious antisemitism. El-Kurd has accused…

December 16, 2021

Gab CEO Andrew Torba Broadcasts His Antisemitism Across Social Media Platforms

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December 15, 2021 Gab CEO Andrew Torba claims he’s not an antisemite, but he tells a very different story via Gab’s Twitter feed and his personal Gab account. In October 2021, Torba engaged in multiple antisemitic tirades on Twitter and Gab, posting and sharing a wide array of bigoted content. These posts – which had the potential to reach millions of people via Gab’s 390,000 Twitter followers and Torba’s 3.3 million Gab followers – promoted a range of…

December 15, 2021

Instagram Still has a Big Problem with Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists; White Nationalists Hold Impromptu Rally in Nation’s Capitol

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December 09, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 American college campuses experienced anti-Israel activity and inflammatory rhetoric at the “highest rate in recent memory” during and after Israel’s May conflict with Hamas, according to a new report by ADL. Despite taking steps to remove hateful content, hundreds of posts promoting dangerous white supremacist ideologies are still readily available on Instagram where they could radicalize unsuspecting users, new research shows. On…

December 09, 2021

Instagram Hosting White Supremacist, Accelerationist Content

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December 09, 2021 In August 2021, Instagram announced an update to its work against the spread of abuse on the platform, reiterating a zero tolerance policy for hate speech and abusive content, and adding new features aimed at reducing abuse, especially as it occurs via direct messaging (DM) and comments. Despite this update – and a previous iteration in February, 2021 – extremist content remains easily accessible on Instagram. ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) researchers…

December 09, 2021

Holocaust Denial Remains on Facebook; Fox Pundit Compares Fauci to Nazi War Criminal; Thousands Gather to ‘Shine A Light on Antisemitism’

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December 02, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Holocaust denial content remains on Facebook despite a ban the platform put in place last year, according to a report published Wednesday morning by ADL. Jewish groups and Holocaust remembrance organizations condemned Fox Nation host Lara Logan for comparing the nation’s top infectious disease expert to a Nazi war criminal notorious for medically experimenting on death camp prisoners. Elected officials, musicians, and community leaders from…

December 02, 2021

Alleged Waukesha Attacker Shared Conspiratorial, Antisemitic Content in 2015

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December 01, 2021 A vehicle allegedly driven by Darrell E. Brooks Jr. speeds through the Waukesha Christmas parade route on November 21, as captured on the city’s livestream video of the event. (source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Darrell Edward Brooks Jr., who faces six counts of first-degree intentional homicide after he drove into a Christmas Parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, apparently shared several conspiracy theory-themed social media posts in 2015, according to a review of his…

December 01, 2021

One Year After Ban, Holocaust Denial Remains on Facebook

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December 01, 2021 UPDATE: As of December 9, 2021, Facebook has removed all nine posts reported on the platform in conjunction with our research. October 2021 marked one year since Facebook banned Holocaust denial from its platform and officially classified Holocaust denial as hate speech instead of misinformation. On the first anniversary of this policy’s enactment on Facebook properties, analysts in ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) sought to determine whether the…

December 01, 2021

Sines v. Kessler: Reckoning and Weaponization

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November 29, 2021 Photo credit: Getty On November 23, 2021, a jury returned its verdicts in the civil lawsuit against the organizers of the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. All defendants were found liable of Virginia state civil conspiracy charges, and the jury agreed to award the plaintiffs more than $25 million in damages. Jurors were unable to reach a decision on federal conspiracy charges. Sines v. Kessler, the civil suit filed by…

November 29, 2021

Anti-Israel Activists Demonize Victim of Jerusalem Terror Attack and Claim Violence Was Justified

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November 23, 2021 In the aftermath of the deadly Hamas terror attack in Jerusalem on November 21, which tragically took the life of 26-year-old Eli Kay and left four others others wounded (two civilians and two police officers), a number of groups and individuals affiliated with the anti-Israel movement intimated this blatant act of terrorism was justified or engaged in rhetoric that disparaged the victim. A common theme throughout was the instrumentalization of the allegation that Israel…

November 23, 2021

Right-Wing Extremists Cheer Rittenhouse Verdict in Predictable Fashion

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November 19, 2021 On Friday, November 19, 2021, a jury delivered a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse: not guilty on all five counts, which included homicide and reckless endangerment. The presiding judge warned those in the courtroom against expressions of emotion, but right-wing extremists were bound by no such restrictions, and they reacted online to the ruling with praise for Rittenhouse, vitriol towards “antifa” and the left, and excitement about the…

November 19, 2021

Teen Charged in Synagogue Arson Attack; Brooklyn Antisemitic Assault Prompts $10K Reward; Michael Flynn Calls for ‘One Religion’ in US

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November 18, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 An 18-year-old college student and recent member of the Texas State Guard who is accused of setting a fire at an Austin synagogue faces a federal arson charge for the Halloween incident. The assault of a Jewish man in Brooklyn last Thursday by an unknown assailant has prompted an investigation by New York police and a reward from ADL. Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, was soundly condemned by Jewish and…

November 18, 2021

Racist, Extremist, Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Surround Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout

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December 29, 2020 Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, extremists across the ideological spectrum have used the virus as a platform for elaborate and alarming conspiracy theories. In March and April 2020, antisemitic, anti-government and Sinophobic conspiracies about the virus’s origins and “true purpose” were rampant online. In December 2020, as the COVID-19 vaccine was being shipped to frontline workers across the country, very familiar conspiracy theories took…

May 03, 2022

Antisemitism on Left Intensifying; French Man Convicted in Murder of Holocaust Survivor; House Resolution Introduced to Censure Rep. Gosar

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November 11, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 In a major address this week to ADL’s annual Never Is Now summit on antisemitism, CEO Jonathan Greenblatt warned that antisemitism from the left is akin to climate change, saying “slowly but surely, the temperature is rising.” A French court found a man guilty of murder in the killing of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor in 2018, sentencing him to life in prison. House Democrats called for investigations into the posting of an…

November 11, 2021

Nation of Islam Pushes Anti-COVID-19 Vaccine Message, Alongside Conspiracy Theorists

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November 08, 2021 A graphic shared on social media by the Nation of Islam warning against the COVID-19 vaccine (source: Twitter) Months before the first COVID-19 vaccine began to be distributed in the United States, the Nation of Islam (NOI) had already widely disseminated its directive that Black people refuse the vaccine. Over a year later, the NOI and its leading members have continued their unrelenting promotion of anti-vaccine messages in social media posts, print materials, sermons…

November 08, 2021

Extremists Widely Defeated at the Polls, but a Few Make Inroads

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November 05, 2021 Political prognosticators feared the 2021 off-year elections could usher in a new era of extremists in elected office. And while the worst-case scenario did not materialize, the election results appear to show an electorate that is not entirely averse to candidates with extremist (and extremist-adjacent) platforms and ideologies, signaling a potentially alarming trend ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. At least eight candidates who attended the January 6 …

November 05, 2021