ADL Articles

June 08, 2020 In the midst of ongoing, nationwide protests in response to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, an internet rumor has circulated accusing Black Lives Matter of distributing antisemitic fliers. The flier reads, “Ending white privilege…intersects [sic] ending Jewish privilege,” and claims that Jewish Americans receive special privileges at leading universities. “Challenging White Privilege and Jewish Privilege is not anti-semitic…

June 05, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Protests were held across the nation this week following the murder of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers, who are all now in custody. Three Nevada men with ties to a loose movement of right-wing extremists were arrested on terrorism-related charges for conspiring to spark violence during recent protests over Floyd’s death in Las Vegas. Twitter shut down multiple accounts it says were operated by a white supremacist group posing as…

June 03, 2020 A medida que continúan las protestas — en gran parte pacíficas, pero cada vez más marcadas por enfrentamientos violentos, saqueos y vandalismo — en respuesta al asesinato de George Floyd por la policía en Minneapolis, los expertos de derecha y un grupo ideológicamente diverso de teóricos de la conspiración han afirmado que George Soros ha fomentado el caos. El lenguaje agresivo contra Soros se ha disparado en los…

June 02, 2020 As protests – still largely peaceful, but increasingly marked by violent confrontations, looting and vandalism -- continue in response to the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, right-wing pundits and an ideologically diverse crew of conspiracy theorists have alleged that George Soros has played a role in fomenting the chaos. Aggressive language towards Soros has exploded on social media sites like Twitter, where a sample assessment showed that negative…

June 01, 2020 American cities are reeling after another night of clashes between protesters and law enforcement. Since Thursday, daily, peaceful demonstrations against police brutality, spurred in part by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, have descended into overnight eruptions of violence and destruction. In some cases, peaceful protests have been met with excessive police force. There have also been widespread incidents of violence and property destruction. And…

May 22, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 There was a 50 percent increase in arrests and plots linked to domestic Islamist extremism in the United States in 2019, according to new data from ADL. The international Jewish community expressed concern and condemnation over a purported arson attack on the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Iran. The House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism had an online hearing on Wednesday to discuss the rise of extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic. …

May 22, 2020 On May 1, 2020, when boogaloo activists organized a protest against coronavirus public safety measures in Raleigh, North Carolina, many attendees carried firearms in defiance of state laws prohibiting guns at public demonstrations. It was a scene played out across the country in recent weeks, as boogalooers are energized by resistance to lockdown restrictions, which they view as tyrannical government overreach. Boogaloo adherents have shown up at numerous lockdown protests, waving…

May 22, 2020 At nationwide rallies against policies aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19, highly visible protesters are comparing government officials to Nazis and their policies to the Nazi persecution of Jews during World War II. The tactic of employing Nazi- and Holocaust-related analogies is not new -- it has been used by protesters and pundits for decades. But these analogies, laden as they are with allusions to unqualified evil, tyranny and persecution, continue to provoke outrage…

May 21, 2020 As quickly as the coronavirus spread across the world, white supremacist merchandising companies seized the opportunity to profit from it. Companies in the United States and Europe are marketing coronavirus-related wares from clothing to facemasks to stickers, many adorned with white supremacist related symbols or codes. The German-based white supremacist merchandising company Druck18 (the 18 in this case likely stands for the numeric reference to the letters “A”…

May 19, 2020 A small but significant segment of the criticism leveled at Israel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has veered into extremism and antisemitism, especially accusations that Israel or Zionists schemed to create and spread the coronavirus or are taking advantage of the pandemic for personal gain. Additional tropes equate Zionism or Israel with the virus or contend that Israelis or Zionists deserve to be infected with or die from it. Those responsible for these assertions…

May 19, 2020 By: Janet Murguía of Unidos US; Marc Morial of the National Urban League; Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL. As leaders of organizations committed to securing civil and human rights, we have been in constant conversation about the impact of coronavirus on communities of color. The global pandemic has highlighted just how much work is left to be done to build a just and inclusive society and serves as a tragic reminder that we are far from reaching that ideal. With…

May 18, 2020 Key Highlights: While there were no attacks or murders linked to domestic Islamist extremism in 2019, there were 30 arrests, nine of which were for terror plots, indicating that Islamist extremism continues to pose a threat to the United States. In 2019, there was a 50 percent increase in arrests and plots linked to domestic Islamist extremism. The 2019 terror plot targets highlight extremists’ sustained focus on targeting religious institutions, and antisemitism…

May 15, 2020 THE WEEK'S BIG 3 Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2019, according to data released this week by ADL. Two Queens men are under arrest for allegedly trying to buy high-power weapons, amid ongoing talk by one about targeting Jews -- including praising last year's Hanukkah attack in Monsey. And the Never Again Education Act, which would help provide federal funding to expand Holocaust education in the US, passed the Senate with bipartisan support. Read…

May 08, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Antisemitic signs and imagery are seen at anti-quarantine rallies across the country, including in Chicago, where a protester held up a sign with a Nazi slogan that appeared on the gates of Auschwitz. A new report outlines the failures of Steam to adequately address the prevalence of extremists and neo-Nazis on the gaming platform. And in California, a man was seen donning a Ku Klux Klan hood as he shopped for groceries. Read on for more on these…

May 04, 2020 Starting with the April 30, 2020 protest in Lansing, Michigan, a wave of protests against coronavirus restrictions has swept across the country over the past week, with attendees calling for stay-at-home orders to be lifted and state economies to be reopened. While the earliest protests in March were largely organized by extremists, the latest rounds of rallies have been planned primarily by conservative activists, and have drawn extremists and non-extremists alike. As was the…

May 04, 2020 On March 24, 2020, a white supremacist interrupted a webinar about antisemitism hosted by a Massachusetts Jewish student group by pulling his shirt collar down to reveal a swastika tattoo on his chest. A day later, a similar incident occurred in California when someone disrupted an online class hosted by a JCC (Jewish Community Center); the perpetrator launched into a minutes-long, profanity-laced, antisemitic rant and removed his shirt to display a swastika tattoo on his chest…

April 30, 2020 As the coronavirus continues to spread, American anti-Muslim ideologues are propagating a range of conspiracies aimed at stoking fear, claiming Muslims are defying social distancing rules and/or actively trying to spread the virus. Some of this anti-Muslim propaganda is linked to India, where the international Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat held a meeting just as the virus began spreading throughout the country. The group was deemed a virus “super-spreader” after…

April 29, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has us all scared. This has fueled the spread of misinformation, racism, and antisemitism. The resulting vitriol and scapegoating has targeted immigrants as well. We must not allow the spread of the virus and necessary physical separation to sow philosophical division among us and lead to policies that harm those most vulnerable, including immigrants. It is going to take all of us banding together to come out the other side of this. That’s why…

April 29, 2020 Over the past several months, ADL has seen a significant increase in antisemitic social media posts and commentary targeting the Haredi[1] and Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey, especially in relation to COVID-19.  In particular, these posts have blamed the Orthodox community for the spread of the virus, suggested that Orthodox and Haredi Jews should be denied medical treatment if they get sick, called on law enforcement to use water hoses and tear gas…